After much deliberation, I bought this camera after trying to decide between the HX1 and the Canon SX1 and some others. The features that brought me over were the sweep panorama, 10 shots per second burst mode, and the other reviewers who seemed to say that the image quality between the HX1 and the SX1 were not that much different. Also, I got the HX1 for about $50 less probably (or more).
Now to just say where I am coming from, I’ve owned Sony DSC-H1 for the past 4 years, and that camera has been excellent and printed out great 4×6’s and 8×10’s. So I was just looking for a camera that would have HD video and also take at least as good pictures as the H1. The HX1 does the trick, let me tell you. (That “X” makes all the difference!) The color is really nice, the pictures come out very well even at high zooms.
Speaking of zoom, the 20x is amazing! It just keeps bringing objects closer and closer. Comparing them to my old H1 pictures, they are definitely better. Whether they are as good as the SX1 or other similar cameras, I cannot say. As to people who have been comparing this camera to a DSLR, this camera is not a DSLR! It will not take that kind of DSLR quality photo! Go buy a DSLR if you want that.
What this camera does do like a DSLR is have absolutely no shutter delay, (once it is focused) which is great for shooting sports games and such. The burst mode works excellent and really does take 10 a second, though it does take a bit to load them onto the memory card, about 15 seconds probably which doesn’t seem that long when you are actually shooting photos.
The panorama mode works as advertised, and can take some extremely wide shots with the “wide” panorama mode. The quality seems to be pretty good, though sometimes you can see the stitching. At the very least, it is a lot of fun to use.
The low light mode works well, though the pictures do tend to become a bit noisy, so I will not be making any poster size prints of those.
The LCD screen is very large and very nice quality and I am still able to see it even in bright sunlight. It can detach and be moved at basically an angle (up or down) relative to the camera, though it cannot be moved side to side.
The menus are fairly easy to navigate and I think are pretty self explanatory, though there is a manual for explaining each mode if necessary. I actually really like how the menus are laid out.
The HD video is great quality as is the stereo sound that goes along with it (but does tend to have wind noise). The play back on the computer was good and yes there was some image tearing but it did not seem to be nearly as bad as some sample movies I had downloaded. I filmed a lacrosse game and it came out great. The HD video also looks awesome connecting it directly to an HDTV, and that was with me several year old 1080i HDTV so I was not even technically seeing it at full quality. Image tearing is barely noticeable when viewed that way. The pictures themselves also look great when connected directly to an HDTV.
Lastly, as far as I know you can’t put AA’s or that type of battery in the HX1 as it only takes a rechargeable battery pack, (which is good and all for the env.) so this is a problem only if you were say, heading into the mountains for a month. If anyone knows of solutions to this I’d be glad to hear them.
Lastly I recommend turning off the beeping noises. They’re slightly annoying.
So summing up, here’s a quick list of pros and cons:
Pros:
-Great upgrade over previous dsc models, especially if you haven’t got one in awhile
-Excellent zooming capabilities
-Good color
-HD video comes out well, especially on an HDTV
-Large screen
-Easy to navigate menus
-Manual Options
-The “features” such as panorama and low light shooting mode work well
-Seemingly no or very miniscule shutter delay once focused
-Burst mode=awesomeness. Just wait to you hear the “clickclickclickclick”
-Relatively compact for the zoom power, but def won’t fit in your pocket
-You’ll like it if you’ve liked previous DSC/Sony models
Cons:
-Can sometimes see slight stitching in panoramas
-Memory sticks are expensive
-Seems to only take a rechargeable battery pack, no AA option if needed
So yeah, I think it is a great camera-but that’s just me…