Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V 16.2 MP Exmor R CMOS Digital Still Camera with 16x Optical Zoom G Lens, 3D Sweep Panorama and Full HD 1080/60p Video

I beat my brains out for the past month, trying to decide on a P&S camera to replace my Pentax DSLR. I've decided, rather late in life, to go with a small pocket camera to replace my bulky SLR and several lenses, including the huge camera bag I carried them around in. So I've been reading every review and scanning every consumer review site (such as Amazon's) searching for the perfect P&S camera. I even bought (and returned) two cameras that ultimately did not work for me. I agonized over the HX9V for a couple weeks before finally biting the bullet and ordering it. I'm extremely happy I did!From the moment I opened the box I knew the HX9V was going to be a winner. Unlike the two cameras I returned, the size and handling of the HX9V was about perfect for me. The two I returned were simply too small to handle efficiently, even in my relatively small hands, but this one was ideal (for me) with a great grip and controls that seemed to fall right under my fingers. The build quality is excellent and I can find no flaw in fit and finish. I decided I wanted a mode dial on top, like my SLRs always had (the two I returned used the wheel on the back of the camera), and the HX9V has one, although it's a little difficult gripping it. So, in short, the HX9V first impression is supurb!This camera does not come with an accessory battery charger (an omission I find rather annoying) so I ordered one, along with a couple spare batteries (the two batteries and the charger cost only $14.00, shipped). I charged the Sony battery in the camera, using the provided power adapter (again, a ridiculous system, since it ties up the camera during charging) and charged the two spares in the tiny little accessory charger. Everything was charged in a couple of hours and I was ready to put this little gem through it's paces.Operationally, the camera exceeds all of my expectations. First, I've never owned such a long zoom and this thing is terrific, although I doubt I'll use the long end very often. Having used large SLR zooms most of my photographic life, where zooming was done manually, I found this zoom rather slow, a bit gravelly-feeling and hard to control precisely. It requires some getting used to, at least for me anyway, but I believe it will be fine.Focusing is instantaneous and I experience no lag-time, unless shooting in modes that shoot and blend multiple images together. On those you get the obligatory "Processing" message and, frankly, I see no reason to consider that a negative. The camera is doing some truly sophisticated image blending. Shoot in a single image mode and it's operation is lightning fast. Oh, and did I mention the ability to shoot ten images a second? What a great feature when shooting my dog, Sammy, or a sports event (and yes, you will get the "Processing" message after firing off ten shots).The Panorama feature is great, producing beautiful wide panoramic images. I've found it really difficult to get less than stellar panos. In other words, it's real hard to mess up!Video is an area I've never explored before but, after seeing some of my random efforts on my HD TV, I'm completely dazzled by this camera's abilities. This is an area I intend to pursue further.There are many more special features that I wont go into here but they're all great and very useful. As for the 3-D thing, I have no interest in that but many others will. I can't comment because I don't care about it.Image quality! You read about it. You scan full-size images on dozens of websites. You pixel-peep endlessly, comparing images from Canon, Nikon, and Sony, until your head feels like it's going to explode. If you're an intelligent, sensible person you conclude that much of the hype you read around the internet is just that - hype! Every P&S camera out there has shortcomings in one area or another and none produce results like a good DSLR! After I came to that conclusion I felt more confortable ordering the Sony. I'm glad I did. I have no intention of blowing any of these images up to poster size. Most will never be printed and those that are will likely be "normal" print sizes. This camera produces excellent images! I have a relatively discerning eye after over fifty years of photography and I'll say again; the Sony HX9V produces excellent images!The bottom-line is, this camera is chock full of cutting edge technology, with features that put it far out front of most other P&S cameras. It takes great images and the videos are extraordinary.Mine is a keeper! It's going to be around for many years to come. In fact, it might outlast me, since I'm 73.Update: April, 2012Everything I said in the above review stands, in spades, after all these months. That said, I finally taught my wife how to use this camera a couple weeks ago and she took it to one of her DAR conventions. She returned two days later and downloaded several hundred images to her computer. Later, when I watched over her shoulder while she scanned them individually I realized they were all, I mean all, extremely soft, unlike my own results. She seemed happy with them but I knew otherwise so I asked her to go out in the yard with me and take a few shots. We did and I immediately saw her problem. She repeatedly composed the picture on the LCD screen and immediately snapped the shutter, without waiting for the camerea to complete focus. She had forgotten that she should depress the button halfway to allow the autofocus system to work properly. Well, long story longer, she did as I demonstrated and we reviewed the pictures on her computer.Voila! The shots were now sharp and clean. Funny thing was: she then looked at her efforts at the convention and said, "Oh! These are awful!" After this episode I'm convinced that many of the complaints about soft images is a result of "Operator Error." No offence but ain't that always the way.By the way, there are several comments attached to this post, one by a fellow who doesn't own the camera and who obviously has an agenda. His first negative post even implied, in a smarmy, underhanded way, that my review is worthless because I once used Pentax cameras, ignoring the fact that Pentax has earned, over the years, an excellent reputation. He has gone on to point out certain professional reviews that are unfavorable to the camera, ignoring those that heap accolades on it. I frankly, could not care less about his opinions but I will bet that I've been shooting images for more years than he's been alive. Anyway, as I said in the review, it's my opinion, and can be ignored completely if one chooses to do so. If you own this fine camera, enjoy!arkiedan

