DSC-HX90V

I should probably say first that I am a huge fan of Sony cameras. I have a Sony DSLR and 2 previous HX models. First, if you are wanting this camera to perform like a DSLR, this camera will not do that. It is still a point and shoot with a small sensor. As long as you are aware of this limitation, then you will probably be pleasantly surprised. I purchased this camera mainly for use at concerts, going to places like Seaworld, video recording my daughters dance performances, and just general photography. I do have a DSLR but I find that its size and weight prevents me from using it very often. There is nothing wrong with my other HX models but the 30x optical zoom on this camera in a small body was just too much to pass on. My favorite feature of this camera is the control ring. I thought it would be the zoom, but it's definitely the control ring. I find myself shooting in S mode quite often at concerts and the control ring allows me to easily and quickly make adjustments in the dark. This is wonderful!! My least favorite feature is how the pop-up viewfinder works. It pops up but then you have to pull part of the eye piece towards you to get it to work. Its a little cumbersome, but not terrible. The size is nice. Since this was going to be my main concert camera size was extremely important. Most venues do not allow any camera with a detachable lens or one where the lens extends beyond a certain length. My larger HX (sorry, I dont know the model number off the top of my head but its in the "bridge camera" size range) would often give me issues. I would have to explain that no, the lens does not detach but sometimes they still didn't want to let me in with it. I am confident that I will not have that problem with this camera. I know there are lighter and smaller cameras out there but I'm not sure if any of them pack so much into them. The grip took a little getting used to as the body is slightly different than my other HX model, but that was nothing significant. The record button for video recording is in a much better position now and can be found easily in the dark. The menus and scene selections are very intuitive, particularly if you have ever used a Sony camera before. The battery life is as expected. I had no problems during a 3 hour concert taking stills and videos about 40% of the time. The picture and video quality was what I would expect from Sony and this type of camera. It works excellent in great lighting, struggles a bit in low light. I'm not one of those that zooms in at 100% and looks for purple fringing, noise, and so forth. I also don't do large prints - 8x10 maximum, but mostly 4x6. I found the concert images were better than expected. This is really putting the device to its maximum capabilities. I know I'm not going to get perfect images when you zoom in at 30x optical from really far away. But I could tell who I was taking pictures of and wide angle shots caught some really beautiful mood pictures of the overall stage. I was impressed that the camera was able to capture the colors in almost the same hue as I was seeing with my eyes. I've noticed that at concerts cameras tend to not be able to capture the stage lighting well. Purples come out as blue, and so forth. With some experiments with the settings, this camera did a pretty decent job. The tilting screen is nice to have on such a small camera. I kind of wish that it rotated in the opposite direction so that you could hold the camera above your head and use the lcd screen, but this is a minor issue. It worked well for taking a selfie. Overall I am very pleased with this camera. I would definitely recommend it to others.

