Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Kodak PlaySport (Zx3) HD Waterproof Pocket Video Camera
Kodak PlaySport (Zx3) HD Waterproof Pocket Video Camera
The 5.3MP still photos are fairly good, not to bad, but remember this is a video camera first
a dedicated 5MP still photo camera will take much better photos, but again hey these aren't to shabby it just depends on what your trying to do. Quick shots here and there...excellent and better than any cell phone I've had. At a wedding where you want crystal clear and sharp photos....well not so much.
The HD video camera is pretty nice, easy to use and I was just stunned at the digital zoom.
It actually works and works well, not to blocky or grainy...more so at the extreme 4x level but at 2x to about 3x the camera compensated nicely and actually cleared up the image...not sure how they do it, but they do.
As others have noted, with rapid movement of the camera you will notice your image jumps or shakes.
Now remember what I told you to keep in mind $149. Yes it does have that little "feature", but it's not
a $299 video camera with a higher quality lens and CCD. Slow down, don't go from left to right or up and
down at 100MPH and it's not bad. Moving images within the video are fine, it's just if you move the camera
itself very rapidly you will notice it.
I tried the 3 HD video modes, and it also has a standard resolution mode as well that I did not try.
I compared all 3 with and with out the image stabilization on which did not seem to improve or degrade the
image at all.
At 720p 30 fps - Not to bad, noticed the jumpyness or shakyness of the image as I moved left to right in my test, but slow down and it's not to bad.
At 720p 60 fps - Now were getting better, really not bad at all, again not $300 video camera good, but
pretty darn nice, and clearer and the shakyness of the video smoothed out a bunch, again slow down in your
movements for best quality.
At 1080p 30fps - Nice quality...really nice, but the jumpyness of the video is back, you have to take it a bit
slower but nice quality all in all.
I did not try the underwater mode, but assume it works as advertised everything else has so far.
Now I throughly loved the fact that there are no CD's with this camera, nothing in the box to load.
You simply plug in the provided USB cable and the software...every bit of it and all the drivers you need for
the camera are built right in and install on your PC from the camera...this is an excellent feature, I always
misplace the CD's and have to download from the website anyhow.
Speaking of downloading from the website ... this camera is flash upgradeable with new firmware I went to the
Kodak website and found that there was an upgrade I could download to correct a few minor anomalies that they
found...cool so hopefully this camera gets even more corrections in the near future and maybe a feature update someday?
a dedicated 5MP still photo camera will take much better photos, but again hey these aren't to shabby it just depends on what your trying to do. Quick shots here and there...excellent and better than any cell phone I've had. At a wedding where you want crystal clear and sharp photos....well not so much.
The HD video camera is pretty nice, easy to use and I was just stunned at the digital zoom.
It actually works and works well, not to blocky or grainy...more so at the extreme 4x level but at 2x to about 3x the camera compensated nicely and actually cleared up the image...not sure how they do it, but they do.
As others have noted, with rapid movement of the camera you will notice your image jumps or shakes.
Now remember what I told you to keep in mind $149. Yes it does have that little "feature", but it's not
a $299 video camera with a higher quality lens and CCD. Slow down, don't go from left to right or up and
down at 100MPH and it's not bad. Moving images within the video are fine, it's just if you move the camera
itself very rapidly you will notice it.
I tried the 3 HD video modes, and it also has a standard resolution mode as well that I did not try.
I compared all 3 with and with out the image stabilization on which did not seem to improve or degrade the
image at all.
At 720p 30 fps - Not to bad, noticed the jumpyness or shakyness of the image as I moved left to right in my test, but slow down and it's not to bad.
At 720p 60 fps - Now were getting better, really not bad at all, again not $300 video camera good, but
pretty darn nice, and clearer and the shakyness of the video smoothed out a bunch, again slow down in your
movements for best quality.
At 1080p 30fps - Nice quality...really nice, but the jumpyness of the video is back, you have to take it a bit
slower but nice quality all in all.
I did not try the underwater mode, but assume it works as advertised everything else has so far.
Now I throughly loved the fact that there are no CD's with this camera, nothing in the box to load.
You simply plug in the provided USB cable and the software...every bit of it and all the drivers you need for
the camera are built right in and install on your PC from the camera...this is an excellent feature, I always
misplace the CD's and have to download from the website anyhow.
Speaking of downloading from the website ... this camera is flash upgradeable with new firmware I went to the
Kodak website and found that there was an upgrade I could download to correct a few minor anomalies that they
found...cool so hopefully this camera gets even more corrections in the near future and maybe a feature update someday?
I also loved the fact that ALL the cables came with the camera. HDMI, USB, and Component video cables...
All of them... they can charge you at least $10 for each individual cable, but they give them to you with
the camera for $149, now how great is that ?!?!
As at least one other reviewer has said, yes - there is no case or protective sleeve that comes with the camera,
but I would take the cables over a case anyday, you know what ever they included it wouldn't be what you wanted.
Either they gave you a sleeve and you wanted a case for your accessories or they gave you a case and you didn't
want to carry all the accessories so you go out and buy yourself a protective sleeve or pouch. So just go get what you want ...
I myself purchased the Kodak Case that Amazon recommended to me .... also a nice purchase, perfect size not to big,
not to small and has a little accessory area that you can carry one of the cables and a spare battery if you need.
This camera feels rugged and well built. It's easy to use, lots of features like image stabilization and face
tracking, it comes with all the cables, free software that's always with you in the camera, and costs only $149.
So not to bad at all, and my conclusion is this if your looking for a sharp and crisp still photo camera drop the
$100 just for that and buy one, if your looking for a excellent video quality camera drop the $300 just for that
and buy one. But....If your looking for a pretty nice, simple and decent quality camera that does it all and
is rugged enough to go out in the rain or underwater drop $149 and buy this one.
I've included a video I compiled and edited down to show the different resolutions and the photos. Keep in mind
that while your viewing that this is an flv file and the actual quality that the camera will give you will be
much higher than what I was able to upload to Amazon, meaning you'll get better quality than what you see on here.
All of them... they can charge you at least $10 for each individual cable, but they give them to you with
the camera for $149, now how great is that ?!?!
As at least one other reviewer has said, yes - there is no case or protective sleeve that comes with the camera,
but I would take the cables over a case anyday, you know what ever they included it wouldn't be what you wanted.
Either they gave you a sleeve and you wanted a case for your accessories or they gave you a case and you didn't
want to carry all the accessories so you go out and buy yourself a protective sleeve or pouch. So just go get what you want ...
I myself purchased the Kodak Case that Amazon recommended to me .... also a nice purchase, perfect size not to big,
not to small and has a little accessory area that you can carry one of the cables and a spare battery if you need.
This camera feels rugged and well built. It's easy to use, lots of features like image stabilization and face
tracking, it comes with all the cables, free software that's always with you in the camera, and costs only $149.
So not to bad at all, and my conclusion is this if your looking for a sharp and crisp still photo camera drop the
$100 just for that and buy one, if your looking for a excellent video quality camera drop the $300 just for that
and buy one. But....If your looking for a pretty nice, simple and decent quality camera that does it all and
is rugged enough to go out in the rain or underwater drop $149 and buy this one.
that while your viewing that this is an flv file and the actual quality that the camera will give you will be
much higher than what I was able to upload to Amazon, meaning you'll get better quality than what you see on here.
