Introduction: The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V is a breed of camera that's noticeably smaller than a DSLR, but more capable than a point-and-shoot. Sporting a thin, rectangular frame, the HX9V's 16x zoom lens and diverse snapshot-oriented feature set yields high-resolution stills, 3D panoramas, and Full HD video with stereo audio. Along with 16.2-megapixel files and a 3.0-inch LCD screen, the Cyber-shot HX9V delivers performance, automation, and a photo-savvy design, making it a viable point-and-click or more affordable alternative to interchangeable lens systems.
Silent Features :
Silent Features :
- 3D Still Image and 3D Sweep Panorama
- 16x Optical Zoom
- 24mm wide angle Sony G lens
- AVCHD Full HD Video Recording
- Background Defocus and high speed auto focus
- Built-in GPS and Compass
- Type: Exmor R CMOS Sensor
- Size: 1/2.3 type (7.77mm)
- Gross Pixels: Approx. 16.8 Mega Pixels
- Effective Pixels : Approx. 16.2 Mega Pixels
- Screen Size: 3.0 (7.6 cms)
- Brightness Setting: Yes
- ISO: 100-3200
- Shutter: 30-1/1600
- Max Aperture: 3.3
FIG.1: shows pop out flash
FIG.2: shows movie button in red, menu, trash, display
FIG.4: when lens is out,
FIG.5: shows on/off, custom, click, zoom and the circular dial showing different features
FIG.6: shows place where battery SD card and the tripod stand goes
(Note the HDMI port is on right side of the camera i.e. opposite to the side shown in FIG.4)
Defocus feature: I took pictures in this mode and was shocked the picture looked very professional and was amazing this feature is usually seen in DSLR cameras the setting will allow you to zoom in on an object in the frame, and ultimately blurs the background. The HX9V creates this effect with electronics, while DSLRs achieve it through optics. There is a hefty trade-off here; users shouldn't expect the “DSLR effect” they've become accustomed to seeing, but the setting does come fairly close to professional DSLRs.
Backlight Correction HDR: Backlight compensation HDR is a Scene Mode designed to combat one of the most difficult photographic situations: shooting a dim subject in front of a much brighter background. In this feature the HX9V automatically combining three bracketed shots, captured seemingly simultaneously, within the camera to reduce the contrast and optimize for three different tonal ranges. The result is an even exposure across the entire image. Create a single image with the most detail possible in both the shadows and highlights
Note that you should mount the camera on a tripod to avoid any unwanted camera-shake while using this feature.
Response : The camera is very responsive its not slow at all can quickly take an image and is ready for another responsive when shooting, quickly locking focus, with very little shutter lag before capture. Its AF speed is nothing short of remarkable, turning in AF times as fast as the fastest digital SLRs: 0.15 second at wide angle and 0.13 second at telephoto. Switching between image and video is quick takes about 2 sec. switching between the modes (image) is pretty simple just have to use the revolve the upper dial.
Interface: The interface is easy to understand Sony is adept in designing a clean, usable graphic interface across its products, and the Cyber-shot HX9V is no different. The menu structures are well organized and easily accessed through the Menu button on the back of the camera. The settings are displayed over a live feed of what the camera sees, immediately showing the effect of the potential White Balance and aspect ratio alterations as you scroll through the available setting options. Menu headings in shooting modes are intelligently organized in a vertical array on the left side of the screen, with specific options sprawled out horizontally across the frame. Sony uses white text over a semi-transparent black overlay. The text is clear and easy to read in nearly any condition. Menu options will vary slightly depending on the shooting mode the camera is using. There are three display settings to control how much information is displayed on the live composition (Off, On, and Detailed Info). There's also an In-Camera Guide that comes in very handy given the camera's generous feature set.
