Sony HX10V

A feature-filled compact megazoom that can do both quality videos and stills

The advertisements of this Sony camera have been all over television. When I managed to get my hands on it, I realised it packed a few surprises.

The burst mode can shoot up to 10 frames per second, but the camera then locks up for a few minutes and you can’t take another shot. I thought this was due to a slow SD card. However, even a faster SD card could not resolve the issue.

The camera has a good night mode. It records up to six images of the same shot to make the night-time images bright and sharp. The 3 inch LCD is also bright and sharp and makes shooting photos a lot of fun.

Sony uses the Clear Image Zoom in this camera. It can zoom up to 32x, with help from digital zoom. But I could not figure out how to turn off the digital zoom. I went into the menu and switched it off, but it still kept going. This means that if you want to avoid taking an image with digital zoom, you have to keep looking at the LCD and stop zooming when it shows 16x. All other things apart, the zoom is stable and the results come out sharp, irrespective of lighting conditions.

The camera’s GPS and compass are accurate and lock in quickly. It also has a mode called Super Intelligent Auto+, which activates the burst mode. It comes in handy if you are unsure of the settings to use for a particular image. Its 360º panorama mode is great, and so is the 3D panorama mode.

There is no charger with the camera; it charges from the USB port directly. However, I was unable to charge it with my old USB charger. And worse, you cannot shoot while the camera is charging. Even more irritatingly, the USB port is at the bottom of the camera and you have to place it with the LCD facing down.
I don’t like that as this can scratch the screen.

Overall, I love what the camera can do. If you are looking for a point-and-shoot camera that can take pictures in difficult conditions, like backlit scenes or night shots, the HX10V will do you nicely.

About The Author

Gagandeep Singh Sapra