Customer Reviews on Amazon.com

1. 154 of 167 people found this review helpful

   By michfan1 on Amazon.com 30 May, 2011

   HX9V packed with features but image quality could be improved

   I've been testing the camera for several days now, and whilst the features and technical aspects of the hx9V are great, I regret to say, I just couldn't get past the 'average' image quality. This was the deal breaker for me. Suffice it to say, it did not meet my total expectations; the camera was returned today. Pictures of buildings, people, grass, trees, landscape shots, for example, all look a bit washed out (at times look hazy and smudgy), almost like a watercolor effect. This is all due to Sony's aggressive NR software built into the camera, which has been noted by expert reviewers and actual owners of the HX9V. Buildings and flesh tones on caucasian skins, especially, look too smoothed out (aka over-processed appearance). Don't get me wrong, pictures do come out pretty sharp in good lighting but they lack the punch to make the images pop and don't really retain strong details. Pictures rather look flat and dull. Furthermore, the white balance and color rendition are not really accurate (i.e. color red looks too red and fake). Also beware when shooting pictures in the direction of the sun (not AT the sun), you will see the inevitable series of purple dots on your picture (i.e. building with the sun the backdrop). This is not a manufacturer defect I was told, rather the way the lens was made by Sony.
   
   Burst speed is very impressive (one feature I'm really going to miss) but it comes at a sacrifice of having to wait several seconds before you can take another picture (longer if you always shoot at the highest 16 MP level). This can get annoying because you might miss that "money shot." Other positive features of the camera are the focusing speed (when you shoot in scene mode and choose action mode with high burst speed, the camera does an excellent job at freezing the moving subject in a series of shots - this will come very handy when shooting sporting events), panorama mode, background defocus mode, low light pictures (in good lighting; otherwise, expect to see a lot detail smudging and noise), and last but not least, the video. If you are really into shooting a lot of videos, then you can't go wrong with the Sony HX9V. The camera is well built, I have to admit. A bit thick and heavy but aesthetically it looks very nice.
   
   FWIW: I ended up getting the Canon SX230, and I couldn't be happier with the decision. The video feature may not be as good as the Sony's, but image quality is more important to me.
2. 15 of 16 people found this review helpful

   By Jagadeesh K. Venugopal on Amazon.com 24 July, 2011

   Use it if you like to hand over creative control

   The Sony Cyber-shot HX9V is an excellent camera, on the higher end of the P&S spectrum. There are a plethora of options for every conceivable situation, including, for example, portraits, snow pictures, fireworks, landscapes, night photography, etc. The camera can recognize faces and smiles and do the right things with them. Dynamic range is also superb. Backlit photos are handled well. All in all, the automation is great. The panorama shots are lovely.
   
   The still 3-D feature is a gimmick I could never get to work. I tried with increasing distances between subject and background, but the 3-D effect never showed up. I think Sony owes its customers an explanation for this disingenous bit of advertising. I lopped off one star for this.
   
   The panorama 3-D is OK but not a reason for buying this camera. In general, the 3-D effect is substantially less than you could get by taping two disposable cameras together and clicking the shutters simultaneously. BTW, you can enjoy the 3-D photos even if you don't have a 3-D TV or viewer. All you need to do is to convert them to old-style 3-D using free software. Then, you can view with red and blue glasses, either on your monitor or in print.
   
   In general, this camera is a great device for someone that does not want much control over their pictures, and is happy to let the computer inside make virtually all the decisions. 95% of the time you get well exposed, well focused, sharp pictures. But in a small set of situations where your judgment could render a better picture, the camera's automation gets in the way. I'm a great aficionado of shooting pictures by available light, with the onboard computer making virtually no decision other than focus (for which my eyes are too feeble). With my Sony Alpha 200, I can get wonderful pictures of this kind, with good hand support or a tripod. With this camera, not so good. The camera sees what it considers underexposed areas, and tries to make them brighter.
   
   Build quality appears excellent. Size and weight are good for a camera of its class. Zoom is sufficient at 16X (imagine, 16X zoom being considered merely sufficient these days!). Movie capture is top-notch.
   