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Monday, June 27, 2011
Canon PowerShot A490 10.0 MP
Relive your most wanted memories and have great satisfaction on it with the use of Canon PowerShot A490 10 MP Digital Camera. Made with sophistication and high end camera features, this device is on its way of delivering you great outcomes.
The Canon Powershot A490 is made to become very user-friendly. It goes with simple and easy to use operation. Its menu and function are intuitively made. It also provides easy sharing mode wherein you can readily share your pictures with your friends and family. Its 10 megapixels pave a way for you to enjoy large prints of your most wanted images. You can have large prints of up to 13×19 inches for you to proudly display in your own personal space. More so, it facilitates you to do easy cropping without compromising the images’ resolution quality.
Get close to you subjects to the best manner that you can for this digital camera is equipped with 3.3x optical zoom lens. This will allow you to capture great smiles and emotions of the person you want to unveil its beauty. Never hesitate to take pictures in the most challenging light situations. Despite of the insufficient light that you have, you must carry on and take the shot as you use its Low Light Mode. It provides its users great clarity and stillness in its images with minimized noise while shooting. The images will appear intact and with visual accuracy. In addition to this feature, it also goes with Smart Flash Exposure technology that aids you in producing well lighted, improved image quality.
Don’t let yourself experience any hassle and have the camera do the work for you every time you take a shot as you will use its Smart AUTO feature. Its Smart Auto allows you to experience maximum enjoyment as you will do carefree shooting. The camera will cover all the technical details that you need as you take the shot. Through the application of its Advanced Canon technology, this digital camera has the capacity to analyze the scene’s situation or shooting condition and apply the most appropriate setting to be used in that certain shot. This camera is equipped with 13 various settings to be applied.
Viewing your photos will be best dealt with as you use the Canon PowerShot A490’s 2.5 inch LCD screen. It facilitates you to view your images with ease and clarity. This screen is very useful for it tends to give you an actual view as you go shooting and provides you a great preview as you browse on your shots. It is built with high resolution wherein it offers clear, bright, and crisp images for you to love. A night display mode is being provided for you to experience easy viewing in low light. Lastly, being powered by AA batteries, you’ll be always on the go as you can be easily powered up without any need of charging.
Full of must have features, the Canon PowerShot A490 is made to bring your memories into great images. It goes with 10 megapixels that allows you to capture dramatic scenes in an up close manner. It is built to become very handy and compact for it to fit perfectly in your purse or pocket. However, it goes with cheap construction wherein you need to put on extra care in handling it. It has no image stabilization feature that keeps your shots steady and blur-free.
Overall, the Canon PowerShot A490 is a digital camera that provides you with high quality pictures for you to love out of the price you paid for.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Canon PowerShot A3000IS 10 MP
There is nothing a lot more satisfying as compared to taking excellent photographs! And with the sleek along with silver Canon PowerShot A3000 Can be, it is so effortless. The ten.0-megapixel resolution and 4 times optical zoom together with Optical Image Backing make sure radiant, in depth images. Plus, you’ve gotten an advanced DIGIC III Photo Processor with progressed Face Detection Know-how along with the Face Detectors Self-Timer for extraordinary command and performance. Smart Vehicle lets you manage tough conditions with ease. Cannon PowerShot A3000 IS Highlights
Strong A-Series camera with Twelve.0 megapixels, 4 times optical zoom and also Optical Image Backing
With the PowerShot A3000 IS, extraordinary, personal pictures haven’t ever been less difficult to capture and share. This specific 10.0 Mega-pixel digital camera lets you produce impressive substantial shots of family members and buddies you may be proud to display. A high-resolution images taken from the PowerShot A3000 IS can be increased up to 13 y 19 inches.
Lithium-ion electric battery
The Canon PowerShot A3000 IS runs on the newly developed chargeable lithium-ion battery. This sleek and stylish, effective battery tends to make it an incredibly light and slim photographic camera. Charge-up is fast and easy, and so the PowerShot A3000 IS might be completely ready and waiting for people special moments.
Brand new Scene Modes give extra creative overall flexibility
The Canon PowerShot A3000 IS offers even more creative liberty by which includes completely new modes created to obtain the sort of images people today talk about. Super Intense captures the colors you observe along with your mind’s eye, soaking the scene using intense colors. Move drab scenes in to exciting compositions, whenever dull pinks fire into brilliant fuchsia as well as off-yellows suddenly burn shiny and hot. Sometimes dark colors come to be richer with Very Vivid. Sunsets and also floral scenes morph into bursts of coloring, and get your snapshot noticed.
Poster Effect brings together several similar tones into one colour, turning subtle gradations regarding color into eye-catching, scene-popping contrasts over your image for the exceptional artistic search.
18 Shooting Methods
Advanced presets for the most effective attainable photos under particular conditions. With 20 Shooting Modes which include Scene Modes, you are ready for whatever chance comes your way.
Low Mild mode for improved firing in dim lighting style
With an ISO of 500-3200, the reduced Light mode requires the Canon PowerShot A3000 IS where not any A-Series has gone before–into the dark areas! Now even displays notorious for getting insufficient light, for example those lit by simply candles, fire, or maybe street lamp, are available via in brilliant color and resolution, with less sounds. You may maintain the feel of this scene intact devoid of adding additional lumination, so the result might be scenes with the aesthetic accuracy, depth in addition to clarity you anticipate originating from a Canon camera.
credit by: http://hot100tips.com/electronics/canon-powershot-a3000is-10-mp-digital-camera-reviews/
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Nikon D5100 Review
While nipping at the heels of its top level sibling, the D7000, this baby has a couple of advantages: a smaller size and arguably a less challenging user interface. It is in fact an excellent prosumer or enthusiast camera.
In the hand it’s a practical camera and, at a pinch, could be used single-handed, with the shutter button, mode dial and command wheel within mills of the forefinger and thumb. But you wouldn’t, would you …!
The review camera was supplied with the f3.5/18-55mm kit lens.
Nikon D5100 Features
The CMOS sensor has 16.2 megapixels and uses the Nikon DX format, which gives a 1.5x factor when compared to a 35 SLR.
The 7.5cm LCD screen is articulated in a horizontal sweep, can swing through an arc up to 90 degrees clockwise and up to 180 degrees counter-clockwise: I found this to be a big help when the D5100 was tripod-mounted. Its resolution is a high 921,000 pixels. Optical viewing is via a pentamirror.
Maximum image size is 4928×3264 pixels, from which you can make a 42×28cm print.
Video is at the top level of Full HD 1920×1080 at 24/25/30fps which can be captured with auto exposure and full auto focus but requiring you to press the shutter button half way to trigger the focus action.
As the lens handles the focusing chore I guess the performance is directly related the quality of the optic; the kit lens worked satisfactorily in my tests.
The onboard mic of course captures all the bumps and squeaks as AF does its tricks. And they are considerable. Plug in an external mike!
It is also advisable to use memory cards rated as class 6 or higher to avoid hiccups when recording.
If you try to shoot stills while recording a movie the latter action stops but you can later retrieve individual video frames as JPEGs.
ISO ratings run from ISO 100 to 6400 but you can lift this to ISO 25,600 by lifting the sensor gain. If you want to squeeze some extra lumens out of a tricky shot there is an HDR function that uses two exposures to maximise the capture of shadow and highlight details. This is selectable from the camera menu and presents some interesting options to the educated user: you can select an exposure differential between the images of up to three f stops. The function allows some smoothing of the paired images; this I presume is to better match the images if they are shot handheld … but serious HDR practitioners would obviously use a tripod! And HDR only works with JPEG images.