Image: Images taken in day light were good and impressive with auto modes. the camera has two auto modes superior auto and intelligent auto both the auto modes works well I don’t seem to find any difference between the two .Superior Auto" intelligently recognizes 36 types of shooting scenes for still images and movies. The camera automatically detects the correct scene for you, and optimizes the shooting mode. What you get is simply the best result you can get. Now let come to the image quality in candle light (without flash) it was pretty impressive the image was clear and there was no noise in the image EXMOR R” CMOS SENSOR for conditions like that of candle light works good. With flash of course they were clear the flash gives a very impressive light looks very natural. I tested the flash in pitch black the images taken were very clear and detailed (note these images were taken in auto modes mostly superior) the camera has Sony G-lens which is a high-quality optic for a point-and-shoot camera as far as the zooming is concerned it is very smooth and very responsive .The CMOS sensor deliver high-resolution images with consistent sharpness from the optics, sensor, and image stabilization. The camera is able to focus the subject quickly which was quite impressive. The color of the image looks natural. I didn’t notice any weird colors in the images that I have taken so far no matter what the condition. I mostly keep it in superior mode and it works fine in every kind of light but apart from auto modes these custom modes are also available
FIG.2: shows movie button in red, menu, trash, display
FIG.4: when lens is out,
FIG.5: shows on/off, custom, click, zoom and the circular dial showing different features
FIG.6: shows place where battery SD card and the tripod stand goes
(Note the HDMI port is on right side of the camera i.e. opposite to the side shown in FIG.4)
Defocus feature: I took pictures in this mode and was shocked the picture looked very professional and was amazing this feature is usually seen in DSLR cameras the setting will allow you to zoom in on an object in the frame, and ultimately blurs the background. The HX9V creates this effect with electronics, while DSLRs achieve it through optics. There is a hefty trade-off here; users shouldn't expect the “DSLR effect” they've become accustomed to seeing, but the setting does come fairly close to professional DSLRs.
Backlight Correction HDR: Backlight compensation HDR is a Scene Mode designed to combat one of the most difficult photographic situations: shooting a dim subject in front of a much brighter background. In this feature the HX9V automatically combining three bracketed shots, captured seemingly simultaneously, within the camera to reduce the contrast and optimize for three different tonal ranges. The result is an even exposure across the entire image. Create a single image with the most detail possible in both the shadows and highlights
Note that you should mount the camera on a tripod to avoid any unwanted camera-shake while using this feature.
Response : The camera is very responsive its not slow at all can quickly take an image and is ready for another responsive when shooting, quickly locking focus, with very little shutter lag before capture. Its AF speed is nothing short of remarkable, turning in AF times as fast as the fastest digital SLRs: 0.15 second at wide angle and 0.13 second at telephoto. Switching between image and video is quick takes about 2 sec. switching between the modes (image) is pretty simple just have to use the revolve the upper dial.
Interface: The interface is easy to understand Sony is adept in designing a clean, usable graphic interface across its products, and the Cyber-shot HX9V is no different. The menu structures are well organized and easily accessed through the Menu button on the back of the camera. The settings are displayed over a live feed of what the camera sees, immediately showing the effect of the potential White Balance and aspect ratio alterations as you scroll through the available setting options. Menu headings in shooting modes are intelligently organized in a vertical array on the left side of the screen, with specific options sprawled out horizontally across the frame. Sony uses white text over a semi-transparent black overlay. The text is clear and easy to read in nearly any condition. Menu options will vary slightly depending on the shooting mode the camera is using. There are three display settings to control how much information is displayed on the live composition (Off, On, and Detailed Info). There's also an In-Camera Guide that comes in very handy given the camera's generous feature set.
Image: Images taken in day light were good and impressive with auto modes. the camera has two auto modes superior auto and intelligent auto both the auto modes works well I don’t seem to find any difference between the two .Superior Auto" intelligently recognizes 36 types of shooting scenes for still images and movies. The camera automatically detects the correct scene for you, and optimizes the shooting mode. What you get is simply the best result you can get. Now let come to the image quality in candle light (without flash) it was pretty impressive the image was clear and there was no noise in the image EXMOR R” CMOS SENSOR for conditions like that of candle light works good. With flash of course they were clear the flash gives a very impressive light looks very natural. I tested the flash in pitch black the images taken were very clear and detailed (note these images were taken in auto modes mostly superior) the camera has Sony G-lens which is a high-quality optic for a point-and-shoot camera as far as the zooming is concerned it is very smooth and very responsive .The CMOS sensor deliver high-resolution images with consistent sharpness from the optics, sensor, and image stabilization. The camera is able to focus the subject quickly which was quite impressive. The color of the image looks natural. I didn’t notice any weird colors in the images that I have taken so far no matter what the condition. I mostly keep it in superior mode and it works fine in every kind of light but apart from auto modes these custom modes are also available
Handheld :Capture cleaner and sharper images in low light, without flash or tripod. When set to Handheld Twilight Mode, the camera captures six images in a fraction of a second with one press of the shutter, and combines the data from all six to create a single image of extraordinary detail and low noise
You can take 300 to 400 images on full charge depending on how you use the camera .Macro mode captures good detail throughout most of the frame, with fairly good definition.
