Sony DSC-HX7V

This camera takes forever to do everything it does. But does it all really well

The HX7V's box tomtoms it as a 3D camera. While a 3D camera sounds cool, most of us still buy cameras to take regular pictures. I took the camera along on a high-speed bicycle ride, which took me to a scenic spot in Delhi. Here's my experience.

It has a bright 3 inch screen, which reproduces pictures nicely (sometimes much better than how they look on a PC). The camera also has a 10x zoom lens, which would have been a great feature if only there'd been better image stabilisation. As of now, pictures at max zoom turn out blurred if you are not carrying a tripod. But who wants to carry a tripod with a point-and-shoot camera?

The HX7V geotags images automatically. A great feature, with the only hitch being that it takes a bit too long for the camera to get a GPS lock. It's fine if the camera has been in power on mode for some time, else the first few images could go untagged.

The new Intelligent Auto + (iA+) mode can automatically take multiple shots of the same scene and overlay them—resulting in brighter and sharper images. With this too, it takes too long. If you want to take another shot immediately, you simply have to wait for the camera to finish.

As hyped on the box, this camera can shoot 3D panoramic pictures. The results look good on a 3D TV, but there is nothing earth-shattering about it. I won't buy this camera only for its 3D capabilities. Its HD video recorder (1920 x 1080 p) and stereo microphones are a bigger draw for me.

The camera has two different buttons for shooting videos and still images. I found this annoying at first, but then fell in love with it. You can now click still images while shooting a video. This can come in useful for capturing title slides of the video.

It's a slow camera, and its battery lasts only about 200 shots (most such cameras do 300), but it is still a good camera, especially at this price.