My camera cam last night and so far it is very impressive. I'm wring this review to help people with downloading some of the features as it was a very frustrating process (Shame on Sony!) and I want to try to help. I also comment on the viewfinder as I wear bifocals and am questioning whether it was worth the extra $100. When you buy the camera give yourself 2 hours if you want to get apps downloaded and know that you're probably going to have to connect to a computer to do it. Apps that should have been included on the camera need to be downloaded and it isn't as easy as it should be in a plug and play world. Many people are going to want to do this because the sync to cell phone feature seems attractive for travel and so does the ability to take remote photos for group photos. To download the apps you first need to register with the Playstation network and download the Sony PlayMemories app to you telephone, tablet and/or computer, so you'll need a smartphone, tablet or computer, and patience as it wasn't the clearest process and involves verifying your e-mail. None of it worked as smoothly as other things I've registered for. Next, I tried to use my new account to download the software through the camera - BIG MISTAKE! You have to enter your e-mail address (not your user name) and password, and the connection to the network doesn't work, so each time you try you have to enter it again. This never worked for me after multiple tries! (I want the name and telephone number for the software engineer who set it up this way to give him/her an earful.) Thankfully I was able to connect the camera to the computer, download software to the computer and register online. Next, I tried to download the apps via Google Chrome, which did not work. Using Firefox I was able to download them slowly and one at a time. Instructions weren't very clear to me, possibly because of age, but any event it worked. Also the webiste was buggy and didn't let me go back easily to the page with the others apps to download, but I finally realized you have to go through path message to get back to the page with the other apps you may want to download. MY MESSAGE TO SONY - MAKE THIS AUTOMATIC ONCE A CAMERA OWNER CONNECTS TO A WIFI NETWORK OR COMPUTER!!! THE LITTLE BIT OF USER INFORMATION YOU ARE GETTING CAN BE OBTAINED THROUGH REGISTRATION AND WITHOUT FRUSTRATING THE BUYER!!!!!! Connecting the camera to an iphone works, but might not be intuitive to you. One place referred how to connect using my iphone as a network hotspot, a feature I don't use on my iphone. Luckily I found the instructions that tell you to USE THE CAMERA AS NETWORK ON YOUR WIFI setting on the iphone (SETTINGS, GENERAL, WIFI ...). When I first tried it, it wasn't there, but after a little while it popped up. You then need to enter the password the camera displays in the PlayMemories app, not the settings. Another thing I noticed is that the sync to telephone feature defaults to auto sync, which means when you turn off the camera it tries to connect to your telephone and sync the photos. If you are on a wifi network it won't work and the camera will keep looking for the connection burning through battery. The reason is that you need to go into settings and turn on the camera is the wifi network for this to work. (Obviously if you already had the camera as the wifi network this should work fine.) I turned the auto sync feature off. Everyone I talked to said get the viewfinder for sunny days. I listened. I wear bifocals and so far I have mixed impressions. I'll post on this once I use it more. I will say that I wish that the viewfinder was a little more rigid in place and that the diopter adjustment was easier. It works, but because the camera automatically switches back and forth between viewfinder and display, it is a pain. Also, I wasn't able to adjust it enough to use without glasses although that might be the solution for other people. I'm glad that the camera gives me some options about use, and I may just need to change settings. I also found the electrical viewfinder to be very different than the SLR and rangefinder cameras I've used in the past, as well as the older Olympus and Nikon digital cameras I used in the past. Once I use it for awhile, I may edit this and provide more info. The display and viewfinder do have an unbelievable amount of information available. I dimmed the display to save on battery life and it may have also dimmed the viewfinder - I can't tell yet. The pop up flash works and I understand the value of having it higher above the lens, but I still might prefer a flash I don't have to pop up.

My first review of this camera was all glowing - the photos taken with it fantastic even as a semi-professional photographer. I have it on my body or in my purse almost daily just in case one of those once-in-a-lifetime photos happens along. However, after having it for two years and encountering known problems with it, I suggest that anyone interested in this little Cyber-shot be wary. They are prone to collecting dust on the sensors. And, since that accumulation comes over time, rarely are they in warranty when you need them cleaned. The cost of cleaning the sensor in mine by Sony is about half the cost of my camera, thus eliminating that avenue of help. So, be careful and be aware of the problems prior to purchasing. The Zeiss lenses are worth every penny, and the photos are excellent and out-shoots my Nikon D5200 SLR. But, you end up paying more in the long run.

If you own a DSC-HX30V or other older Sony super-zoom then stick with it. This new model is slower to focus, has a slower lens, and is not as sharp throughout it's zoom range. The viewfinder is very small and cumbersome to use. first you pop it up, then you have to pull the magnifier toward you. The diopter lever is easy to use, but the image is just too small, and distorted near it's edges. It will be a help in bright light, but I would bet most people will just leave it down. The monitor screen is good, and has plenty of resolution and brightness. But the steadyshot feature does not seem to be adequate at 30x. The image is just too hard to hold steady. Did I mention the noise ! pictures are noisy at any ISO. Do I expect too much from this point and shoot ? I don't think so, especially when Nikon got it right with their Coolpix S9900, For 100.00 less. To be fair, maybe I received a poorly calibrated camera. It's going back tomorrow.

