4.0 out of 5 stars picture perfect!
This camera is fun and easy to use. Zoom in from far away! Its small and fits in my purse. Picture perfect.
by janie
5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I needed
Needed a basic point and shoot with options for amateur photography without too many hassles and this fits the bill at a great price!
by R
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Picture Qualty!
I purchased this as a replacement for my Kodak C875.
I use my camera for indoor and outdoor activities: friends, kids, the occasional scenic vista. Read more
by crice
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing picture and video quality
This is a great camera, providing a great picture quality and amazing HD video recording quality. I haven't been able to test the GPS yet, but so far everything else works great.
by Tomás
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Camrea
Overall this has been a good camera so far. A little lacking in the batter life, but I bought extra batteries because I expected this. Read more
by J. Glenn
1.0 out of 5 stars Sony camera is horrible
I bought a sony camera and every picture i take is distorted. People's faces are distorted in every photo. Read more
by An Nguyen
5.0 out of 5 stars Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V 10.2MP (This Camera is amazing)
This digital camera is high quality, good materials, very elegant aesthetics, good size screen with good resolution, excellent image quality, good recording videos in high... Read more
by JoanEmil
2.0 out of 5 stars I thought I'd really like this camera . . .
since I'd done a lot of research on point and shoot cameras that have some features and manual control options. Read more
by DR
3.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad, Could Be Better
I bought this camera because I wanted to try a Sony point and shoot (this is my first) and chose this model because of it's latest features and highly touted low light capability... Read more
by Real For Reel
4.0 out of 5 stars novice found a great camera
I have finaly used this camera on several outings.I can not see how people are saying the color is slightly off? The color is great in my shots. Read more
by John
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V 10.2MP CMOS 10x Wide Angle Zoom Digital Camera with Optical Steady Shot Image Stabilization and 3.0 inch LCD
This review is from: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V 10.2MP CMOS 10x Wide Angle Zoom Digital Camera with Optical Steady Shot Image Stabilization and 3.0 inch LCD (Electronics)
I'm comparing this camera to my most recent camera: Canon SD1000 and Sony TX1. I'm just a casual photographer. The most surprising thing about this camera is the weight. If you've owned some high end Sony or Canon PowerShot cameras then holding this camera doesn't "feel" normal, it's way too light for it's size...but that's a good thing....sort of. They achieve this weight reduction by using plastic for many of the body parts (the SD1000 and TX1 are mostly, if not all metal). The back is definitely plastic, I'm not quite sure about the front. The mode dial (although very welcome) feels cheap.
That's about it for the bad news. The good news is the GPS locks FAST out of the box and the picture quality is very good, on par with 10-12 mega-pixel cameras. The Sony "extra" features such as panorama and 1080 HD video work as advertised and add value to the Sony versus the only current competitor (with GPS and a mega-zoom) the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 which has not been released yet. You can compare images between the two cameras on the Imaging Resource site as well as some others.
I'm was going to purchase both this camera and the Panasonic to see which one I liked better, however I'm going to be keeping the Sony. I'm very happy with the ease of use, picture quality and the Sony extra features (such as panorama).
For a case, I'm using the Case Logic TBC302. It fits the camera perfectly with barely enough room in the front pocket to hold a spare battery. The Case Logic TBC303 is much larger but not too useful, for example you can't put the battery charger with the camera. It could hold some credit cards or papers, though.
Update: Software
I usually never install the included software because it's so bloated or just not very good to use. However, the Sony PMB (which is on a CDROM or on the internal camera memory when plugged into your computer) is VERY good. Good in that it's not bloated and it just works. You can do everything you expect such as organize and edit your photos or even update/assign GPS data. Also you can download updated GPS data (which helps the camera lock to GPS faster). I would dare say the software is nicer than Picasa or iPhoto due to the speed and built in GPS features. Some other things you can do but I have not tried yet: you can burn a video DVD (either a normal DVD or a AVCHD DVD with 1080i quality, but you need a PS3 or compatible player to watch those).
Update: GPS
I'm happy to report the GPS function works very well. I took a drive while snapping pictures as a test and then examined the recorded locations. The location was being actively updated because it was able to differentiate my position between shots taken seconds apart going about 40 MPH. Very pleased.
Update: Picture Quality
On closer inspection, the picture quality is a bit soft..I wish I could have the camera automatically adjust the sharpening inside the camera (make it more sharp) but this is not a big deal as the PMB software has easy edit controls. You can also manually unsharp after you take the photograph. The low light performance is remarkable, especially the low-light modes that actively combine multiple images (hand-held twilight and back-light HDR modes do this). As long as you're steady and you're not shooting a moving subject you can get some pretty remarkable, low-noise images at night.
Other final comment: when you turn the camera off, there is a slight delay (fraction of a second) before the lens retracts. Not really an issue but just something I'm not used to with my previous cameras and something I just noticed as I'm usually taking quick impromptu photos, on..photo...off. The interface, although totally functional, is not as "refined" as on my Sony TX1 (with touch screen), the LCD resolution is noticeably lower but, again, totally functional.
The mode dial is still bugging me, I feel it's the first thing on this camera that will go...But only time will tell.