WOW! Great camera. I had previously purchased a Nikon S4100 compact digital camera. It was a good camera with one exception; the picture quality was very poor. After six months or so the lens stopped moving in and out and I returned it on my optional warranty and was given a refund. I hope that the camera was just defective from the start, but at any rate I was very disappointed with it. Before deciding on a replacement I spent a good bit of time doing the research, checking reviews, ratings, etc. of cameras and finally decided on the Sony DSC-HX9V. I have owned other Sony cameras in the past and have been very pleased with them. After the Nikon disappointment I was a little nervous about how the new DSC-HX9V would perform. Again, WOW.The HX9V is a very nice looking camera that you can put in your pocket or hang on your belt in a small case. The picture quality is excellent. In low light the quality is a little reduced but still very good. The movie quality is also excellent. The menus are very easy to understand. There are tons of options so it does take a bit of time to familiarize yourself with everything if you wish to utilize the many options available. For most photos you can simply set the camera to one of the auto programs, on the program dial, and shoot great pictures. You have the option of going full manual or using one of 3 auto programs. 4 if you count the "EASY" option. The Auto programs give you varying degrees of options in the menus that you can, if you wish, tweak the auto settings with. I am not a professional photographer, but so far it seems to have everything I could want and more. On the program dial there 10 options including Intelligent Auto, Superior Auto, Program Auto (my favorite), Manual Exposure Shooting, Memory Recall Mode, iSweep Panorama, Movie Mode, 3D Shooting, Scene Selection, and Background Defocus. Each of these programs has various options available by pressing the Menu Button. The Zoom is amazing and the pictures taken with full zoom (optical & digital is about 68 power) are actually stabilized and quite decent. I cannot begin to describe all of the features that are available; actually I will probably never need to use most of them. If you wish to know more, there are numerous reviews available online. Check out the movies on YouTube that show the HX9V zooming in on the moon. Chuckle.The bottom line is that if you want a camera that you can just set to auto and take great photos and great movies, you will love this camera. If on the other hand you want a camera that you can tweak to your hearts content, then again you will love this camera. I know that I couldn't be more pleased. I normally don't do reviews but I am so pleased with this camera that I am making an exception here. Hope it is helpful.

I bought this camera excitedly as a gift for my wife, so I left it wrapped for more than 30 days after purchase (which meant I could not fully resolve the issue through Amazon). After she opened the camera, it worked well (especially the wonderful HD movies), but subsequently broke on the second day. The camera would not focus, and the flash was intermittent, with the operating system displaying many error codes on the display.I dealt with Sony to attempt a resolution. The parts to repair were indefinitely back ordered (how is that possible? This is a relatively new model) and their only offer was to replace it with a refurbished camera (new for refurbished?). We obviously refused this, asking for a new replacement or a refund, which sent us through the worm holes of bureaucracy connecting Sony's awful customer support. They are apparently a geographically disparate company that convolutes specific customer service resolution.We ultimately had to dispute the charge with our credit card company. I would not recommend this product. Furthermore, Sony has lost us as customers for all other products. Roll the dice at your own risk (we did, because I ignored the bad reviews on this site and bought the camera anyway).