GPS: This potentially allows you to seamlessly geo-tag your photos (latitude and longitude co-ordinates are stored in the EXIF data) and then sort and display them using geo-friendly websites such as Google Earth and Google Maps or the supplied Picture Motion Browser PC software. The HX9V also uses the GPS to keep the camera time accurate, and even has a built-in compass that shows which direction you were pointing when the picture was taken! The GPS function can be manually turned on or off and the current GPS status is displayed as a small icon on the LCD screen. Three bars appear next to the icon when the GPS has synced with one or more satellites, which unfortunately takes a few minutes from powering on the camera. once it's synced, the HX9V's GPS receiver works good saving accurate positioning information for the majority of the images. The main downside of the HX9V's GPS is the subsequent drain on battery life but then again you can just turn the GPS off.
Burst mode: Pressing the drive mode button brings up two options, single or burst, with high-, mid- and low-speed continuous options then available in the Menu system. Out of these, the high-speed continuous mode is the most remarkable. The HX9V takes up to 10 full-resolution photos at a frankly astounding 10 frames per second, which is faster than most compact cameras and indeed most DSLRs too. The only fly in the ointment is that once the burst is completed, it takes over fifteen seconds for the camera to clear the buffer, during which you cannot take another picture. In the other two continuous shooting modes, the Sony HX9V also takes up to 10 pictures, but at slower speeds of 5 or 2 frames per second.
Burst (Viewing): Within the Playback Menu, users can elect to view burst sequences as individual images or as a 3-dimensional composite. Selecting the Group view allows users to tilt the camera to move around the dimensional composite frame in Playback mode. well I tried this feature its pretty amazing and funny at time just tilt the camera left to right and back the image frames start to move looks like a video.
3D Images: Produce awe-inspiring images with 3D Still Image! Just press the shutter button and the camera automatically takes two consecutive shots and converts them into a single, breath-taking 3D image. 3D Shooting captures images in industry-standard .MPO format for playback on a 3D capable TV
iSweep Panorama: There are three Panorama formats available: Standard, Wide, and High Resolution (HR).the panorama can be shot from 4 direction right to left, left to right, up to down and down to up depending on what you choose to do.
3D Sweep Panorama: Capture the beauty of scenery and landscapes in spectacular 3D. As you sweep across your subject, the camera records separate right-eye and left-eye images that make sceneries and landscapes come alive on 3D television.
3D Sweep Multi Angle: In Sweep Multi Angle mode, 15 images are captured at different angles as the camera sweeps across the scene. When you tilt the camera during playback, the camera's Gyro Sensor detects motion and displays the picture in 3D like view on the LCD. I tried this feature is works on the same principle on which panorama works the image is taken like a panorama. When you tilt the camera right and left it gives an illusion of a 3D Screen. I have never seen this feature in any other camera that I have came across so far.
Video: Two words for video recording “Absolutely Amazing” Hx9v does video recording at full 1080p HD rather than 1080i or 720p, and also with stereo sound rather than mono. The various options are 1920x1280 or 1440x1280 pixels at 50p or 50i in the AVCHD format, and 1440x1280, 1280x720 or 640x480 pixels at 25fps in the MPEG4 format. The video formats available are AVHCD and MPEG4.AVHCD for more professional videos .Although I would recommend MPEG4 as various video players are easily available on the web and also works on DVD players .while AVHCD a better quality the players are very hard to find on web and also it only plays on BLUE RAY players rather than normal DVD players. Another absolutely amazing feature is that you can also click images while video recording but at 3 mega pixels .The camera has a dedicated video recording button which is easily accessible Optical zoom is supported during video recording and the digital zoom also. Audio is recorded in two formats depending on which video encoding you use: AVCHD uses Dolby Digital (AC-3) and MP4 uses MPEG-4 AAC-LC. There is also a Wind Noise Reduction filter that's engaged within the capture menu which is a great inclusion. Videos recorded with the HX9V can also be viewed on an HDTV directly via the camera's HDMI port.
