With their bright carapaces and angular lines, most waterproof cameras look like some kind of child-friendly cleaning droid. Sony has bucked the trend with this lovely ultra-compact glass sandwich, which will take 18MP stills next to the pool (or 13MP at the same time as 1080i video) before casually diving in for a non-fatal dip. The back is one big 3.3in capacitive touchscreen; think of it as a waterproof iPhone 4S that will take amazing pictures (but doesn’t do calls).
The HX9V blends all of the hot in 2011 features – a GPS antenna. 3D Sweep Panorama shots and 1080p video with stereo sound – with the type of massive optical zoom (16x. to be specific) that will be “big” in 2012. Add a 16-meg. 1/2.3-inch sensor and plenty of manual functionality and you have another very strong contender.
We’re not fans of the teeny back plate buttons -they make manual control fiddly – the flat colors on auto settings, or the fact that GPS struggles to lock on indoors. However with noise-free results at up to IS03200. This is still a fine, fine compact cam.
Despite sporting a giant 16MP APS-C sensor, Sony’s latest E-mount CSC is incredibly thin. Its stripped-down user interface is aimed squarely at beginners, although full manual controls are available for the more adventurous. It comes with a versatile 18-55mm lens, a handful of special modes, and a tilting touchscreen which facilitates unusual shooting.
The NEX-5N autofocuses at speed (albeit a tad more slowly than the Panasonic GX1) and shoots at up to 10fps in burst mode. Image quality is the best of the three cameras here, with grain or noise only creeping into shots at ISO 6400 – so if low-light, flash-free shooting is key, then this is the model for you. The tiltable screen is a real boon when framing shots and video, especially when holding the 5N above or below your head. In fact, the only negative is the user interface: there’s no mode dial — no physical settings controls at all – so you’ll have dip into the menu screens for even the simplest of tasks.
Sony’s follow-up to the Editors’ Choice Alpha NEX-3 is the smaller and lighter, 16-megapixel NEX-C3. Boasting better resolution and low-light performance, the NEX-C3 is able to deliver D-SLR-quality images in a compact body. It’s even smaller than the Olympus PEN E-P3 or the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF2, but packs a larger sensor than any Micro Four Thirds camera.
This is the smallest and lightest APS-C interchangeable-lens digital camera in the world. It weighs just 225g, making it almost identical in weight to some of the compact cameras we’ve reviewed in this issue’s group test.
The NEX-C3 can capture 720p HD video and l6Mp stills. A 3in tillable LCD screen is used for composition. The camera has no built-in flash, but Sony offers one as an accessory. A multi-frame feature lets you take several photos at once and have the camera create a panoramic composite of them, giving the effect of 3D. Other useful effects include automatic HDR, Handheld Twilight and an Anti-Motion blur setting. Soft skin, retro, pop colour, high-contrast monochrome, pasteurization and toy effects can also be added to your snaps.
Whenever one wants to buy a video camera the first name the pops into anybody’s head is Sony. Why, its Handycam has even become a synonym for a camcorder. Sony’s XR55D is a top of the line camcorder that can take videos in Full HD resolution. The colors are vivid, ghosting is not a problem and the sharpness is never blunted even when panning quickly. With the active mode on, you can zoom to as high as 10X optically. The XR550 also has 240 GB hard drive for storage and a bright 3.5-inch touch LCD to preview videos and images.
Specs: 12 MP; 3.5-inch touch LCD screen; 10X optical zoom; 240 GB hard drive; Full HD video recording; 500 gm weight.
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.
This Sony is the longest in the tooth or test and hence there’s a good deal to be had on it. In return for not much dosh you get excellent build quality and sophisticated features, with a 14.1-meg sensor riding an image-stabilized, 10x optical zoom to glory. You also get bold, well saturated 72op video -the best on test.
This is a versatile camera. The big zoom offers a wealth of compositional opportunities and you also get Sony’s Sweep Panorama — pan the camera across a landscape and it stitches a rapid-fire burst of images into one elongated frame – face and smile detection and intelligent auto modes for point-and-shoot ease.
Sony realizes that the initial success of 3D relies heavily on early adopters making their own eye-popping content. Hence the Bloggie 3D and this, the best-looking 3D camcorder to date (notwithstanding the fact that Sony appears to have ripped Wall-E’s head off in order to build it). Whereas some other 3D cams reduce the resolution by forcing both images through the same sensor and don’t allow zooming, the TD10 has two independent HD sensors and a IOX optical zoom. It’ll store up to five hours of 1920×1080 3D footage ready to be viewed on the 3.5-inch Xtra Fine LCD display without the need for specs, or on your new 3D TV. You can also watch 3D footage back in full-HD 2D, should you be in the shameful situation of lacking a state-of-the-art telly.
This compact camera is a revolution in its category since it bestows on the user the power to capture images in 3D. This camera hides within its very slim form a 3D processor which can capture depth in shots. It requires switching to the 3D mode, and sweeping the camera as you would when capturing a panorama shot and it’s done. 3D images can be seen on the camera’s crisp 3.5-inch touchscreen or on a compatible 3D television. Apart from 3D it can take some nice stills as well. The easy-to-use features and excellent smile shutter make this camera stand out in the crowd.
Spec: 12.8 MP sensor; 4x optical zoom, – 3.5-inch touchscreen LCD; 1080p video recording; 3200 ISO; 133 gm
