Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX100V review

The rather frightening price of Sony’s DSC-HX100V puts it firmly in DSLR territory. And from a distance, that’s exactly what it looks like.

It’s chunky, which means it’s comfortable to hold, and there’s a brilliant 3in articulated LCD with a 921kpixel resolution. A proximity sensor switches on the electronic viewfinder when you raise your eye to it, there’s a GPS receiver for geotagging photos, and a 1080p video mode that records at 50fps – these unusual features help explain the high price.

The screen has excellent viewing angles, and the resolution helps when focusing manually. Most superzoom cameras implement manual focusing poorly, but the HX100V has a ring on the lens barrel, also used for zooming.

Controls are equally well placed, and give quick access to the settings you need. A jog wheel lets you to adjust ISO, shutter and aperture, plus EV compensation, removing the need for dedicated buttons. There’s also a programmable Custom button, which can be set to a virtual graduated filter. This was ineffective, but the camera’s intelligent Sweep Panorama works well. Even handheld panoramas look good, but you’ll need a tripod for perfect joins. Panoramas can also be in stereoscopic 3D, and there’s an odd mode that shows the resulting 3D image on the LCD when you tilt the camera.

Photos look great and, despite the 16-megapixel sensor, noise was kept under control. The reason is back illumination, which moves the circuitry to the rear of the CCD, allowing more light to fall on the photo receptors. The HX100V picks out detail in textures that other cameras blur.

The Carl Zeiss lens was pin-sharp right through its 30x range. Optical stabilisation keeps shots sharp at full zoom, and works when shooting movies too.

The HX100V is great, but it's significantly more expensive than a camera such as the Panasonic DMC-FZ100. The increase in quality, performance and features can’t be ignored, but doesn’t quite justify the price premium.

Author: Jim Martin