My wife and I were getting tired of juggling a full frame DSLR and accopanying lenses and decided a high-end point and shoot was in order. After a sweep of the internet and stumbling across a dpreview.com review, we decided to give this one a look. We needed something that could compose shots competently as well as take good video, especially with the travel we do and a baby on the way. Here's what we got:Out of the box, the HX9v comes across as a solid piece of hardware. It feels well built, but there's no way you'll mistake it for a slim, ultra-light point and shoot camera. It will, however, fit comfortably in any cargo pockets or loose fitting jeans. The dials and controls are standard fare; my only complaints being in the bad pop-up flash positioning and the small movie record button. We knew about both issues going in, so they weren't an overly rude surprise. I also have to admit being spoiled by my Samsung's touch screen onterface, but anybody who has used a camera in the last decade will be able to utilize the Sony.Firing it up for the first time, users are greeted by the standard OS request for date and time. After that was satisfied, power-up to shoot times were acceptably average in our opinion and certainly not like the horror stories we've heard from other reviews. If I had to sum up my main complaint in that department, it would fall under the header of 'graphical cludge'. Every display has a helpful graphic that ends up sucking away from you photo time. Fortunately, you can disable most of these prompts and I suggest doing so once you are familiar with the camera modes. It doesn't eliminate them all, but what's left is hardly worth mentioning and can normally be forced through by a half-depress of the shutter button.Picture quality was also a concern we had based on some of the more critical reviews we stumbled across. Fortunately there isn't too much to worry about if you're willing to invest a little time into your new camera.On the surface, the critics are right: The HX9v in Auto mode produces good, but somewhat soft and over-exposed pictures. And now the good news: it's almost all completely correctable since the camera has limited manual controls savable to three seperate profiles for your use. Is your picture too soft? Adjust the sharpen setting upward. Too much coloration? You can switch that too. Auto-focus a little too iffy for your taste? Set it to manual. After a few trips around the neighborhood experimenting with the various settings, worries have all but evaporated. To point, we took a picture of the moon last night. Most cameras would either produce a blurry mess or an over-exposed white blob without a tripod. With the HX9v, I was able to take a picture of the moon at full x16 zoom by hand in complete darkness and still get one of the best shots I've seen. The lens stabilization and AF are just that good. Try a hand supported shot in the dead of night with your DSLR and 300mm lens, or even that P&S you have now and you'll see what I mean.1080p @60fps absolutely shines on the HX9v, but you already knew that.The x16 lens has rock solid stabilization and lightning quick focus, adjusting exposure and scene settings seamlessly on the fly. There are several videos floating around youtube and I promise you won't be disappointed if any sort of video production is in your future. With this package you also get an internal stereo mic that works as well as internal mics can. The video is so good that you almost need a professional package to fully utilize it, as opposed to something like Windows Movie Maker. On that note, windows media player doesn't seem to be able to cope so well with the codec and routinely exhibits stuttering on Q6600 4 core machine, but renders finished products just fine. Again, I assume its codec issues more than anything, but just FYI, there's nothing wrong with your camera.Sony doesn't give you a lot of bells and whistles beyond what's already obvious. Panorama shots are nice and can be put to creative use, while post processing filters can be added for more stylistic shots, like monochrome coloring. Smile detection is strong and can even be set to focus on kids or adults, whichever you choose. You can even take 3d photos for your 3d screen, if you happen to have one.Battery life isn't spectacular and video mode will eat it up (processing full HD at 60fps fully stabilized will do that), so you might want to consider an extra battery in your future. Some people have complained about "ZOMG! in-camera charging!" and I have to ask them where they've been for the last few years since half the manufactures of P&S cameras routinely engage in this practice. One nitpic I have to make on the topic is that USB charging does seem iffy, like the camera can't seem to decide wether it wants to charge from your computer or not. Fortunately, you can just do it from the wall socket.Beyond that, there isn't much not to like here. It's a solid camera that isn't perfect, but offers you the options to work around most imperfections with semi-manual settings. The lens is great for a camera this size and while it won't replace your full frame DSLR, it offers you enough incentive think about not lugging it around regularly; especially with the x16 zoom and stabilization strong enough to use it. It all comes down to what you want. Pixel peepers will probably want to pass this one up for the Canon SX230 HS. If you need full manual controls or RAW, move along. If you just need great pics and stunning video, this is your stop.