The special effects mode is a blast! Applicable to stills and movies, there is night vision, color sketch, mini effect, silhouette and more. How about night vision, captured at an ISO equivalent of up to ISO 102,400 — complete with tonnes of wild pixels! The great thing is that each has an enormous range of adjustment. Let’s wait for an answer from Olympus with its Art Filters … this one sure beats the pants off the latter!
ISO Tests
It was only when the ISO setting reached 6400 that noise became noticeable, but not objectionably so.
Comment
This one is for the educated user; it would frustrate the beginner. Having said that, the D5100 is an aspirational camera: it will give legs to the ambitious photographer and give wings to ambitions to capture advanced imagery.
Quality: excellent, full bodied colour, razor sharpness. Top performer.
Why you would buy it: excellent articulated LCD screen; you want Full HD with auto focus shooting;
Why you wouldn’t: there is no dedicated ISO button.
A couple of points: I was not happy with the Live View button and the movie record buttons placed on the top surface near the mode dial. A very cluttered area with a total of nine controls in the vicinity.
Nikon D5100 Specifications
Image Sensor: 16.2 million effective pixels.
Metering: Matrix, centre-weighted metering and spot.
Effective Sensor Size: 23.6×15.6mm CMOS.
Format: Nikon DX.
A/D processing: 14-bit.
Lens Mount: Nikon F (with AF contacts).
35 SLR Lens Factor: 1:5x.
Exposure Modes: Auto, Program AE, shutter and aperture priority, manual.
Shutter Speed: Bulb, 30 to 1/4000 second, Bulb. Flash X-sync: up to 1/200 sec.
Continuous Speed; 4fps.
Memory: SD/SDHC/SDXC cards.
Image Sizes (pixels): 4928×3264 to 2464×1632. Movies: 1920×1080 to 640×480 at 24/25/30fps.
Viewfinders: Eye level pentamirror, 7.5cm LCD (921,000 pixels).
File Formats: NEF (RAW), NEF (RAW)+JPEG, JPEG, MPEG4.
Colour Space: Adobe RGB, sRGB.
ISO Sensitivity: Auto, 100 to 25,600.
Interface: USB 2.0, AV, HDMI mini, DC input, external mic, remote.
Power: Rechargeable lithium ion battery, AC adaptor.
Dimensions: 128×97x79 WHDmm.
Weight: Approx. 690 g (with memory card and battery).
Price: Get a price on the Nikon D5100 in the following configerations:
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-TX10 Review
Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-TX10 Digital Camera (Black) goes where you go--to the beach, swimming, skiing, biking--with never a worry, because the TX10 is dustproof, waterproof (to 16'/4.87 m)), freezeproof (to 14°F/-10°C) and shockproof from falls as high as 5'/1.5 m. Not only is it tough as nails, the TX10 also takes gorgeous 16.2MP high-resolution photos and full 1920 x 1080 HD video, with its wide-angle 4x 25-100mm (equivalent) zoom lens. The CMOS sensor gives you high speed, high resolution and amazing low-light sensitivity with superb clarity and greatly reduced grain.The bright 3" LCD monitor (with 921K-dot resolution) makes it easy to compose your shots and check them during playback. Optical SteadyShot image stabilization and sensitivity up to 3200 ISO eliminate blurry pictures due to low light conditions. The Superior Auto mode recognizes 33 scenes for photographs and 44 scenes for movies, and supplies the optimal settings for each one of them. You can even shoot 10 full-resolution images in 1 second with high-speed shooting technology.
There are plenty of creative effects available too: 3D and 3D Sweep Panorama, Background Defocus (perfect for portraits with a professional look), and many more. For flattering pictures of friends and family, Soft Skin, Smile Shutter, and Anti-Blink modes give you the best pictures time after time. Superior Auto mode automatically and intelligently recognizes 36 different scenes and instantly supplies the best settings for each one.
Rugged and Stylish - This camera is just as much at home in the water as on a night on the town! The sleek and stylish TX10 fits the slimmest pocket or purse, yet is waterproof to a depth of 16', shockproof from falls up to approximately 5' and dustproof thanks to its airtight construction. This durable camera can even withstand extreme weather conditions, as it is operable in temperatures from 14 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Seamlessly shifting from underwater marvels to a night on the town, the TX10 always makes it easy to get the best shot!
- 16.2 Megapixel Back-illuminated "Exmor R" CMOS Image Sensor
- The DSC-HX7V features a 16.2 megapixel "Exmor R" CMOS image sensor that brings out the full resolving power of the camera's Sony G lens to deliver extremely fast speed, high resolution, and stunning low-light sensitivity with improved image clarity and drastically reduced grain. In addition, the combined "Exmor R" CMOS sensor and BIONZ image processor delivers extremely fast up to 10fps, Anti Motion Blur, Hand-held Twilight and 1080i movie modes.
- Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar Lens W/25mm (Equivalent) Wide Angle 4x Optical Zoom
- The high-performance Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 4x optical zoom lens brings distant subjects closer for video recording as well as for outdoor, sports, and travel photos, and Close Focus shoots close-ups within a 0.5" of the subject. A 25mm equivalent wide-angle lens allows you to take wider shots of the scene or group in crowded spaces.
3.0" XtraFine LCD Display - 3.0" (920K) XtraFine LCD technology gives you brilliant-quality still images and movies with easy focus.
- Full HD 1080/60i
- Record crystal clear movies at the highest resolution available with capabilities for 60i in 1080 Full HD. This provides stunning, fast motion video with less distortion for playback on your HD TV.
- Background Defocus
- DSLR photographs are often beautiful because they blur the background, putting the emphasis on your subject. Now our point-and-shoot cameras can deliver this signature DSLR benefit. The system takes two shots, identifies the background and applies a defocused background keeping the subject crisp and clear.
- 3D Still Image and Panorama
- Produce awe-inspiring images with 3D still image and 3D Sweep Panorama capabilities. Photos will take on a new dimension of creative capabilities for viewing the world in a whole new way.
- High-Resolution iSweep Panorama Mode
- With high resolution iSweep Panorama mode just press the shutter, pan the landscape and let the camera do the rest. It automatically links together each frame to produce a high resolution panoramic image providing the ability to zoom in on small details. This model even detects faces and moving subjects to stitch intelligently different widths to help avoid subject distortion.
- Superior Auto Mode
- Get cleaner, more dynamic pictures and fewer missed shots. The camera automatically recognizes the correct scene mode, then quickly shoots and combines up to six shots to produce images with greater clarity, optimum dynamic range using backlight correction HDR technology and lower image noise using 6 shots layering technology. Superior Auto intelligently detects 33 scenes for still images and 44 scenes for movies, making it easy to get the best shot.
- Backlight Correction HDR
- Don't miss a single detail in high contrast shots. The built in backlight correction analyzes the image and automatically adjusts accordingly to give you a perfectly lit shot. Backlight Correction HDR helps correct for this by taking three pictures at different exposure settings and processing the best elements of each into a single image for more natural looking shots.
- High-Speed Shooting
- The DSC-TX10 can capture full 16.2 megapixel resolution images at up to 10 frames per second, helping to ensure that the decisive moment is captured such as the soccer ball flying into the goal. In addition, the DSC-TX10 employs a mechanical shutter that helps reduce distortion when continuously shooting moving subjects.
- Sweep Multi Angle Mode
- In Sweep Multi Angle mode, the camera takes 15 images at different angles as it sweeps across the scene. By tilting the camera during playback, the camera's Gyro Sensor detects motion and displays the image in a 3D-like view on the camera's LCD.