   Bottom line: Good quality product. Buy it if you want to press the shutter and take a picture. Don't buy if you want manual control.
   
   Note: Sony has included the user guide on the CD-ROM and at their support web site. However there's no printed user guide other than a quick-start manual. For the kind of money they charge, they ought to have included a printed copy of the user guide.
   
   Update: I've taken about 400 pictures with this camera on a trip to NH. The pictures were exposed very nicely. Most everyone was a keeper. Just point and shoot! One caveat: The LCD shows the pictures with a much warmer tone than they actually have. Sony should release new firmware so that the LCD previews are exactly the same as what's captured.
   
   The bigger disappointment: The still 3-D feature. I've tried every trick in the book to get a still 3-d picture. I've scoured the Internet to see how others have taken still 3-D photos. Thus far, I have not seen one successful example of a still 3-D photo from this camera anywhere. I think Sony flat-out lied about this "feature". I hope some enterprising attorney teaches them a lesson for false advertising.
3. 9 of 10 people found this review helpful

   By Gary H. on Amazon.com 1 August, 2011

   Good but...

   I'll try to keep this short. I normally shoot with a dslr as a hobby. When I don't or can't lug that around I shoot with a Canon G10. But I needed something that I could take to concerts that was small, had a long lens reach and could shoot quality video. Most places won't let you in with a dslr and the Canon, while an excellent camera, lacks decent video and zoom. So I was looking for a compact mega-zoom. I tried the Nikon S9100 which had excellent still picture quality but video was so so. So I moved on to this Sony. Read many reviews and took the plunge. Verdict: Video is excellent with the long reach of the zoom lens, best I've seen. But still picture quality is mediocre at best. Good assortment of bells and whistles if you like that stuff. For me it is a trade off for what I wanted it for. Video first, stills second. I have found that it is way to easy to hit the buttons on the back and mess up what you're doing but I will adjust to that. If still picture quality is at the top of your list, look elsewhere. But for me this is a great concert camera.
4. 6 of 6 people found this review helpful

   By Langley on Amazon.com 13 July, 2012

   Great Gadget, Great Videos, Ok Photos

   I bought this camera as a travel camera. We have several cameras in our household, ranging from cell phone cameras up to a entry-level DSLR. This camera has a fantastic feature-set (best available at the time). It is a good size. It has a great zoom range. It's advanced photo modes like handheld twilight are very useful and hard to find from other manufacturers. And, it takes outstanding videos. I have no doubt that I made the right decision with this camera purchase. Yet, I find myself dissapointed every time I use it. The camera has several annoying quirks like a proprietary cable, but the big letdown for me is inaccurate color reproduction. In it's automatic and scene modes, the colors that this camera produces are overly saturated to the point where they almost look cartoonish. I compared this camera to every other digital camera my family owns (2 iPhones, 2 other P&S cameras, 1 DSLR) by taking the same photo in the same lighting conditions from the same distance. While the Sony HX9V held it's own and came out ahead in several other attributes, I preferred the color reproduction on every other camera (the iPhone 4S is a little wild with the colors too). To be fair, I was able to acheive much better colors with the HX9V by using the camera's P and M modes, but then you lose out on a lot of the cool features that make this camera such a great choice to begin with. Also, to be perfectly clear, it is not that the colors produced are not pleasant, it's just that they don't look real to me. It's as though the designers chose to make the photos "pop", rather than look real. I imagine that color reproduction is a relatively subjective science and that personal preferences will vary on this (many may not even notice). Everyone has different things that they are sensitive to in their photos. For me, it's color reproduction and in the case of this camera, it's a deal-breaker.
   
