Monday 15 July 2013

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX10V Review




The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX10V can be a travel-zoom camera that’s positioned as being a more affordable option to the raneg-topping HX20V. The real key differences between each models are the 16x zoom as opposed to 20X, 1080 60/50i compared to. 60/50p video, absolutely no manual focus, the shorter flash assortment, 5cm vs. 1cm macro, 2-way compared to. 3-way image stabilizer, absolutely no custom button, and also a slimmer body. Otherwise the HX10V will be identical, offering the 16x, 24-384mm zoom lens, 18. 2 megapixel back-illuminated Exmor Ur CMOS sensor as well as built-in GPS tracking filled with a compass, the HX10V has full 1080 60/50i high-definition video clip recording with stereo system sound and HDMI output and 3D Pass Panoramas and animations Still Images. Other key top features of the Sony HX10V add a 3 inch LCD display screen with 921, 000-dots, quick 0. 13 second auto-focusing, 10fps burst shooting mode with full resolution, ISO variety of 100-12800, Optical SteadyShot with Active Mode, Brilliant Auto Plus, Program and full Handbook shooting modes, artistic Picture Effect modes, Intelligent Sweep Panoramas, as well as support for each Memory Stick PROFESSIONAL Duo and Secure Digital cards. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX10V comes in black for all-around £259. 99 and $329. 99.
Convenience
The DSC-HX10V will be Sony's latest travel-zoom camera, following 2011's popular HX9V model. Travel-zooms now typically offer at the very least a 16x or perhaps bigger lens inside a compact body that you can still fit in a very pocket, with some products upping the ante to your 20x lens. The Sony DSC-HX10V joins the party having a 16x, 24-384mm stretching out optical lens with respectable maximum apertures regarding f/3. 2 on the 24mm wide-angle location and f/5. 9 on the 384mm full telephoto location.
The HX10V's lens can be a real joy to use, with a 16x zoom in that slim package making this camera very versatile, with everything by ultra-wide landscapes in order to candid long-distance pictures within easy achieve. The 24mm focal length provides an entirely new extensive angle of view that can only increase your own creativity. You won't want to return to a "standard" 35mm zoom after while using 24mm lens about the DSC-HX10V, or even the 28mm one - 4mm on the wide-angle end really does make a change.
Even when arranged to 384mm, the lens doesn't extend beyond the boundary from the front in the HX10V, making it browse all intents and purposes as being a "normal" compact camera. The combination in the f/3. 3 aperture, effective optical image stabilizer and greatest ISO speed regarding 12800 makes this camera suitable to hand-held low-light digital photography, not to refer to the wealth regarding dedicated shooting modes. Sony has installed a dual image stabilisation mechanism in the shape of each optical SteadyShot as well as an ISO assortment that extends around ISO 12800, much there are on your common point-and-shoot. Note that as with most recent Cyber-shots, it's not possible to actually turn off of the SteadyShot function, Sony assuming that it's better fired up permanently.
Despite its big zoom lens, the HX10V remains to be a slender camera, measuring just within 3cms at the narrowest point as well as weighing 234g while using battery and memory card fitted, with a huge 3-inch, 921k-dot resolution LCD screen on the rear As you'd expect having a screen of which size on this kind of small camera, the HX10V does not have any optical viewfinder in order to fall back about in brighter illumination conditions.
Providing the way of gripping the camera can be a textured, rubberised protrusion about the front and a little thumb-shaped lozenge about the rear, making the DSC-HX10V easy to go to grips with even with its mostly clean plastic surface. Also located on the front of the HX10V will be the centrally located lens and also a porthole on the left with the self-timer/AF illuminator. There's a pop-up flash unit over the camera that's automatically raised after you select a thumb mode.
Press the smaller On/Off button in the top plate and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX10V rapidly readies itself for action in a just on the second. The adequately type of shutter-release button includes a definite halfway point, very quickly determining focus and exposure having a bleep of acceptance even in low-light, focus points highlighted as green rectangles about the LCD. Go on for taking the shot and also the JPEG images are dedicated to memory in one second, the screen briefly blanking out after which it displaying the captured image prior to a user can continue to take another shot.



                 