- Digital Zoom
- Capturing the right shot at the right moment has never been so easy. Digital zoom brings you right close up to the action so you can get that perfect shot, every time.
- Natural Flash
- Conventional point-and-shoot camera flash shots just don't capture colors the way the eye sees them. Natural Flash mode takes a reference shot without flash and then uses that reference to correct the color, for far more lifelike images.
- Optical SteadyShot Image Stabilization
- Optical SteadyShot image stabilization uses a built-in gyro sensor to detect camera shake and automatically shifts the lens to help prevent blur without sacrificing image quality.
- Face Detection Technology
- Sony's Face Detection technology can automatically distinguish between children and adults. Face Detection technology detects up to eight individual faces and adjusts flash, focus, exposure, and white balance to help deliver crisp, properly lit images of family and friends.
- Soft Skin Mode
- Portrait subjects will love the results. Soft Skin mode recognizes skin tones and reduces the appearance of blemishes and wrinkles without affecting the rest of the shot.
- Smile Shutter Technology
- Smile Shutter technology captures a smile the moment it happens. Simply press the Smile Shutter button and the camera does the rest. You can also select adult and child priority and indicate the degree of Smile Detection Sensitivity. Intelligent Scene Recognition can be used together with Smile Shutter mode. This means that beautiful smiles can be captured with settings optimized for the particular scene, even in difficult conditions such as twilight and backlighting.
- Anti-Blink Function
- It's frustrating to think you've captured that perfect shot, only to review it later and discover one of your subjects blinked just as you pressed the shutter. When the camera is set to Soft Snap, the Anti-blink function captures two images, recording only the photo with less squinting or blinking. If a blink is detected in other shooting modes, a warning will be displayed after you take the shot.
- HDMI Output
- The High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a compact audio/video connector interface for transmitting uncompressed digital streams. HDMI connects digital audio/video sources such as a compatible camcorder, Blu-ray Disc player, a personal computer, a video game console, or an AV receiver to a compatible digital audio device and/or video monitor such as a digital television (DTV). Easily connect your Cyber-shot camera via HDMI cable to any compatible HDMI compatible device to easily enjoy and upload your content.
- TransferJet Technology
- TransferJet technology, developed by Sony and advanced and promoted by a consortium of 18 other companies, allows you to transfer up to ten files between two TransferJet enabled devices just by touching their TransferJet logos together, without the hassle of hunting for cables or the complication of pairing.
- Motion Detection
- Motion Detection, along with Face Motion Detection adjusts ISO sensitivity and increases the shutter speed when movement is detected, reducing blur in moving subjects and faces.
- Anti-Motion Blur Mode
- Capture cleaner and sharper images in low light for non-landscape shots. When set in Anti-motion Blur Mode, the DSC-TX10 captures six images in a fraction of a second with higher shutter speed and combines the data from all six to create a single image of extraordinary detail and dramatically reduce subject blur, beyond the capability of traditional cameras.
- Includes Sony PMB (Picture Motion Browser) Software Ver. 5.5
- Sony Picture Motion Browser software offers a simple, intuitive way to transfer, sort, and view your video and still images on your compatible PC. In addition, multiple output options let you burn your memories to DVD using an external DVD burning device (sold separately), as well as take advantage of one click upload to a number of popular video and photo sharing sites (such as Facebook and Sony's Personal Space site).
- Includes Sony PMB Portable software
- With the pre-installed Picture Motion Browser (PMB) Portable the DSC-HX7V makes it easy to pre-select videos and images in the camera and conveniently upload them from the camera to a compatible PC and popular Internet sharing sites without the need for any additional software to install.
- Compatible with PC and Mac Systems
- The Full HD video captured with the DSC-HX7V can be used with the provided Picture Motion Browser software for PC and iMovie (sold separately) for Mac systems.
- credit by http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/750033-REG/Sony_DSCTX10_B_DSC_TX10_Digital_Still_Camera.html
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V Review
The Sony Cyber-shot HX5V digital camera is unique for its 10.2-megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor, and prized for its 10x optical zoom lens in a pocketable size. The Sony HX5V's lens offers a useful 25mm wide-angle to an equally useful 250mm telephoto equivalent. The lens has a two-step aperture with an ND filter, which offers either f/3.5 or f/8.0 at wide-angle; at telephoto the maximum aperture is f/5.5, and the minimum aperture is f/13. Autofocusing is possible to just five centimeters at wide-angle, or 100 centimeters at telephoto.
The Sony HX5V can capture 4:3 aspect ratio images at up to 3,648 x 2,736 pixel resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio images at up to 3,648 x 2,056 pixels, or 60 fields-per-second video at 1080i (1,920 x 1,080 pixel) resolution or below with Dolby Digital stereo audio, using AVC HD compression. In addition, the HX5V includes an updated version of Sony's Sweep Panorama function. Now dubbed Intelligent Sweep Panorama, this now analyzes frame content when capturing and stitching images, avoiding chopping up larger moving subjects. The function allows automatic creation of 270-, 185- or 129-degree panoramas in-camera by simply sweeping the lens across the subject.
On the rear panel of the Sony HX5V is a 3.0-inch TFT Clear Photo LCD panel with 100% coverage, and a resolution of 230,400 dots. There is no optical viewfinder. The Sony HX5V has a 9-point autofocus system, and includes a face detection and recognition system, capable of detecting up to eight faces in a scene and differentiating between children and adults. This capability is used to provide a Smile Shutter function that automatically triggers the shutter when your subject is smiling, as well as both anti-blink and blink-detection features.
The Sony HX5V includes both a GPS receiver and compass built-in, allowing it to tag images with both the location and direction in which they were captured. Sony's bundled software and third-party applications such as Google Earth, which can read these tags, can then use the information to display images on a map by location. Cleverly, the GPS receiver is also used to keep the camera's internal clock accurate. The Sony HX5V also offers Sony's Optical SteadyShot image stabilization, useful for combatting blur caused by camera shake without adversely affecting image quality. This has been updated with a new Active Mode, available only when shooting video, which allows a greater range of movement for the corrective lens element so as to better correct motion from walking, etc.
As well as Intelligent Auto, Program, and Manual modes (but no Aperture or Shutter priority modes), the Sony HX5V offers a selection of fifteen scene modes, which offer an alternative method of control over the look of images. The final mode is something we've seen in Sony's Alpha digital SLRs, now making its Cyber-shot debut: the camera captures several images with varying exposure, and then automatically combines them into a single image with increased dynamic range. There's also an intelligent scene mode which can automatically select from a subset of eight scene modes as appropriate.
Images and movies can be recorded on Sony's proprietary Memory Stick Duo, PRO Duo (Mark 2 only), PRO Duo High Speed, or PRO-HG Duo cards, as well as the more common Secure Digital and Secure Digital High Capacity cards. 45MB of internal memory is also available, useful for capturing a few of the most important photos should you forget to bring a flash card along on a day trip. The Sony HX5V includes HDMI high definition and NTSC / PAL standard definition video output connectivity, as well as USB 2.0 High Speed data connectivity. Power comes courtesy of a proprietary NP-FG1 Infolithium battery pack.
The Sony HX5V digital camera is available from March 2010, priced at around US$350.
Sony HX5V User Report
by Mike Pasini
While it's hard to resist comparing the $349.99 Sony HX5V to other digicams, every attempt I've made feels like I'm slighting the HX5V.