For years, I've been a dedicated DSLR user, with my Canon 40D and a slew of lenses being my "serious" camera. I have also become quite adept at producing some surprisingly good pictures from my iPhone 6S, which I have often used as my travel camera. Looking for something much smaller than my Canon DSLR, and more versatile than my smartphone, I purchased the Sony HX90V. It was a toss-up between this camera and the Panasonic Lumix, but I did not need RAW shooting and thought the GPS on the Sony was a nice feature, and one not offered in the Panasonic. I have now put this camera through a couple of weeks of use and, I must admit, am quite impressed with its feature set and image quality. Using either of its two "auto" modes, the images are crisp with excellent exposure, focus, and color saturation. It has a variety of shooting modes available, and all seem to work well. I was surprised at how simple things were, with macro and anti-shake functions engaging when needed. The control ring on the lens is smooth and acts as a manual zoom in auto mode. It's function changes with the mode being used, and it works well as a manual focus ring when in that mode. The pop-up EVF is clear and has a simple diopter adjustment. It can be set to activate when it senses your eye next to it, which is the default setting. It can also be set to turn off the camera when closed. The EVF must be pulled to the rear after it's opened, which can be awkward. The buttons on the rear of the camera are rather small; much smaller than any other camera I've used. This means that the easiest way to access the functions you want is with a fingernail rather than just pressing a button with your finger. It is different, but not very difficult to adjust to. The on/off button is recessed, and also really requires a push with a nail. The wifi software provided is enough to pair your phone with the camera, but it is anything but intuitive to use. With an IOS device, it requires several steps. The Fn button on the camera must be pushed while in view mode, and a picture or pictures selected for transfer. After you initialize the transfer process, you must then go to your phone's settings menu and select the Sony SSID. After that is checked, you then close your settings and open the Sony app on the phone. At that point, the pictures will start loading on to your iPhone. The transfer itself is very fast, and the new photos show right up in your All Photos folder. The Sony app to remotely control your camera is very awkward and not at all user friendly. One excellent feature is the "selfie" feature, which i part of the pivoting LCD screen. When you flip the screen up fully, the "selfie" mode is enabled and a time delay is part of that mode. It is quite clever. Low light shooting is this camera's supposed Achilles heel, but I have yet to experience any significant noise at higher ISO settings. In normal shooting, and at reasonable ISO levels, this is a non-issue anyway. The 30x optical zoom is amazing, but I would advise against using the extended digital zoom, which can degrade or crop the image. In any case, it can be quite challenging to keep this tiny camera steady at very high zoom ranges. I think this is a fantastic little camera, offering virtually every feature any photographer would want. I don't see the lack of RAW format as a real disadvantage for this camera's intended audience, since most would find the JPEG quality to be more than acceptable. One recommendation to anyone buying this camera would be to immediately go to the Sony online manual for this camera. It is a very inclusive and well written description of every function of this camera. The documentation with the camera is basic and not very informative. Small size, formidable zoom, excellent image quality, versatile preset modes, manual controls, GPS, a very usable EVF, and wifi image transfers make this one of the finest compact cameras in its class. In my opinion, it is worth the price and produces images that can rival the finest DSLR cameras out there. It gets my strong recommendation.

After researching a lot, I finally decided to upgrade my Sony HX50V for the HX90V (strangely, at the time there were very few comparisons between the two models that went beyond cut-and-dry specs). I carry a dSLR with a big heavy lens for wildlife and birds, and a compact camera that will take decent landscape shots is a must for me. This was a worthy upgrade, and I will explain why. 1. Viewfinder. I read a lot of complaints about the finnicky push button --> pull out viewfinder mechanism, but I've had no issues with it whatsoever (granted, I use this camera mostly to take landscape shots, but I think almost everyone knows this is not the adequate machine to photograph birds in flight, lions charging, pianos falling from buildings, etc.). The viewfinder is a most welcome addition, since in bright sunlight the screen can hardly be seen for the glare (a common problem with all cameras with no viewfinders). Very helpful to compose shots better and actually see what you are photographing. 2. Form factor and build quality. It is smaller than the HX50V, truly pocketable. I found that holding this camera firmly and steadily is actually easier than it was with the previous model. The grip on the right side, albeit small, is very anti-slip, better than in the HX50V. Complaints about build quality, plasticky feel and flimsiness, in my experience, do not proceed. I stupidly dropped the camera twice on a recent trip (nothing to do with the grip). Once it landed on packed dirt and rocks. That sinking feeling of watching your beloved electronic device falling in slow motion, and the mental image that follows a nanosecond later -- the noise of technology and dollars shattering and tiny bits of camera spewed all over the ground --, was replaced by a huge sigh of relief when I picked up my camera, turned it on and realized it was working. Zero damage. 3. The ring. Works really well for zooming in auto mode, setting aperture, etc. in other modes or fine-tuning focus in DMF. This is a really nice addition, making shooting quicker and enabling more control over settings. 4. Tilting screen. Although it flips in a vertical direction (the hinge is on the top, so this is not the swiveling screen you'll find in other cameras, where the hinge is on the left side) and intuitively the best position to use it is to hold the camera upside down, it is useful in some situations -- selfies or shooting something close to the ground, for instance. The HX90V makes great video, a resource I only use occasionally. Focus is bang-on and the quality, outstanding. I do wish the HX90V had a touch screen to help set focus points, but this gripe goes back to the HX50V, too. Maybe Sony will implement it in a future iteration of the line. No RAW capability is no deal-breaker for me in this kind of camera, as .jpg results have been pretty good. And the GPS continues to work well (the absence of GPS would have been a deal-breaker for me, and that explains why the Panasonic contender in this camera category wasn't even considered in the upgrade). Wi-fi doesn't matter to me one way or the other, and the only time I used it was when playing around with the camera to see if it worked. All in all, I'm happy with the HX90V and feel that this was a good step up for my needs.