The shutter release button is encircled by the responsive forefinger-operated push/pull rocker zoom lens lever, with the camera taking all-around three seconds in order to zoom from wide-angle in order to full telephoto. The HX10V's double built-in stereo microphones are located over the camera.
A round firing mode dial having a knurled edge as well as positive action wraps up the HX10V's top-plate, allowing you to quickly switch between your various shooting modes which have been on offer. Sony possesses included Intelligent Auto scene recognition, which works throughout virtually identical fashion to the intelligent auto modes of Panasonic's as well as Canon's compact stages. Simply point the HX10V in a scene or subject and also the camera analyses that and automatically chooses one of 11 pre-optimised settings to best go well with. There's also the Superior Auto mode, which places greater increased exposure of reducing blur as well as noise and increasing the dynamic assortment.
Adding to the HX10V's snapshot straightforwardness, these features go with face recognition as well as smile shutter functionality up to speed, the former mode biasing human faces in the frame and the latter mode firing the shutter when it detects the smiling subject. The head Detection system on auto-pilot adjusts the focus, exposure and white balance for folks in the frame, and can even be set to tell apart between children as well as adults. Smile Recognition offers three self-explanatory choices, Big, Normal as well as Slight. Used in tandem, the Face as well as Smile Detection systems do end in more hits when compared with misses, especially throughout contrasty lighting problems, although all these smiling faces can ultimately freak you out just a little! The self-portrait options in the self-timer menu function by automatically using the shot having a two second hold up after either a couple of people have came into the frame.
Beyond the regular Program mode, which provides the total range of camera options and additionally lets you change settings just like the ISO speed as well as metering, is the welcome inclusion of a fully Manual mode that allows you to independently set the aperture and shutter rate, which will instantly attract the more knowledgeable photographer. The variety of apertures on offer you is unfortunately rather on a just two settings at either end in the lens (f/3. 3 or perhaps f/8. 0 with 24mm and f/5. 9 or f/14 at 384mm) while using camera employing the built-in Neutral Denseness filer, but the ability to choose from 25 - 1/1600th second shutter speeds and set the aperture and shutter speed should you desire opens up plenty of creative potential. Sadly you will discover no Aperture or perhaps Shutter priority modes, which would have got narrowed the ability gap between Program and Manual, and there is absolutely no support for the RAW extendable either, which would really have been the icing about the cake for serious photographers looking for a backup-pocket camera to their DSLR.
The Intelligent Pass Panorama mode allows you to capture a panoramic image simply without the application of a tripod. All you ought to decide is whether you desire to start from eventually left or right, best or bottom. Then press as well as hold down the shutter release while doing a "sweep" with the camera available. Exposure compensation is available before starting the sweep, however the exposure is fixed when you depress the shutter option. After you are through with the sweeping, the camera does the many processing required, and presents you having a finished panoramic image. There are 3 modes, Standard, Wide and High res, with the second option mode successfully stitches together a forty two. 9 megapixel image - not bad for a simple compact! Note that should you choose the sweeping too slowly, or you release the shutter release button prematurily ., the panorama will likely be truncated.
For those who like a healthy dose of gimmickry making use of their gadgets, the HX10V gives a 3D still image mode - an addition to the now expected animations Sweep Panorama mode and also the 'cheat' of the lenticular print-like Pass Multi Angle mode, also again featured here. This option will not require two upgraded lenses and two sensors to generate a stereoscopic image. Instead the Sony usually takes two consecutive photos from two distinct vantage positions as well as combines them to its 3D effect. Like all of its stereoscopic opponents you'll still desire a 3D equipped TELEVISION to properly view the effects.




Pop-up Flash
Area

In the Hand-held The twilight series and Anti Motions Blur shooting modes, the DSC-HX10V usually takes six shots inside a rapid sequence, typically in a high sensitivity setting and also a (relatively) fast shutter rate, and then combines them in to a single image that's somewhat less noise over a single shot taken on the same ISO as well as exposure settings. In your experience, the difference between your two modes will be that in Anti Motions Blur mode, the camera is more willing to pick a really high ISO location like ISO 1600 to take care of a fast shutter rate, whereas in Hand-held The twilight series mode, it will only go as high as absolutely necessary to prevent camera shake on the chosen focal period. If light degrees are truly small, however, the HX10V will select a high ISO speed even within this mode.
Backlight Correction HDR can be a feature where the HX10V automatically tries for a takedown two frames rapid succession, varying the exposure for every one then combining them to manufacture a single image with more detail possible in the shadows and illustrates. You can see on the example on the Image Quality page that this feature produces an image with noticeably far more dynamic range when compared with one taken using on the list of standard shooting modes, but at once without replicating the often "false" look of several HDR programs. Note that you ought to mount the camera over a tripod to stay clear of any unwanted camera-shake, and we were disappointed that you can only turn Backlight Static correction HDR on or perhaps off, with no options for varying the intensity in the effect. Background Defocus attempts to mimic the sharp subject as well as out-of-focus background influence that DSLR entrepreneurs typically enjoy, again shooting a couple frames in rapid succession but this time around varying the aperture.
Present and correct will be the increasingly ubiquitous capability to shoot High Definition films at full 1080i HIGH DEFINITION with stereo sound as opposed to mono. The various choices are 1920x1280 or perhaps 1440x1280 pixels at 60/50i in the AVCHD format, as well as 1440x1280, 1280x720 or 640x480 pixels at 30/25fps in the MPEG4 format. During video recording you possibly can take a 13 megapixel even now image by demanding the shutter option, or alternatively grab a still from a video footage in the course of playback.
There is full by using the 16x optical zoom lens during recording in order to really take full advantage of that massive focal assortment, plus the capability to change the EV degree, white balance, and metering options and first turn on either standard SteadyShot or perhaps the Active Manner mode, which provides around 10x more effectiveness without the need of side-effects. There's also an immediate HDMI output on the camera, useful for participating in back your footage over a HDTV set, although sadly there is absolutely no HDMI cable supplied in the box. The dedicated Movie button about the rear of the DSC-HX10V lets you start recording a movie having a single push of a button, and then stop recording by pressing the same button - additional intuitive than the need to select the video mode then click the shutter option, as on many compacts. You may also activate the video mode via the Shooting Mode switch.
GPS is a feature that has little by little been finding the way into cameras as the technology has smaller and more cost-effective to implement, making its debut about last year's HX5 as well as unsurprisingly being retained with the HX10V. This potentially lets you seamlessly geo-tag your own photos (latitude as well as longitude co-ordinates are stored in the EXIF data) after which it sort and show them using geo-friendly websites such as Google Earth as well as Google Maps or perhaps the supplied Photograph Motion Browser COMPUTER SYSTEM software. The HX10V in addition uses the GPS to maintain the camera occasion accurate, has a built-in compass which shows shows which direction you used to be pointing when the picture was considered, and can plot your progress while using new GPS Sign Recording function whether or not the camera is switched off.
The GPS function can be manually turned about or off and also the current GPS position is displayed as being a small icon about the LCD screen. Three bars appear close to the icon if the GPS has synced with several satellites, which unfortunately takes a couple of minutes from powering about the camera. Thankfully once it's synced, the HX10V's NAVIGATION receiver works a lot better than most other GPS-capable cameras that we've examined, saving accurate setting information for almost all of the images that we shot in built-up main London, making this camera much more useful for elegant photographers. The main downside in the HX10V's GPS will be the subsequent drain about battery life, with the camera only managing simply over 300 photos with GPS turned on as opposed to the 400 that it may manage without.