It certainly looks like several of them. It's nearly identical, at least front the front, to the Panasonic Lumix ZS7. And at dueling distance you could easily mistake it for the Canon S90 or, if it were red, a Canon SX200.
And if you go deeper than looks, it even shares a few unusual features with digicams like the Casio FH100.
But all these similarities match just one or two features of the Sony HX5V. As Sony likes to put it, the company's strength comes from making its own lenses, sensors, and processors. The Sony HX5V combines the best of all three -- a Sony G lens, Exmor-R sensor, and Bionz processor -- to deliver a different photographic experience.
That experience isn't quite the one everybody is looking for, though. You know, the simplicity of a point-and-shoot with better quality. There's simplicity and there's quality in the Sony HX5V, but that's just the starting point. The experience itself takes you places other cameras just don't go, no matter their size.
Is it for everyone?
Sony says it designs for those niches in the market that aren't well served. You might think that means just a few people. But there are, apparently, quite a few people who are dissatisfied with the results they get from their current digicam and would love a camera that can deliver better looking pictures without requiring a few semesters at photo school.
The Sony HX5V -- with built-in GPS, 1080i HD video recording plus HDMI output, 10 fps continuous mode, special shooting modes like iSweep and Handheld Twilight modes -- will give them something to think about.
Design. Sony designed the HX5V to be pocketable. It isn't among the slimmest designs, nor is it going to fit in a credit card wallet. But it isn't much bigger. It easily fits in a shirt pocket without rearranging your collar.
That portability suggests you won't need a case for the Sony HX5V and it really does take some of the fun away using one. This is the sort of device you leave near your car keys and goes everywhere with you.
The rectangular body design is actually finished off on the right in something of a column that passes for a grip. It works well enough that I did not pine for an add-on grip like the ones Richard Franiec makes for the Panasonic LX3, Canon S90 and other small digicams. The body surface is slick metal rather than rubberized, so don't neglect to attach the wrist strap. But that's all I needed.
Like the Panasonic Lumix ZS7, the built-in flash sits right next to the grip, rather than on the corner outside the lens. Your shooting finger rests above it on the Shutter button and your middle finger sits a bit below it in the grip groove, but big hands or large fingers may obscure the flash.
There is a small bump at 7 o'clock on the lens flange but it isn't a release button. In fact, there are no filter threads or extension tube threads on the flange.
Like most digicams, the back and top panels have the controls. The sides are not used for anything but the wrist strap eyelet.
The bottom panel has Sony's proprietary connector to which you insert the octopus cable with composite video and USB connectors or the included HDMI adapter. The bottom panel also has a metal tripod socket in the corner under the lens, one speaker (although the Sony HX5V records in stereo from mics on the top panel) and the battery and card compartment at the other end.
The Sony HX5V specifications claim the camera can use either Sony's Memory Stick PRO Duo cards or SD/SDHC cards. But I was unable to fit an SD card in the card slot. The review unit (number 19) was not a production model, however. In fact, no manual was provided by Sony, so we'll have to take Sony's word that it works with both memory card standards, and agree that it's a bonus. Sony did tell us our unit was representative of production image quality.
A tour around the body is all you really need to get a clue how to use the Sony HX5V.
Controls. The top panel has a very small Power button with a green LED in the center to reveal status. It's a good bit too small for me, and because it's flush with the top panel, it's hard to find by feel. The camera turns on so quickly that turning it off to save battery life was something I did a lot. But finding the Power button was always a chore.
To the left of the Power button is the small Shutter Release mode button, which lets you select between taking a single shot or firing off a few. And by "a few" I mean up to 10 frames per second at full resolution. That's quite a bit more than most digicams this size can manage, which tend to be happy with about three fps or less.
The round Mode dial is the largest thing on the top panel, sitting on top of the column that forms the camera's grip. It's just the right place for it. I found the icons a bit hard to read but when you shift the Mode dial, the LCD reports in nice large type just where you are. I did have to rely on that.
The Sony HX-5V's Shutter button is large and easily found. It not only captures stills or video but it can switch the camera to Record mode from Playback. It's ringed with a Zoom lever that I found far too jumpy to comfortably compose images. The zoom behavior is the one thing that was not up to snuff on the Sony HX5V.
The back of the Sony HX-5V has just a few buttons, which means the LCD menu system is where you have to go for finer control of exposure.
At the very bottom are the Menu and Trash buttons. Menu takes you to the Sony HX-5V's LCD menu system, of course, which you navigate with the four-way navigator above the button, confirming selections with the OK button at its center.
The navigator arrow buttons do double duty, handling a few camera functions: The Up arrow changes Display modes: Normal, Bright, Bright with Exposure Data, Bright with Image Only. The Right arrow steps through the Flash modes, which include Auto, Forced, Slow Synchro, and Off. The Down arrow cycles through the Self-Time modes, including Off, Ten Seconds, Two Seconds, Self-Portrait One Person, and Self-Portrait Two People. The Left arrow toggles Smile detection.
I had a recurring problem using the arrow keys to cycle through menus. The natural inclination, once a menu is displayed, is to use an Up or Down arrow to move the selection. That, however, changes the whole menu, not the option. You have to keep pressing the direction key to change options.
Above the navigator is the Playback button, which also powers the camera on. That's a good thing because when you transfer images using the octopus cable, you put the camera face down on the table -- and that's not when you want the lens to pop out. But the Playback button can't power down the camera. For that you have to use the illuminated Power button on top.
Above the Playback button is a larger round button with a red dot in the center. It's the Movie record/standby button. No need to dial in Movie mode on the Mode dial to grab a video clip. Just press the Movie button. Quite a few cameras this year include this feature and it's very handy. Without it, you can easily miss the moment.
The Clear Photo LCD is a large 3.0 inches with 230K pixels. The surface was very hard and not easily scratched. I was careful with it, but the worst thing it picked up were fingerprints. Those, however, were pretty hard to remove. I had to buff with a microfiber cloth.
The LCD image was easy to see in bright sunlight, however, a good thing since there's no other composing device on the Sony HX5V. We did, as I said, have trouble judging exposure when the screen was set to one of the Bright options.
The only problem I had with it was shooting in the dark (which, after all, is something you can do with a Sony HX5V). When using a 16:9 aspect ratio, I couldn't frame my images precisely because the non-imaging areas of the LCD were black, just like the background of my scene.
Lens. With 10 elements in 7 groups including 4 aspheric elements, the Sony G lens on the Sony HX5V is real glass.
Its zoom range begins at a surprisingly useful 25mm (35mm equivalent) and extends to 250mm, about the limit of handheld focal lengths. That 10x range was simply ideal for me.
Movie mode does affect focal length, bumping it up to 30-300mm in 16:9 widescreen or 36-360mm in 4:3.
One of the absolute delights of this G lens is its automatic iAuto Macro mode. You may have noticed there was no Focus mode button on the back panel. You just don't need it. You can get as close as 0.16 foot in wide-angle or 3.28 feet in telephoto and the Sony HX5V will still find focus.
If there was one disappointment to rival the Zoom lever dysfunction, it's the available apertures on the Sony HX5V. There are just two: f/3.5 and f/8.0. A neutral density filter is also employed, but two aperture settings is precious few. In Manual mode at full telephoto only f/5.5 or f/13 were available and at wide-angle only f/3.5 and f/8.0. That may explain why there is no Aperture Priority mode on the Sony HX5V.
