Our new point & shoot camera

Our permanently skint son (no paid employment since getting an Hons degree last year) needed a new camera as his little Canon has developed faults and he's soon leaving his far too comfy nest at home for a job and at long last some paid employment doing ecological development on a Caribbean island. So rather than mum and dad coughing up for the camera we gave him our two year old Sony HX5V and bought ourselves the new Sony HX20V.

The HX20V, and I've only had it two days now and am still exploring the settings has amazed me. The HD video is pin sharp and the audio much better than our 'old' HX5V. But the 25mm - 500mm zoom is staggering and far beyond what I expected from a small point and shoot. Wide angle shots from what I've taken so far seem to be a bit on the soft side, though once I get a grip on all the settings I may be able to improve this; but the 500mm is incredible.

Wide angle (25mm)


Full optical zoom (500mm)
This a was hand held shot and shows just how well the optical stabilisation in the camera works.

 

Blimey Dave, as you say, at close-up it's incredible! Slight fuzziness around the clock face, but the stonework looks like it could have been taken from just a few feet away. Good (lucky?) choice

 

"18.2MP, 20x Optical Zoom" - these high end 'Point and Shoots' just get better and better. What's it like on macro?

Did you claim your £40 cashback from Sony?

 

I'm still exploring the camera's settings. Sony's supplied documentation is awful, there no full user manual though there is an on-line version but not in pdf format so you can't print it . However there's an inbuilt user guide that's reasonably good. I must admit that I don't like menu driven camera settings and find a DSLR very much easier to use. BUT - my DSLR plus lenses weighs a ton whereas the Sony fits in my pocket and it's just the job for a travel camera and for taking with us into the mountains of Scotland. It also works out at a fraction of the cost of a DSLR with lenses to cover the same range.

I've not yet had chance to give the macro facility a good try but we are heading off the the highlands for a few days this weekend so hope to be able to experiment then.
I am very impressed with the long 500mm zoom, my first impressions are that it compares fairly favourably with the Simga 50-500mm on my DSLR. I'll do a side by side test when I've more time. As Freddy observed there is a slight fuzzyness at 500mm, but considering that shot was hand held it isn't too bad and I could sharpen it a bit in PS or PSP.
What has really impressed Mrs W and myself though is the stunning HD video and sound quality - looks great on the PC and if I can eventually pursuade Sony's awful software that my CD drive can actually write to DVD I'll burn some discs to view on the TV.

Scrungee - I couldn't claim my cashback as the price I got the camera for already included the cashback reduction

 

pdf files are here

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/product/DSC-HX20V

Nice camera :-)

Jack McH

 

Thanks Jack, I've already got the pdf it's the same as the little thing that came with the camera. I can't understand why on earth Sony don't publish a pdf version of the i-manual as it's a much more comprehensive and useful resource but it's a pain in the rear to have to go onto the internet to read the wretched thing!!

 

Just go to the I manual and right click "save as" to your desktop or wherever then it is permanently on your PC, you can then use software to convert to PDF or what you want
It is 29mb so a lot to print out best to view on your pc As it is html on the pc

Jack McH

 

Never heard of retailers deducting manufactures' cashback before, especially as this Sony one is in the form of a pre-paid Visa Card topped up with the applicable amount (£40), maybe you can get double cashback? http://campaign.odw.sony-europe.com/cross/HDAR03/091159_OLLEAF_ALL_AW_Phase_3.pdf

 

Many thanks Scrungee I'll complete the form and send it off.

 

At the risk of moving off topic, Ive just bought a Sony camera too - the NEX5n, which looks like a compact camera with a coke can stuck on the front where the lens should be.. haven't really had much chance to play with it yet but its looking like a cracking bit of kit:

Particularly impressed with the way you can use the touch screen/viewfinder to make sure it focuses where you want :

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and the clever built in panorama mode:

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+ the long Tamron lens I've bought to go with it is not too shabby either:

-- all taken from by back door - you can see the chimneys in the close up in the panorama above the blowaway..

 

Dave, just to say I was in no way being critical, indeed, far from it.
You say that it has good video? That's pretty impressive. I have an old Konica/Minolta A2, and the video quite frankly is cr@p. So, if yours has good video, that's a real bonus