Different video quality
AVCHD - 1,920 X 1,080 (28M, PS)
AVCHD - 1,920 X 1,080 (24M, FX)
AVCHD - 1,920 X 1,080 (17M, FH)
AVCHD - 1,440 X 1,080 (9M, HQ)
MP4 - 1,440 X 1,080 (12M)
MP4 - 1,280 X 720 (6M)
MP4 –VGA 640 X 480 (3M)
AVHCD: The AVCHD format is a High Definition (HD) digital video format for recording 1080i and 720p signals by using highly efficient codec technologies. When you shoot videos in AVC HD format, what you get is simply stunning picture quality of your videos. It takes 3-seconds for video recording to begin, and several seconds for it to stop as well.
Other Features:
Face Detection, Still Image Recording during movies, Smile Shutter, Grid Line, and In-Camera Guide,Retouch – Trimming, Retouch - Red-eye Correction, Retouch - Unsharp Masking, Still Image Capture from Movie, Date View, Slideshow with Music,3D Viewing Mode, Control for HDMI, Histogram Indicator
Start-up Time: Approx. 2.3sec
Shooting Time Lag: Approx. 0.15sec
Shutter Release Time Lag: Approx. 0.017sec
Shooting Interval: Approx. 1.1sec
Burst Speed (Maximum): Approx. 10.0 fps
Burst Interval (Minimum): Approx. 0.1sec
Built-in Microphone: Stereo
Wind Noise Reduction: Off/On
Smart Zoom 10M: Approx. 20x, 5M: Approx. 28x, VGA: Approx. 115x, 16:9(2M): Approx. 38x
Optical Zoom during Movie Recording
Noise Reduction Slow Shutter: Shutter Speed of 1/3sec or slower
Mode Dial: iAuto / Superior Auto / Program Auto / Manual / MR / Intelligent Sweep Panorama / Movie / 3D / SCN / Background Defocus
Smart Zoom: The Smart Zoom function crops a portion of a photo taken at the maximum image size to obtain a zoomed image. When compared with normal digital zoom functions that directly enlarge the image data, Smart Zoom provides better image quality by cropping the data, not enlarging it. Automatic switchover from optical zoom to Smart Zoom as magnification increases is seamless, requiring no attention from the user.
You can take 300 to 400 images on full charge depending on how you use the camera .Macro mode captures good detail throughout most of the frame, with fairly good definition.
GPS: This potentially allows you to seamlessly geo-tag your photos (latitude and longitude co-ordinates are stored in the EXIF data) and then sort and display them using geo-friendly websites such as Google Earth and Google Maps or the supplied Picture Motion Browser PC software. The HX9V also uses the GPS to keep the camera time accurate, and even has a built-in compass that shows which direction you were pointing when the picture was taken! The GPS function can be manually turned on or off and the current GPS status is displayed as a small icon on the LCD screen. Three bars appear next to the icon when the GPS has synced with one or more satellites, which unfortunately takes a few minutes from powering on the camera. once it's synced, the HX9V's GPS receiver works good saving accurate positioning information for the majority of the images. The main downside of the HX9V's GPS is the subsequent drain on battery life but then again you can just turn the GPS off.
Burst mode: Pressing the drive mode button brings up two options, single or burst, with high-, mid- and low-speed continuous options then available in the Menu system. Out of these, the high-speed continuous mode is the most remarkable. The HX9V takes up to 10 full-resolution photos at a frankly astounding 10 frames per second, which is faster than most compact cameras and indeed most DSLRs too. The only fly in the ointment is that once the burst is completed, it takes over fifteen seconds for the camera to clear the buffer, during which you cannot take another picture. In the other two continuous shooting modes, the Sony HX9V also takes up to 10 pictures, but at slower speeds of 5 or 2 frames per second.
Burst (Viewing): Within the Playback Menu, users can elect to view burst sequences as individual images or as a 3-dimensional composite. Selecting the Group view allows users to tilt the camera to move around the dimensional composite frame in Playback mode. well I tried this feature its pretty amazing and funny at time just tilt the camera left to right and back the image frames start to move looks like a video.
3D Images: Produce awe-inspiring images with 3D Still Image! Just press the shutter button and the camera automatically takes two consecutive shots and converts them into a single, breath-taking 3D image. 3D Shooting captures images in industry-standard .MPO format for playback on a 3D capable TV
iSweep Panorama: There are three Panorama formats available: Standard, Wide, and High Resolution (HR).the panorama can be shot from 4 direction right to left, left to right, up to down and down to up depending on what you choose to do.
3D Sweep Panorama: Capture the beauty of scenery and landscapes in spectacular 3D. As you sweep across your subject, the camera records separate right-eye and left-eye images that make sceneries and landscapes come alive on 3D television.