Image stabilization is Sony's optical SteadyShot technology. The latest version of Sony's SteadyShot image stabilization technology now compensates for a larger range of motion (like walking as you shoot). There is no menu item to disable it or pick a mode, however. That speaks to the intended audience for the camera, apparently. And frankly, that would be me. I turn it on in normal mode and leave it. Why wouldn't I want steady images?
Modes. The available shooting modes on the Sony HX5V are all accessed from the Mode dial on the top panel.
There are three main still modes: Easy, Intelligent Scene Recognition and Programmed Auto. There is one Manual mode (no Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority). There are several unusual modes including Anti Motion Blur, Handheld Twilight, Backlight Correction HDR. Then there is Scene Selection. And Movie mode. And finally iSweep Panorama mode.
Easy mode displays simple instructions on the LCD with the camera under automatic control, relying on Intelligent Scene Recognition to set the camera options. Preview mode is also simplified. Menu options use very large type and are greatly reduced. For example, only Image Size (Large or Small options) and GPS settings (On or Off) are available. Flash options are limited to Auto or Off, as well.
Intelligent Scene Recognition mode automatically detects nine different types of scenes and, within 1/30th of a second, selects the appropriate camera settings. The nine scenes include Backlight, Backlight Portrait, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Twilight using a tripod, Portrait, Landscape, and Macro.
iSCN has two modes: Auto and Advanced. In Auto Mode, the camera takes a single shot using optimized settings. In Advanced Mode, the camera takes a photo with optimized settings and, if the lighting is difficult (either low light or back light), it immediately takes a second photo with different settings so you can choose between them.
Program Auto selects the shutter speed and aperture automatically, letting you adjust overall exposure using the EV option in the menu system.
Manual mode lets you select between the Sony HX5V's two apertures and any shutter speed from 30 seconds to 1/1,600 second. Press the OK button to change the displayed values using the arrow keys.
Anti Motion Blur captures six images in a fraction of a second at a higher shutter speed than a single exposure would call for. It then composites the six images into one, building the equivalent of a long exposure but avoiding the side effect of subject blur. And it does this without requiring a tripod, aligning the images precisely.
Handheld Twilight is, I must insist, misnamed. This is not something you'll only use at twilight. Here in the fog of San Francisco twilight is never guaranteed, but I use HHT all the time because I love shooting in low light. It's really Handheld Low Light mode.
Again the Sony HX5V captures six images (it seems to be a maximum of six, but Sony says six period) in a fraction of second as you handhold the camera. Then it composites those images into one image that is surprisingly sharp and devoid of noise.
The sharpness comes from careful alignment and the noise reduction from averaging the values of the pixels in the same location on each shot. Brilliant.
What you get are images you otherwise would never be able to capture. You can shoot in the dark (and I did). You can shoot in candlelight. You can shoot in streetlight. The only catch is that the subject itself must not be moving. Much. More about this in the Shooting section.
Backlight Correction HDR is another mode that relies on the Bionz processor to composite an image. In this case the Sony HX5V takes two shots at different exposure settings, one for highlights and one for shadows, before building one image with the best of both, extending the density range of the shot.
This is Sony's answer to the backlighting problem where your subject is in the shade of a brighter background light like a sunset or a window, a situation which normally captures a silhouette, not the person you thought you were photographing.
But it obviously has many other uses. I think of it as HDR mode. Not the stylized HDR effect Photomatix users foist upon innocent bystanders, but an actual high density range mode that extends tonality with detail beyond what Sony's Dynamic Range Optimization contains.
Scene modes include High Sensitivity, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Soft Snap, Landscape, Beach, Snow, Fireworks, Advanced Sports Shooting, Gourmet, and Pet.
AVCHD Movie. 1920 x 1080 60i HD movie with "Active" SteadyShot. (Click to download 6.8MB MTS file.)
Movie modes. The Sony HX5V has five movie modes. For the highest quality, it offers AVCHD recording at 1920 x 1080 and 60 fields per second. There is also a 1440 x 1080 AVCHD mode which may sound like a 4:3 aspect ratio, but is actually a subsampled 16:9 mode. AVCHD captures more detail and records smoother movement while minimizing file size. But you can also record HD video in MP4 mode at 1440 x 1080, 1280 x 720 or 640 x 480, all at 30 fps.
Sony claims the Bionz processor can deliver "a superior level of image smoothness" with optical SteadyShot in "Active" Movie mode. You can walk, ride or jog as you record and the scene will be stabilized. We tried it walking down a steep trail and found the video was not as disorienting as we expected (see clip at left).
iSweep Panorama is the last option on the Mode dial but the one that's the most fun. I really needed the manual for this one because I kept goofing it up by panning too slowly. But the game is played by sweeping from one side to the other (or up and down or down and up: you use the menu system to indicate which way you're going) as the camera grabs 100 shots and stitches them together in one second.
Playback is dramatic. Press the OK button and the camera plays the image back at full height, panning just as you did when you took the shot. And if the LCD isn't big enough for you, it works the same way on your HDTV.
This version of the feature is more intelligent than the first release last year. It can detect faces and moving objects, stitching in the faces and skipping the moving subjects to avoid distortion. It can also automatically adjust capture speed for a smoother image. And the sweep can now extend to 270 degrees, another 100 degrees from the HX1. It seemed to composite better, too.
Now if I could just get the timing down right....
TransferJet. TransferJet is a new wireless transfer protocol supported by Canon, Casio, Kodak, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, and Samsung, all members of the TransferJet Consortium. Files are transferred wirelessly between two TransferJet devices when they are brought within an inch of each other. According to the spec, transfer speed can achieve up to 375 megabits per second and no device pairing is required, as it is with Bluetooth.
The Sony HX5V supports this new protocol (although it can be disabled in the Setup menu). But to take advantage of it, HX5V owners will need a TransferJet-capable Memory Stick for about $100. And a TransferJet-capable device to receive the files.
GPS, Compass. Yes, the Sony HX5V has a built-in GPS radio. Somewhere. In my experience with several GPS devices (reviewed elsewhere on this site), they all take a few beats to lock into the available satellites and they all have quite an appetite for battery power.
GPS. Lightroom's metadata display includes a button for GPS tags that takes you right to Google Maps.
No doubt the GPS radio in the Sony HX5V also drains the camera's battery some, but it didn't severely impact recording time, which Sony estimates at 310 images or 155 minutes. I don't know how they managed that, but hurray.
A small icon on the LCD indicates GPS is active, and when it's sufficiently synched, three bars appear next to the icon. Before it syncs, three very small lines appear before a big circle and slash, indicating "no sync." The three very small lines flash until there are three, and then the three bars appear.
Unfortunately it takes a few beats to sync and a few more to sync with more satellites (three to five minutes). There's no LED on the Sony HX5V to indicate sync, as there is on the aftermarket units I've used. If it hasn't yet synced, no GPS data is recorded, so watch that status icon if geolocating is important to you.
Another icon just left of the satellite icon, in the form of a compass, shows the camera's orientation. You do have to orient the compass in the Setup menu by waving the camera in a figure eight pattern until it beeps (which happens quickly). But a red arrow in the icon will then indicate North.
Together they give you the longitude, latitude, altitude (such as GPS can) and heading of the camera for any particular image.
It's so unobtrusive (you pay no penalty for using it) that you may be inclined to turn this GPS and compass combo on and use it all the time. But if you post your pictures publicly, think this strategy over carefully. Do you really want to reveal the location of, say, your private residence or the home of some child whose party you attended?