   Best Features:
   -Pictures are very sharp and clear
   -Video picture quality and sound quality are both outstanding (we rarely use our dedicated video camera anymore)
   -Great zoom range for a camera this size
   -Many, Many features including GPS tagging
   -Ultra fast shooting allows many cool and useful modes like "Handheld Twilight"
   -Panarama mode is very easy to use and turns out nice shots
   -Build quality is solid
   -Good low-light performance
   
   Drawbacks:
   -Inaccurate color reproduction
   -Proprietary cable
   -Dowloading photos to Mac computers using iPhoto is not as straighforward as other camera brands
   -The battery charges in-camera, so if you want to charge an extra battery you will also need to buy a separate battery charger
   
   Summary:
   This is a well-featured camera that shoots great videos and sharp, clear photos. I really wanted to like it, but inaccurate color reproduction is a deal-breaker for me.
5. 8 of 9 people found this review helpful

   By RIK on Amazon.com 11 July, 2011

   Feature packed for a compact superzoom but with a few serious flaws

   Pros:
   1. 16x optical zoom with good image stabilization
   2. 3D mode (though I couldn't verify the picture quality due to lack of a 3D display)
   3. Powerful flash
   4. Smart face detection
   5. In camera guide
   
   Cons:
   1. Colors were washed out in auto mode w/ default settings in a few pictures (ex. sky which should have been blue was white in a simple scenery picture including the sky, green mountains and small lakes, these were taken from an open air ski lift but there was no snow in the picture to make it a challenge).
   2. Camera refused to focus on close by flowers if I went beyond 5x optical zoom. Physically the flowers were still couple of feet away, not sure if the 'macro' limit clicks in with optical zoom. None of Multi-point, single point, centre focus options worked. I have owned many Casio Exilim's in the past and never had this particular problem.
   3. Panorama mode is not as easy as with the Casio EX-ZR100. It gives you a fixed buffer that you have to fill in (instead of making a full panoramic picture based on when you stop) and is very sensitive to how smoothly you move the camera.
   4. Fireworks scene mode is very artificial - you would get better pictures without it and you don't have to wait for the in-camera processing to complete before you can take the next shot.
   5. Focus in low light situations was slow and not optimal
   6. Very awkward flash location - I keep feeling that the mechanism will break because I ineveitably keep my finger there which presses against the flash as it pops up. It will take a while to retrain myself and hold the camera differently. Canon SX230 and Nikon S9100 have the same problem as well.
   7. External (faster) charger is extra on top of the already high price.
   8. Buttons are poorly designed - movie button is too flush with the body, power and custom buttons are identical making them hard to differentiate during the night.
   9. ~Even though the camera body is the same size as comparable Canon SX230, Nikon S9100, Casio EX-ZR100, it's 10% heavier and looks a bit bulkier too.
   
   Check out dcresource.com, pcmag.com and cnet.com for professional reviews of compact superzooms. I haven't found one in the 2011 crop that I'd recommend.
6. 2 of 2 people found this review helpful

   By Joeythebanker on Amazon.com 17 November, 2011

   Great camera but unreliable

   I bought this on July 29th for a family vacation. I have to say that it performed flawlessly during the vacation. However, within a month of buying it I noticed the flash wouldn't work. I thought it was just me not knowing how to work the camera. After spending an hour tooling through the online manual i discovered that it wasn't in fact user error but that the flash had failed.
   
   Unfortunately I bought it at Best Buy but fortunately I bought the service policy (I never buy those things but since I had had Sony failures in the past I opted for it). Best Buy sucks and is a terrible time sucker. Today when i went to pick it up the servicer had practically destroyed the camera. After about an hour of pitching a fit I got a new camera and a new warranty.
   
   This is a great little camera when it is working. Like many people I just need something that isn't going to fail on me. If anything the reliability should outlive the technology.
7. 1 of 1 people found this review helpful

   By Mercury on Amazon.com 8 August, 2012

   IT CONKED OUT AFTER A YEAR!

