Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1 SteadyShot off / on review and tutorial

by photographer

Sponsored Links

ADVERTISE

Above are examples taken with and afterwards SteadyShot with the Cyber-shot HX1 actually zoomed-into its best agnate of 560mm. Acceptable accurate admonition would acclaim a bang acceleration of at atomic 1/560 to annihilate camera shake, so by accomplishing accurateness at 1/40 with stabilisation proves the arrangement is acceptable for about four stops of advantage – that’s appropriate achievement and a admired facility.

A committed focus button allows you to about-face amid Multi AF, Centre AF, a manually adjustable AF area, preset focus distance, or chiral focus application a calibration at the basal of the awning and a briefly abstract view. It’s accessible to manually focus adequately accurately.

Earlier Cyber-shot super-zooms like the H9 were faster than boilerplate at auto-focusing, and we’re admiring to address the HX1 additionally excels in this regard. Beneath reasonable light, the HX1 snaps into focus in beneath than a added at any focal length, while connected auto-focusing ensures it’s consistently abutting to carrying a aciculate angel (if not there already) by the time you columnist the bang release. Don’t get us wrong, it’s still no bout for a DSLR with a quick lens, but in bunched terms, it’s about as fast as you can expect, and actually accustomed us to grab a cardinal of ad-lib activity shots.

Round the aback you’ll acquisition a 3in awning with 230k pixels – the aforementioned resolution as its rivals, but hardly beyond than most: the Panasonic FZ28 and Olympus SP-590UZ both accept 2.7in screens, while the Canon SX10 IS has a 2.5in model. The Canon SX1 IS has a 2.7in screen, but with a 16:9 shape, so congenital 4:3 images abandoned absorb a 2.3in portion. Nikon’s P90 matches the 3in admeasurement of the HX1, and afresh shares the aforementioned 230k resolution. In use we begin the HX1’s awning looked hardly beneath active than rivals like the SX10 IS and FZ28, but admitting administration the aforementioned admeasurement and resolution, looked a little beneath base than the P90.

Like the Nikon P90, the HX1’s awning is army on an adjustable belvedere which allows vertical adjustments, although the Sony enjoys greater flexibility. Both cameras can angle their screens to face angular upwards for accessible agreement at low levels, but while the Nikon will abandoned angle aback by 45 degrees, the Sony can angle its awning to face anon downwards, which actually helps aback captivation the camera aerial over-head.

This gives the HX1 greater compositional adaptability than cameras with anchored screens like the Panasonic FZ28 and Olympus SP-590UZ, and actually the P90 which can’t face anon downwards. But the HX1 can’t bout the complete adaptability of Canon’s awning on the SX10 IS / SX1 IS which can cast and aberration to face anon up or down, not to acknowledgment adverse the accountable or aback on itself for protection.

Like best super-zoom cameras, the HX1 is additionally able with an cyberbanking viewfinder (EVF) as an another agency of composition; a abandoned button on the aerial larboard ancillary of the anatomy switches amid the awning and EVF. The 0.2in / 201k dot blueprint matches that of the Panasonic FZ28, with both models carrying a baby but adequately abundant and accessible view.

Both are about askew by the about ample (but afterwards coarse-looking) angle of the EVFs in Canon’s SX10 IS and SX1 IS. The SX1 IS actually has a 16:9 shaped EVF to bout its 16:9 shaped screen, but alike aback basic in the 4:3 aspect arrangement with atramentous confined alive bottomward either ancillary of the image, the appearance charcoal bigger than the Sony’s EVF; about-face the SX1 IS to 16:9 approach breadth the angel fills its EVF and the admeasurement aberration becomes alike greater. But afresh there’s about the aforementioned absolute detail in the image, so it aloof depends whether you adopt it blown-up or not.

Pressing the DISP button on the HX1 cycles amid four options: Accepted brightness, Added brightness, Added accuracy with a alive histogram and abounding acknowledgment details, and finally, Added accuracy with basal cutting details. You can additionally accept to accredit a three-by-three alignment filigree in the menus, which is apparent on all affectation modes if enabled. It’s nice to accept a alive histogram option, but hardly odd it’s abandoned accessible with the awning accuracy additionally increased.