The Sony HX90V offers great functionality and a nice shooting experience but ultimately, even considering its sensor size, image quality falls short with detail smearing down at the lowest ISOs when blown up to anything larger than web size photos. While I realize that they have decreased the MP slightly on this model, I still think 18MP is way too much for a camera with a 1/2.3" sensor. I kind of feel, for an enthusiast-oriented megazoom, they should've gone with something like 12MP like Panasonic did for its Lumix ZS50. Detail smearing due to noise reduction is visible at reduced sizes at base ISO. Most pedestrian point and shoot cameras these days should at least be able to give you the ability to blow up your prints at ISO100. RAW capture is also not available on this model, which is unfortunate, because you can customize the level of noise reduction applied and potentially get better photos than what they out of camera JPEGs display.To balance this out, color and exposure are pretty good. The camera doesn't blow out highlights as badly as some of its peers. It's unfortunate that image quality falls short because, otherwise, this is a nice camera to use. The autofocus is fast and mostly on target. The image stabilization works well. And the viewfinder is actually very nice, despite being a lower resolution than the ones found in the RX100 series cameras. Battery life is also pretty good. The LCD screen on back is pretty good as well. I have not shot with the Panasonic ZS50 so I can't really comment on overall image quality compared to this camera, but, the fact that you can shoot RAW gives it a leg up over the Sony. If you never really blow up your photos at all, then this might be an alright choice. But if you at least want to make larger prints from images at base ISO in good light, I would look elsewhere.

I have been the previous owner of the Sony HX series of point and shoots including the 20v, 30v, and the 50v. While all of them had their strong points and weak points, the HX90v has improved its strong points even further, while some of the weak points still plague the small sensor. Sony has reduced the number of megapixels from 20 down to 18 improving its signal to noise and dynamic range. You can now do exposure bracketing from +/-3EV where before it was +/-1EV. This opens up a higher dynamic range shooting exposure bracketed images for HDRs. The camera also has an auto-HDR feature which will take three shots for you at the exposure range you set and process it into an exposure balanced image which of course retains you shadow and highlight details. The camera has also been reduced in size but has has new features added such as a popup EVF and a flip up rear LED display for those selfie moments. It is a marvel of engineering to pack so many features into such a small camera. It also features a movable lens ring that will give you better control over zooming in or out of your scene. Like I mentioned before, the small sensor still has problems with noise at higher ISO ranges above 800. Navigating the menu to get at certain features is complex but has a lot of customizations that could be useful. The popup EVF was clearer than I expected from such a small display but totally adequate for shooting in bright sunlight where the main display is totally washed out by the sun. I would have preferred to have had the rear display be able to tilt up or down rather than just flip up. Like the 60v, this camera can also accommodate PlayMemories applications which adds more capabilities and automation to help process and/or shoot your photos. You have the ability to wirelessly transfer your images to your smartphone of computer as well as being able to remote control the camera from your PlayMemories Mobile app including settings, zoom, and remote viewing of the scene before triggering the shutter from your smartphone. The only downside to the apps is that Sony has not updated all their apps to accommodate the HX90v yet. All in all, it is s great improvement over the previous models and I look forward into using it a lot more for those times that I don't want to lug my big DSLR around.