Memory card Slot
Battery Compartment

The rear in the DSC-HX10V is dominated with the large 3 " LCD screen, while using resolution a satisfyingly high-res 912k dots. To the right of the screen will be the useful one-touch video record button and also a small button with regard to playing back your own images. Users can dip in and outside of created folders regarding images or the calendar view, look at thumbnails, select slideshows as well as choose transitional consequences and accompanying audio, or delete photos. Press the shutter option halfway and you are helpfully catapulted back into capture mode. And that's basically it. Which has a press of the Menu button throughout playback, users get access to a few in-camera retouching consequences, including the capability to crop and sharpen a picture and apply red-eye a static correction.
Underneath the Playback button can be a traditional round navigation pad which you can use to navigate via menus and choices, in conjunction while using small button in the centre which activates whatever it's you've chosen. The four directions about the navigation pad in addition provide a quick technique of setting the Display, Flash, the brand-new Photo Creativity user interface and Continuous Shooting/Timer choices. The Photo Creativity causes it to become easier for beginners to improve the colour, perfection, vividness and Photograph effect modes, with changes previewed instantly on the LCD display screen.
Finally, there are buttons with the camera's menu system and for deleting images beneath navigation pad. The menu button accesses a lot of the camera's main characteristics - image size, burst settings, bracketing, direct exposure compensation, ISO, whitened balance, focus mode, metering, smile detection, and face detection - plus an icon in the bottom to open the four Settings choices. The latter includes the ability to deactivate the camera's 'bleep' which otherwise sounds with every button click, choose the video format and switch on red-eye reduction in the event that required.
The navigation sleeping pad also doubles up as being a control ring that's employed to set the aperture as well as shutter speed in the Manual shooting mode, amongst other points. The ring can be a little small as well as over-sensitive, and the need to press the little central button to toggle between your ISO speed, shutter speed as well as aperture quickly becomes a tad tiresome, but the ability to take full control in the HX10V is even now very welcome.
Pressing the generate mode button raises two options, one or burst, with high-, mid- and low-speed constant options then available in the Menu system. Out of these kind of, the high-speed continuous mode will be the most remarkable. The HX10V uses up to 10 full-resolution photos in a frankly astounding 10 frames per second, which is faster than most compact cameras as well as most DSLRs too. The only fly in the ointment is that when the burst is completed, it takes more than fifteen seconds with the camera to apparent the buffer, when you cannot acquire another picture. Inside other two constant shooting modes, the Sony HX10V also uses up to 10 images, but at slower speeds of 5 or 2 frames per second.
The bottom in the Sony HX10V carries a standard metal attach thread for attaching it to your tripod which will be conveniently located in the center. A plastic handle protects the lithium-ion battery and also the removable memory minute card, with the HX10V assisting the SD and SDHC / SDXC format along with Sony's own exclusive Pro Duo Memory Stick format. There's also a hardly worth that 11MB internal recollection to fall back where can store 7 full-resolution even now images. The right side in the HX10V has a little metal eyelet with the supplied wrist strap plus the HDMI port below a sturdy plastic-type material cover, while you will discover no controls about the left side (looking on the rear).