Lenses, Sensors, Processors. From this scattered description of the Sony HX5V, it may not be obvious how Sony's own lens, sensor and processor combine to deliver some marvelous benefits. That's especially true because some of them, like SteadyShot image stabilization and Dynamic Range Optimization, are just enabled and configured without a menu item to highlight them.
To rectify that situation lets follow a photon through the Sony HX5V to see what Sony technology does to it.
Zoom Range. 25mm to 250mm to 2x digital zoom.
The G lens is the point of entry and it's no tiny compact lens. With 10 elements in 7 groups including 4 aspheric elements, it's more of a photographic tool than the any but long zoom digicams offer. No surprise, either, because G lenses are used in Sony's dSLRs and prosumer HD camcorders, too. Optical SteadyShot image stabilization smooths the effects of camera shake.
Next, our little photon hits the Exmor-R CMOS sensor. You've been told over and over that the larger the sensor the better the light-gathering ability. That means higher ISOs with lower noise.
But the Exmor-R is a small sensor. And yet Sony measures double the light-gathering ability of similarly-sized sensors. How can that be?
A conventional sensor is a sandwich of technology. On top are small lenses that bend the light into a red, green or blue color filter. Below the filter is where all the electrical connections reside with narrow channels for the photon to pass through to the light-receiving surface on the photodiode on the bottom layer. The wiring layers, used for signal propagation, rob the photodiode of light.
On an Exmor-R sensor, the top layer is still the on-chip lens over a color filter, but the light-receiving surface and photodiode are moved above the electrical connections. Noise is reduced and nearly twice as much light gets to the photodiode.
There's more on this interesting approach (also being pursued by Casio and Fujifilm) on Sony's site.
Now things get interesting for our photon. The Exmor-R sensor passes it on to the Bionz processor. It's like being sent to a spa.
If you were in Burst mode, you can capture 10 frames a second at full resolution. If you were in iSweep Panorama mode, 100 shots are stitched together in under a second. If you were in HDR mode, two shots are composited. In Handheld Twilight and Anti Motion Blur modes, up to six images are composited. And even if you were just in Easy mode or Program Auto, Dynamic Range Optimization made sure your highlights weren't blown out and your shadows didn't muddy their detail.
Storage & Battery. In addition to the 45MB of internal memory, the Sony HX5V supports both Sony's proprietary Memory Stick PRO Duo card format and SD/SDHC cards in a hybrid card slot. This particular review unit was only able to use MS cards, however. For capturing video, Sony recommends Memory Stick PRO Duo with Mark2 logo or PRO-HG and Class 4 or higher SD/SDHC cards.
The small InfoLITHIUM G type 3.6V battery consumes about 1.1 watts. Sony rates it for 310 still images or 155 minutes. Sony lists a $39.99 AC adapter for the Sony HX5V, which connects via the multi-connector. A second battery costs $49.99.
Image Quality. Our lab shot of the Resolution target at ISO 125 shows excellent resolution running up to about 1,600 lines both horizontally and vertically.
The Still Life at ISO 125 was revealing. The colored yarns were easily distinguishable and the white yarn retained detail. The proportional scale below it was readable and sharp throughout. The dark and light napkins under the mug both held detail without the lighter one blooming. The Samuel Smith label did not hold detail in the "Pure Brewed" type, but it did hint at it. The salt and pepper shakers likewise held detail. It's not quite as good as we've been seeing from 12-megapixel sensors at even higher ISOs, so keep that in mind when considering whether the 10-megapixel Exmor sensor is delivering more than the 12-megapixel sensor on the Panasonic ZS7, for example.
The Multitarget test at ISO 125 and wide-angle showed very little softening in the corners, as well as very low geometric distortion. Chromatic aberration was also fairly low.
There seems to be some noise suppression going on (an old Sony weakness), particularly at higher ISOs, but even at the lowest. This is apart from the long exposure noise reduction tracked in the Exif header.
Shooting. Shooting with the Sony HX5V is not the same kind of fun you can have considering the focal length, ISO, aperture, and shutter speed on your dSLR. It's a different kind of photography, much like snow boarding is a different winter sport than cross country skiing.
And, in fact, in can be a little unnerving to cede as much control to the camera as the Sony HX5V takes. The tweaks you're used to making just aren't available.
So, you might wonder, what do you do with the thing?
The first thing we did was take some absurdly low light photos in Handheld Twilight mode. We had some flowers on the dining room table, dimmed the halogen lights and took a shot. The white balance was crazy, so we dove into the menu system, set the white balance by aiming at a napkin and took another HHT shot. Bingo!
That was too easy, we thought. What about doing a macro in HHT? And just to make it interesting, let's shoot a label on the minerale bottle. No way that will line up and no way we'll get any depth of field.
Oh were we wrong. So wrong. We doubled over laughing. Smart little camera. We got the picture we wanted instead of the picture we expected.
The next day, we did a series of low light shots of the dolls: the gallery shots YDSC00019 through YDSC00026. Disregard the Exif display, you'll need a program to tell the modes. Here they are: HDR, HHT, Scene High ISO, Program ISO Auto/400/800/1,600/3,200.
What can we learn from this? A few things.
That HDR shot two images at ISO 800 while HHT shot six at ISO 3,200 for one thing. Why ISO 3200? Because compositing the six shots, the Sony HX5V had no fear of ISO 3,200 noise and it was able to use a faster shutter speed of 1/10 second (SteadyShot to the rescue there, too, BTW).
Oddly enough, shooting in Scene mode at High ISO also used ISO 3,200 but at 1/8 second. I prefer the tonality of the HHT shot to the High ISO shot.
That takes us to Program Auto on the Mode dial (where we usually shoot), manually stepping through the higher ISO options. The first interesting thing to notice is that Auto is capped at ISO 400 even though at 0.6 second shutter speed we ended up with a blurry image.
ISO 800 at 0.4 second is still too slow a shutter speed but at ISO 1,600, the shutter gets into SteadyShot range at 1/10 second. That's a darker shot than the ISO 3,200 shot at 1/10 second, though.
Low light conclusion? Use HHT. It works.
Another thing that was apparent right from the start was how useful the shutter sound was for these longer exposures. You can actually hear if the shot is too long for a good handheld result and switch to another mode.
The next shot on the gallery page is a macro of an old carpenter's pencil captured at f3.5. There are two things I loved about this shot. The first is that I didn't have to switch into Macro mode. The camera did that automatically. The second is that the depth of field is unusually generous for a macro shot. It was the shot I wanted, not the one I expected again.
Five shots from the Photoshop anniversary party at the Palace of Fine Arts follow the macro shot. Three of them are of the Palace itself in the fog at night. These shots include GPS data (in case you don't know where the Palace is). They also show HHT in operation.
It's interesting to note that the Sony HX5V elected to disable DRO for these shots. And that the camera knew it was a night scene.
When I went into the theater, I tried a few settings before settling on Program Auto, ISO 800 (because Auto is capped at ISO 400) and -1.7 EV (to accommodate the stage lighting). I wasn't close to the podium. The Exif data doesn't include distance data but you can see from the focal length that I'm at the full telephoto position.
When I shot these pictures I really didn't think I was getting anything usable. I really should have been closer but I would rather have streaked the stage than sauntered up below Scott Kelby with a point-and-shoot and blocked the Knoll brothers, Jeff Schewe, Stephen Johnson, Mikkel Aaland and every other Photoshopping legend in town to take a few closer shots of the speakers.