   I initially loved this camera. The picture quality is nothing short of amazing! The videos are excellent, the zoom range is great. I loved this camera. I babied it. I treated it with so much care. I never dropped it, wet it, hit it etc. It still looks brand new actually. BUT now after a year and one month of ownership, the camera is not working. I would recommend that you buy a warranty and DO NOT MISPLACE IT, as I did with mine. Because you might need it.
8. 1 of 1 people found this review helpful

   By peekie0309 on Amazon.com 17 December, 2011

   Fast continuous shoot--very slow lag

   It shoots fast when in continuous mode, but it is very slow between shots. Returned it becasue I need to capture fast action with a point and shoot. Went with the Canon G12 and could not be happier. The Sony has some great features and could be fun, but did not meet my need for speed. G12 has virtually zero lag in almost any shooting mode. Best non-SLR for that purpose. If you want a camera to capture your baby, toddler or child who won't hold still, the G12 is the camera.
9. 5 of 7 people found this review helpful

   By Giri on Amazon.com 6 October, 2011

   Lots of features, but some things just make no sense!

   I bought this camera and loved it! The zoom at 16x is sharp, smooth, and steady! The pictures seem to reflect true colors, and the video... Oh the video! The video is phenomenal!
   
   However, there were three flaws in the design that I could not get past which made me return this camera.
   
   1) The flash. Yes, as others have mentioned, the flash pops up RIGHT where I've been holding cameras for 30 years! I might eventually get adjusted to it, but will the mechanism get damaged in the meantime? What about the times when I hand off the camera to someone else?
   
   2) The panoramic mode is buggy. On standard setting, it's almost possible to capture a full image from time to time... Almost! In either WIDE or HD Panorama, it's downright impossible! As you begin to pan, the camera begins some kind of internal countdown. There is no visible indicator of how much time you have left, so most of the time the camera only records a partial image. That is, if you're lucky! If you move the camera too fast, it will tell you that the movement was too fast, and it could not record. Alternatively, if you move it too slowly, it will tell you that it was too slow and also could not record an image!
   
   3) Lastly, the proverbial straw for me was the naming scheme for recorded videos. When you record HD videos, the files are named 00000.MTS, 00001.MTS, 00002.MTS,... etc., etc. When you remove the recorded videos (to your PC, Blu-Ray, the cloud, whatever), the next time you record videos, the numbering will begin anew; 00000.MTS, 00001.MTS, 00002.MTS...
   
   There is NO WAY to change that. The photos can be named sequentially, but that option does not exist for the videos. Aside from the fact that the videos are BURIED in some arcane folder location (\PRIVATE\AVCHD\BDMV\STREAM\), you must start the naming sequence from 0 when you empty your memory card or swap it with a new one.
   
   I was able to speak with a Sony representative who offered me a solution. She recommended that I keep the last file from my recordings in the flash card. That way, the camera would know to start with the next number in the sequence. That is a pretty lame solution, but thankfully for Sony, that didn't work either. When I tried that, the camera gave me a message about an inconsistency with the indexing, and although I had left file 00016.MTS in the card, the next video was recorded as 00000.MTS.
   
   In my book these are pretty egregious faults for a camera that is supposed to be on the higher end of the spectrum. For the price of this camera and the fact that it's a Sony, I expected more. I imagine that the next version may have updated firmware to correct these problems (if not the flash location), so I'll wait and give it another shot then.
10. 4 of 6 people found this review helpful

    By CL on Amazon.com 15 November, 2011

    In the right direction...

    While this is generally regarded as the all-around best point-and-shoot camera around right now, I haven't been super-enthusiastic about everything with it (especially compared to my old DSC-W300).
    
    Likes:
    -GPS!!
    -Fantastic screen
    -Great zoom
    -Amazing video
    -Helpful shooting-modes (sweep panorama, smile-shutter, low-light/no-tripod, backlight correction)
    -Same battery and memory stick as my old camera!
    
    Dislikes:
    -Zoom lens adds barrel distortion to photos (very first thing I noticed!)
    -GPS takes way too long to lock-on
    -Pop-up flash is annoying.
    -A bit too much time "processing" between shots (esp. low light conditions)
    -Doesn't come with a separate battery charger
    
    There seems to be a much higher learning curve on this camera than with many others, but once you take the time to go through all the options and know which to use for your situation, it will reward you with some fantastic shots.