3D Sweep Multi Angle: In Sweep Multi Angle mode, 15 images are captured at different angles as the camera sweeps across the scene. When you tilt the camera during playback, the camera's Gyro Sensor detects motion and displays the picture in 3D like view on the LCD. I tried this feature is works on the same principle on which panorama works the image is taken like a panorama. When you tilt the camera right and left it gives an illusion of a 3D Screen. I have never seen this feature in any other camera that I have came across so far.
Video: Two words for video recording “Absolutely Amazing” Hx9v does video recording at full 1080p HD rather than 1080i or 720p, and also with stereo sound rather than mono. The various options are 1920x1280 or 1440x1280 pixels at 50p or 50i in the AVCHD format, and 1440x1280, 1280x720 or 640x480 pixels at 25fps in the MPEG4 format. The video formats available are AVHCD and MPEG4.AVHCD for more professional videos .Although I would recommend MPEG4 as various video players are easily available on the web and also works on DVD players .while AVHCD a better quality the players are very hard to find on web and also it only plays on BLUE RAY players rather than normal DVD players. Another absolutely amazing feature is that you can also click images while video recording but at 3 mega pixels .The camera has a dedicated video recording button which is easily accessible Optical zoom is supported during video recording and the digital zoom also. Audio is recorded in two formats depending on which video encoding you use: AVCHD uses Dolby Digital (AC-3) and MP4 uses MPEG-4 AAC-LC. There is also a Wind Noise Reduction filter that's engaged within the capture menu which is a great inclusion. Videos recorded with the HX9V can also be viewed on an HDTV directly via the camera's HDMI port.
Different video quality
AVCHD - 1,920 X 1,080 (28M, PS)
AVCHD - 1,920 X 1,080 (24M, FX)
AVCHD - 1,920 X 1,080 (17M, FH)
AVCHD - 1,440 X 1,080 (9M, HQ)
MP4 - 1,440 X 1,080 (12M)
MP4 - 1,280 X 720 (6M)
MP4 –VGA 640 X 480 (3M)
AVHCD: The AVCHD format is a High Definition (HD) digital video format for recording 1080i and 720p signals by using highly efficient codec technologies. When you shoot videos in AVC HD format, what you get is simply stunning picture quality of your videos. It takes 3-seconds for video recording to begin, and several seconds for it to stop as well.
Other Features:
Face Detection, Still Image Recording during movies, Smile Shutter, Grid Line, and In-Camera Guide,Retouch – Trimming, Retouch - Red-eye Correction, Retouch - Unsharp Masking, Still Image Capture from Movie, Date View, Slideshow with Music,3D Viewing Mode, Control for HDMI, Histogram Indicator
Start-up Time: Approx. 2.3sec
Shooting Time Lag: Approx. 0.15sec
Shutter Release Time Lag: Approx. 0.017sec
Shooting Interval: Approx. 1.1sec
Burst Speed (Maximum): Approx. 10.0 fps
Burst Interval (Minimum): Approx. 0.1sec
Built-in Microphone: Stereo
Wind Noise Reduction: Off/On
Smart Zoom 10M: Approx. 20x, 5M: Approx. 28x, VGA: Approx. 115x, 16:9(2M): Approx. 38x
Optical Zoom during Movie Recording
Noise Reduction Slow Shutter: Shutter Speed of 1/3sec or slower
Mode Dial: iAuto / Superior Auto / Program Auto / Manual / MR / Intelligent Sweep Panorama / Movie / 3D / SCN / Background Defocus
Smart Zoom: The Smart Zoom function crops a portion of a photo taken at the maximum image size to obtain a zoomed image. When compared with normal digital zoom functions that directly enlarge the image data, Smart Zoom provides better image quality by cropping the data, not enlarging it. Automatic switchover from optical zoom to Smart Zoom as magnification increases is seamless, requiring no attention from the user.
Download Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V Review
sony_cyber_shot_dsc-hx9v_review.pdf |
Sample Images
Most of the images that HX9V takes vary from 2 to 5 MB all the images were taken as they are and no photo manipulation were done on these images. Most of the images were taken in Superior auto mode or intelligent auto .
Sample Videos
Few videos from youtube of people who tested the video recording of the camera.
Note: Most of the opinion about the camera are mine although I took some help from http://www.sony.co.in/product/dsc-hx9v as far as technical details goes.All the images were taken by me and the videos were taken from youtube.