It was only when I processed the images for the story that I marveled at how well ISO 800 stood up. The 250 pixel head shots that ended up in the story are themselves reduced, of course. But the gallery shots show the full resolution story. The shot I wanted, certainly not what I expected.
My next excursion was a visit to the Rumbolino, getting a little deferred maintenance at Daytona Motors. I turned on GPS and took a long walk, for the most part shooting in Program Auto and enjoying both the 25mm and 250mm ends of the lens.
YDSC00102 is an HDR shot, the exception, but the scene called out for it. Normally, you'd expect the sky to go white and the road above to be devoid of detail. But in this case I got what I wanted.
The walk ends with a close-up of a flower. Again, not having to worry about when to switch to Macro mode makes this kind of thing a real pleasure. One you can enjoy any time.
GPS Tags
Sony HX5V GPS tags with sample values- GPSVersionID: 2.2.0.0
- GPSLatitudeRef: North
- GPSLongitudeRef: West
- GPSAltitudeRef: Above Sea Level
- GPSTimeStamp: 22:43:49.45
- GPSStatus: Measurement Active
- GPSMeasureMode: 3-Dimensional Measurement
- GPSSpeedRef: km/h
- GPSSpeed: 0.3
- GPSTrackRef: True North
- GPSTrack: 185.1
- GPSImgDirectionRef: Magnetic North
- GPSImgDirection: 6.25
- GPSMapDatum: WGS-84
- GPSDateStamp: 2010:02:22
- GPSDifferential: No Correction
- plus
- GPSAltitude: 263.7 m Above Sea Level
- GPSDateTime: 2010:02:22 22:44:10.144Z
- GPSLatitude: 37 deg 45' 16.59" N
- GPSLongitude: 122 deg 26' 46.43" W
- GPSPosition: 37 deg 45' 16.59" N, 122 deg 26' 46.43" W
My next excursion was up Twin Peaks to shoot the zoom range shots. Again, GPS was active. The GPS tags and typical values reported by the camera are shown at right.
On the way up, I took a lot of macro shots. The purple flowers are backlit and my posture was unsteady, still the shot is crisp at 1/160 second. I hadn't expected that. Color on the shot of the poppy is just right, deep but not overly saturated. I did have trouble with some red flowers in the rain (which were oversaturated) but red is a problem in general.
There are the usual zoom shots, which include the 2x traditional digital zoom (500mm equivalent).
And then there is an iSweep Panorama. Two, actually. One shot using a 4:3 aspect ratio and another using 16:9. Stitching seemed better in the Sony HX5V than last year's version of Sweep Panorama. I finally figured out I could fill the panorama frame (which seems to be a fixed size no matter how you pan) by moving across the scene faster.
More close-ups and one wide-angle of a row of logs with a bike rider resting at the top of the hill, a nice shot that came together with DRO in the blink of an eye. That's something you can do with the Sony HX5V that a more involved camera would take much longer to accomplish.
I reviewed these shots on an HDTV using the included HDMI adapter. This particular HDTV has one (occupied) HDMI input, so I merely borrowed the other end of the cable, attached it to the adapter and plugged the adapter into the connector on the bottom of the Sony HX5V. Then I pressed the Playback button to turn the camera on and switched inputs on the HDTV until the HDMI connection was being read. Very simple.
Sony has a wonderful slide show presentation (in addition to a straight slide show option) with music and various styles available. I just used the arrow keys, though, to linger over my shots. They were crisp with excellent color.
But the one thing I got a thrill out of were the pano shots. Press the OK button and the shot scrolls from left to right like Ken Burns was your uncle. On an HDTV this is breathtaking.
AVCHD Movie. Optical zoom supported. (Click to download 7MB MTS file.)
Stills don't zoom well, though. It seems I wasn't getting the full resolution of the image. An Exif tag gives a clue: MPImageType is "Large Thumbnail (full HD equivalent)" -- suggesting for HD display only the thumbnails are transmitted. The Multi-Picture Format to which this tag refers is documented by CIPA.
Movies played very nicely on the big screen, too.
The final three shots in the gallery were taken on a rainy day. I didn't expose the camera to a downpour but it held up well in the elements. It isn't waterproof, but it's nice to know you can use it if you're cautious.
Sony HX5V Print Quality
Printed results from the Sony HX5V are good, handling enlargement up to 13x19 inches at the lowest ISO settings, though with some noticeable softness due to overaggressive noise suppression at ISO 125 (the lowest setting). 11x14-inch prints look better at both 125 and 200. ISO 400 also looks good at 11x14, but with a little more softening in low contrast areas. ISO 800 shots are soft but usable at 8x10, and ISO 1,600 shots look good at 5x7 inches. ISO 3,200 produces a quite good 4x6, with good color and decent shadows. While it's an overall good performance from the Sony HX5V, it's a little disappointing when you consider the promise of its back-illuminated sensor.Because the magic of the Sony HX5V is found in modes like Handheld Twilight, we also printed a sample of our Low Light test shots shot in that mode, adjusting levels because our HHT shots were a bit dim, and prints looked good printed up to 11x14 inches.
In the Box
The Sony HX5V retail package includes:
- Sony HX5V camera
- NP-GB1 rechargeable battery pack
- Battery charger
- Wrist strap
- Software CD-ROM
- Multi-connector AV/USB cable
- HDMI adapter
Sony HX5V Conclusion
| Pro: | Con: |
|---|---|
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That's a longer list of Cons than I expected. The Con items themselves represent relatively minor issues or misplaced expectations whereas the Pro items represent real value. So don't let the list fool you.
Let the Sony HX5V fool you instead. Turn it on, compose the image and fire. Don't worry about the settings except to ask yourself if you should be in Program Auto, HDR, HHT or iSweep Panorama. And maybe 4:3 or 16:9. Then let the camera take it from there.
You'll be as surprised as I was when you get the picture you wanted instead of the one you expected. The Sony HX5V will capture what you saw, what attracted you to the scene, not what a camera sees through its tiny lens, crammed on its tiny sensor and massaged with brass knuckles by its image processor. The Sony HX5V makes few excuses.
And a camera that makes few excuses is a great traveling companion. You don't have to worry about choosing between a wide-angle zoom and a long zoom because the compact Sony HX5V starts at a very wide 25mm and stretches to a barely hand-holdable 250mm. You can get the interior of a chapel or, just as easily, that faraway castle.
And when you're in that dark little chapel, you can switch to the Sony HX5V's Handheld Twilight mode and actually get the picture. It's great for museums, too, where flash is verboten and tripods proibito. You won't need either with the Sony HX5V. There's even a Gourmet Scene mode to record your culinary adventures, too.
When we printed and compared images from the Sony HX5V and its nearest competitors (the Canon SX200 and Panasonic ZS7), the Sony came in one size smaller at the lowest ISO, producing "only" a 13x19-inch print, while the other two managed a 16x20. That's really not a big difference, though. Considering that the HX5V is a 10-megapixel sensor, it does fairly well stacked up against these two 12-megapixel sensors. There was a little more noise suppression smudging in the HX5V as well, but it didn't show up in the printed results.
Still, for a 10x zoom to output 13x19-inch prints is pretty impressive. Add in the superb usability and low light modes, there's no question that the Sony HX5V is a Dave's Pick if there ever was one.
credit by Mike Pasini and Zig Weidelich http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/HX5V/HX5VA.HTM
Personally, I think the camera is used. With stunning looks. Look good portability. Affordable. As with many of its small size.
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