Gadgetory

hi this is Mike Perlman for TechnoBuffalo and welcome to another edition of camera review today's review is the sony cybershot DSC HX 200 v that's a long model name isn't it Lucy stay tuned for the full review behold the sony cybershot DSC HX 200 v and goodbye Lucy go get a squirrel go get a chipmunk this camera is Sony's top-of-the-line super zoom camera it has a 30x optical zoom lens which means you could get up close and personal with your neighbors this camera also has 1080 60 P Full HD video recording an 18 point 2 megapixel sensor and a host of really nifty shooting features let's start with this cameras design the cyber-shot HX 200 v separates itself from the pack with a few key features the first one being its pro style lens ring which operates the zoom or the manual focus this is a buttery smooth wonderful tool that you could find on advanced camcorders also we have a nifty 921 K pixel display in the back and the LCD style is tilting so you could shoot at those hard-to-reach angles the only thing I don't like about this LCD screen is that it doesn't flip out to face you for self-portraits the Panasonic Lumix DMC fz1 50 has that capability there's also a two hundred thousand pixel electronic viewfinder and the cool thing about this is it has an eye sensor so it will transition from the LCD screen to the viewfinder just by placing your eye up against the cup there's a great DSLR style dial control on the back you could press it in to use it as a button you could also spin it to make different selections we have a four way directional pad with some nice shortcuts on it and Sony equipped the HX 200 v with its info lithium battery pack this thing lasts a long time it's one of the best battery life in its class and the great thing about this battery pack is it shows you its remaining stamina in minutes on the LCD screen this camera has a pop-up flash on top but like any Sony this camera is geared toward consumers that's why you won't find a mic jack or a headphone jack and you won't find a hot shoe on top the Panasonic FZ 150 has those features and because of that the FZ 150 is for more advanced shooters while the cyber-shot is more a soccer mom camera now for features the Sony cyber-shot HX 200 V is plastered from lens to LCD screen with a bountiful banquet of shooting tools it has two separate auto modes one is intelligent Auto and one is superior auto intelligent Auto uses a combination of Sony's different scene techniques and picks the right one for the right occasion now superior auto takes a series of shots in different settings and combines them all into one image but I found that I achieved better results in the PASM modes speaking of which yes this camera has full manual control a shutter speed that goes down to 30 seconds which we used for light painting at night it has an aperture range of F 2.8 to 8.0 and an ISO range of 100 to 12,800 so that's a pretty broad sensitivity range but that's not all this thing is a built-in neutral density filter with an auto setting it also has exposure bracketing smile shutter and smile detection saturation contrast sharpness settings various noise reduction levels an excellent optical steadyshot image stabilization which worked exceedingly well in video and still mode zoomed all the way in at a 30 X optical zoom the cyber-shot HX 200 V also has a nice GPS feature it has GPS logging and the camera did a great job of tracking all of the different locations that I took pictures and videos now the cyber-shot HX 200 V also has some really cool picture effects we do have a really awesome HDR painting mode there's rich black and white there's pop color we have partial colors water color illustration that type of thing now we'll hop over to scene mode and with most cameras scene modes are pretty useless but not with the HX 200 V it has a backlight correction HDR mode that did a fantastic job check out some of the pictures I took online without it and with and you'll see the difference it's pretty amazing there are also some great night shot modes and the HX 200 V would not be a sony without the panorama sweep mode you could take up to 180 degree shots this camera has a ten frames per second burst rate at full resolution and one of the coolest features I found was in playback mode where you'd actually tilt the camera left and right using the motion sensor inside to flip through the pictures like a hologram or a flipbook I think that is awesome now there's some nice control in video mode you can shoot in different scene modes you could also adjust the exposure compensation you can shoot an intelligent auto but unlike the FZ 150 from panasonic you can't adjust the shutter aperture ISO those type of things so when it comes to manual controls in video mode you're pretty limited but overall this is one of the best collections of shooting features on the market in this class now it's time for image quality under the hood of the HX 200 V you'll find a one over 2.3 inch 18 point 2 megapixel Exmor sensor with Sony's buy ons processing so this camera is geared toward better low-light sensitivity now the one thing to mention about the HX 200 V is the fact that it does not shoot in RAW so keep that in mind I found it to produce some fairly beautiful images especially macro shots outdoor pictures are great I was really impressed with the colors they're a little bit cooler than most other cameras but they're pretty accurate in low light is really impressed with the high ISO sensitivity this is a great all-around camera when you stack it up against the F Z 150 they're pretty much on the same plane and in the video Department this camera was fantastic that 60 P video looks beautiful looks absolutely beautiful great colors really really really impressive video from this camera especially from a small sensor I was just highly highly impressed with this thing so overall image quality with the HX 200 V very good and now it's time for the buffalo call with the zoom happy cyber-shot if you're not as concerned with manual controls you're gonna want to pick the sony it's just a great all-around auto shooter if you're more of a manual shooter you want more manual controls you're going to want to go for the Panasonic FZ 150 the reason is it's got that mic jack it's got the hot shoe it shoots in raw it's got great manual controls like shutter speed and aperture and ISO in video mode so if you want more of a complete picture if you could see yourself starting to do basic video productions and you wanted that versatility of shooting in RAW go with the Panasonic I personally would go with the Panasonic for those reasons if I were to list them in order of preference I'd go Panasonic FZ 150 slash cyber-shot HX 200 V then I'd go Canon Powershot SX 4 ths then I'd go Nikon Coolpix P 510 so if this video was not enough to quench your camera thirst go to TechnoBuffalo comm for the full HX 200 review until next time I'm Mike Pearlman remember to always wear your safety goggles