The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V

While most of us love taking good photos, not all of us are willing to go through too much trouble in getting those good shots. Some people find it cool to lug around a huge DSLR around their neck while others find that to be utter nuisance. If you are one of those consumers who wants to take really good pictures without going through the pain of learning to use a DSLR and lugging it around, a compromise comes in the form of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V. This Sony digital camera is compact, affordable yet packs in a whole lot of auto and manual features not found on a regular point and shoot camera.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V weighs in at 8.6 ounces and measures 4.3 x 2.1 x 1.4 inches in dimensions. It has a 16-megapixel image sensor, a 24-384mm lens and 16x in optical zoom. Yes you hear right. This model is one of Sony’s compact mega-zoom models. On the back, you will find a 921K dot, 3-inch LCD display screen.

The most important feature in any camera is, of course, that it takes great photos and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V excels in this department. The camera takes very good pictures even in just auto mode and in most ISO ranges. When the camera is in standard mode, the camera produces bright and vibrant shots. If you require greater color accuracy, you can always switch to the camera’s ‘Real Color’ mode.

Another big feature on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V is that it can take 1080p HD videos. In our tests, the videos taken were superb where you zoom function still works during video mode. The audio quality was also good but you can here the lens zoom sounds in quieter settings.

There is quite a healthy choice of manual feature on this camera for the advanced user to choose from. For one, you can manually adjust the shutter and aperture speed. You can set the shutter speed anywhere from the range of 1/1600 all the way to 30 seconds. For the less patient user, there is also a whole host of auto settings such as contrasts, color modes, sharpness and saturation. Some of the other features include Handheld Twilight, Backlight Correction, and Sony’s Panorama Sweep mode. One of the most exciting feature on the camera is the 3D Panorama mode. When a shot is taken on this mode, in can be viewed in 3D on a HDTV that supports 3D content.

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V has earned itself many Editor’s Choice accolades all over the internet, and if you have ever had the chance of using one it is easy to understand why. This compact mega-zoom camera is small, very well priced, feature packed and most importantly very fun to use!