This camera is an upgrade from my previous Sony Cyber-shot. That sony was only a 12.1 megapixel camera with a 5x optic zoom... compared to this 16.2 megapixels and 16x optical zoom... but that camera was amazing for when it came out, and it lasted a long time for me. I used it all the time, took it everywhere I went. In fact, I used it so much, put it to work so often, and dropped it more than it should have been, that it was starting to have a few technical issues. The hatch door where the battery goes wouldn't stay closed, the zoom wouldn't always work, there were scratches on the lens that caused flares in the photos... so it was time to upgrade.for the price of this camera... I'm surprised how nice it is. this camera could go up against much more expensive models.The 16x optical zoom is amazing. I was able to get beautiful shots of the recent Venus transit (June 2012) using this camera and a Shade 10 welders glass. it picks up on the colors much better than the previous camera. The images also seem sharper and more lifelike.the 3D image capability, to some, seems useless as you can only see them in 3D on a 3D display unit (like a 3D television) but those people who think that would be wrong. yes you can only see the image in 3D on a 3D viewer... however, even without a viewer, the images have more dimension, more depth, than an average photo. it just seems to pop off the page.there are a lot of other settings on this camera that my other camera didn't have. My favorite is a soft skin portrait setting. if you take a photo of a person, it almost looks photo-shopped. The soft skin image gives the person you're photographing a soft glow, blemishes seem to be invisible, the face looks smooth and soft, and the eyes appear brighter and more colorful. I am able to capture better action shots using this camera. I was able to get a butterfly in flight, and get perfect photos of the wings when they were spread open, mid air. Knowing how fast a butterfly moves, that is not an easy feat. So I like how fast this camera works.the panorama option is another nice upgrade from my last cyber-shot. to be able to take a full photo of the sun setting behind the bluffs where I live... it makes for a beautiful almost painting like photo. this camera takes just as good of photos as my bother's $1000 camera.For the price, you can't beat this camera. Easy to use, Sharp images, fun settings to play with, and a trusted name. I will always buy Sony cameras. I had great luck with my previous camera, I am having great luck with this camera as well.Battery life on this camera is about average. it's no better or worse than any other camera I've owned. I really like the view screen. nice size, crisp and clear image. I can't say enough good things about this camera. I'm extremely happy with my purchase.If I had to nitpick, I would say the ONLY complaint I have is that, in some settings, it seems like it takes a long time for it to reset so you can take another photo. My brother was taking a picture of me feeding a deer, One photo was quick, but then he had to hit the photo button 8 times before it finally took the photo. I am not sure what setting he had it on... but he said in that setting it should take so long to reset. (he's a photographer so I suppose he would know.)other than that, even he said this is an amazing camera, and for the price, it really could go head to head with much more expensive models. He can even see professional photographers using this camera.

I spent many hours reading reviews of both DSLR and point and shoot cameras. It really came down to one thing. The best camera is one you have with you. I have taken over 1000 (yes 1000) pictures with my phone this past year or so. Having a young daughter I never miss a chance to document our family adventures. All my friends who have DSLRs never seem to have their bag (camera lenses etc.) with them at key moments. I decided on a point and shoot.My professional photographer friend said not to cheap out and look at $300 and above cameras. I originally was considering a Canon s100, but they were out of stock everywhere. I am so glad I found the Sony. This camera is the best "all around" performer of all the point and shoots cameras I looked at (and I looked at many). As with any item you can find detractors. Many of the people who rate this camera low are comparing it to larger DSLR cameras. You must know your needs. I needed quality photographs, great video and sound, along with being easily pocketed. This camera has it all. The panoramic mode is just amazing. I never thought I would get use out of it. The video is unbelievable for such a small package. It plays full HD on my 42" TV. I just plug the HDMI cable from the camera into the TV and view the pictures and video. (The cord is optional and the amazon version is $7.95, well worth the few bucks). The video is absolutely flawless. The low light performance is amazing. I used the flash one time to test it out. Other than that I have not needed it at all. As far as speed, it is very fast. Some people have made negative comments on this and I have to question the settings they are using. I use the intelligent auto mode as my default setting. The camera takes continuous shots with no issues. Maybe these detractors need to get a class 10 card. I have been told that a slow SD card can slow down the processing after you take a photograph because it takes longer to write the data to the card. I recommend a class 10.My final choices included the Nikon 9100 and the Canon s100. The Nikon just had too many negative reviews (both on Amazon and other sites). The s100 had RAW, but lacked the zoom and video features of the Sony. I decided to go with the Sony. This camera has all the features I could ever need. Again, the best camera is one you have with you. On that basis this is the best current choice out there.