During playback the DISP button about offers the aforementioned options, including a appearance with a histogram and acknowledgment details, but abandoned with the awning accuracy additionally increased. Like beforehand Sony cameras you can comedy music while examination slideshows, and upload your own audio files to the camera if desired.

With no committed buttons for things like the ISO sensitivity, best settings are adapted via a super-imposed agenda arrangement that will be accustomed to users of antecedent Sony cameras. Pressing the Agenda button overlays a angular scrolling account of settings, which aggrandize to the appropriate with the accessible options for anniversary in turn.

In Program mode, you can acclimatize the Angel size, White Balance, Metering, Bracketing (including exposure, white antithesis and colour options), Smile apprehension sensitivity, Face Apprehension mode, Beam level, Red-eye mode, Dynamic Ambit Optimiser approach (Off, DRO Accepted or DRO Plus), Babble Abridgement (plus, bare or standard), Colour approach (five options), Colour clarify (from bristles choices), Saturation, Contrast, Accurateness (all with plus, bare or accepted settings) and assuredly the three SteadyShot options declared earlier.

Below this is an advantage to access the capital agenda pages, although they don’t actually arise until about three abnormal afterwards you columnist the button which can be infuriating if you impatiently charge to change a setting. It’s abnormally apathetic because added aspects of the camera are absolute fast.

The Cyber-shot offers bang speeds from 1/2000 to 30 abnormal and ten breach settings from f2.8 to f8 aback zoomed-out. Like best super-zooms, you accept complete ascendancy over both settings with the HX1’s Manual, Breach and Bang Priority modes; Program about-face is additionally available. In anniversary mode, the deride caster is pushed in to highlight the adapted option, afore actuality angry to acclimatize it.

If you’d adopt an easier life, the accepted PASM modes are complimented by Sony’s Intelligent Auto Adjustment with arena detection, a committed SCN position alms chiral alternative of ten presets on-screen, or an EASY advantage which minimises the accessible settings. Unlike Canon’s SX1 IS which has a committed cine button on the rear, the Sony HX1 opts for a added acceptable filmstrip position on the approach dial.

Scene Apprehension on the HX1 automatically switches amid twilight, afterglow account and afterglow account application a tripod, backlight, backlight portrait, landscape, macro or accustomed account modes. In convenance it does a acceptable job too, not often actuality bamboozled in our tests. Additionally aegis is offered by the iSCN+ advantage which takes two shots with hardly altered modes or settings, acceptance you to afterwards accept and accumulate your favourite.

So far so good, but the Cyber-shot HX1 has three added and altered settings on its approach punch some of which accomplishment its fast connected cutting capabilities. Aboriginal is the Anti Motion Blur mode, which grabs six frames in quick assumption and combines the sharpest elements of anniversary into a distinct image. Added is the Handheld Afterglow approach which afresh grabs six frames in quick succession, but this time endless them to abate arresting noise. Finally, in one of the HX1’s banderole modes, the Sweep Panorama grabs a alternation of images as you pan the camera alongside or vertically, afore afresh automatically bond them into a across-the-board photo.

In tests with the Anti Motion Blur approach beneath absolute low light, the camera auspiciously accumulated six frames into one aciculate image. The acknowledgment was 1/4 of a second, and babble levels were actually aerial due to an appropriately aerial sensitivity, but it’s still a accessible ability if you’re award camera-shake to be a problem.

The stacking address alive by the Handheld Afterglow approach has a solid foundation in specialist fields like astro-photography, and it adapts able-bodied to a customer camera here. To put it to the analysis we attempt a handheld arena in afterglow conditions, during which the HX1 called a bang acceleration of 1/60 and a acuteness of 400 ISO. We afresh akin these settings with a accustomed acknowledgment for allegory and you can see 100% crops from anniversary angel below.