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.

See the update comments below: aug 4, 2011I have this camera for one week now and last night I got a chance to use this at a Cultural night where I use the video mode exclusively for recording my kids. First, to note that I am using MP4 recording at 1080p 25fps rather than AVCHD 1080 60p mode. I just feel that the file size is something I an handle easier and movie editing is easier using this mode. So while the movie recording video looks great, the ONE thing that I am very disappointed with is the way the camera records the date (Date Modified and Date Created). Three things I dislike and I believe #3 is a bug.1. The Date Created is the time stamp in which the movie was taken. But the Date Modified is the time in which the movie ended. This means if you recorded a 10 minutes video, the Date Modified actually shows 10 minutes later than the created date. I don't think this was the case with other camera, certainly not my Panasonic DMC-ZS3. This means you can not sort by Date Modified. Especially important when you have more than one camera of different brands and wanting to compile into one folder. As in, other parents's camera at the same event.2. The video is kept in a different directory than the JPGs. At the very least the MP4 video should be in the same directory as the JPGs and should use the same naming convention so that we can follow the sequence. here the photo uses the DSCxxxxx.JPG, but the MP4 video uses MAHxxxxx.MP4 WTH? Panasonic DMC-ZS3 uses the same name and I like the way it's implemented there. When the names are the same with only the extension different, it makes it easier to sort photos and video to get the sequence of event. I think many of us like to record things this way. But the worse part is.....3. The timestamp of the MP4 video is semi-randomized. So if you sort by name, you will notice that the Date Created time stamp is not in an ascending order. Or if you then sort by Date Created, the file name is now not in order. See below, the file is sorted by name but the timestamp is not in chronological order. They bounce between 7:xx PM and 8:xx PM. This is definitely a bug.peter-mac:08. Classical Night peter$ ls -ltotal 14888440-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 529959551 Jun 25 19:30 MAH00126.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 128930055 Jun 25 19:34 MAH00127.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 9935703 Jun 25 19:36 MAH00128.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 705061241 Jun 25 19:49 MAH00129.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 508726324 Jun 25 19:59 MAH00130.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 507986224 Jun 25 20:09 MAH00131.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 502657431 Jun 25 19:20 MAH00133.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 430715019 Jun 25 19:28 MAH00134.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 533634531 Jun 25 19:38 MAH00135.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 763440512 Jun 25 19:48 MAH00136.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 625426940 Jun 25 19:57 MAH00137.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 58505167 Jun 25 20:02 MAH00138.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 504153510 Jun 25 20:08 MAH00139.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 209376585 Jun 25 20:16 MAH00146.MP4-rwxrwxrwx 1 peter staff 649771166 Jun 25 21:05 MAH00152.MP4I love the camera but this is making me wanting to return it. :-(Sony PLEASE send a fix ASAP.Update as of Aug 4th' 2011.Some how the date timestamp issue disappeared. It could be because I hard reset, (pull battery out over night) or did a factory reset and format the card. The timestamp for both the videos as the photos are correct now. As one of the user mentioned, why can't the file name be prefixed with DSC rather than MAH? At least the number increments correctly and it's just a matter of having a software to help rename (text replace) to DSC so I can place both photos and video in the same directory.The battery life is not as good but good enough so far for half day trip. I do have my GPS on all the time but as others have noticed, the satellite acquisition is a bit slow. I would suggest getting a 2nd or 3rd battery if you plan to walk around all day with it on most of the time.I am giving it a 5 star. The best all in one camera I have ever used. For the record I have had Sony DSC-F828, Casio Exilim EX-Z850, Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 and now this. I also have Nikon D300 but that's a different league.

One of the best cybershot cameras out there for the price i paid it is my second one.The first one I had from the get go from sony had a issue after years of use and it needed a repair the cost was more than what I just paid for this one.This camera will do all your functions just like a slr which costs hundreds more.