Sony First play with Sony DSC-HX50V

After picking up the Sony DSC-HX50V as a pocket camera for Christine and as one I can also take with me when bushwalking etc. decided to give it a workout using only the "Superior Auto" mode.

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Strolling DSC-HX50V - 2
by peterb666, on Flickr

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Strolling DSC-HX50V - 3
by peterb666, on Flickr

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Strolling DSC-HX50V - 4
by peterb666, on Flickr

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Strolling DSC-HX50V - 5
by peterb666, on Flickr

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Sony DSC-HX50V - 8
by peterb666, on Flickr

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Sydney Vivid 2014 - 5
by peterb666, on Flickr

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Sydney Vivid 2014 - 3
by peterb666, on Flickr

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Vivid 2014 - 7_s
by peterb666, on Flickr

All shots are hand-held, the camera has chosen all settings and none have been overridden, some night shots have ISO boosted to 12800 and have come out surprisingly well. Maybe not for printing wall sized posters but ideal for social media, general viewing online and printing small prints. Images shot in better light where ISO is kept to ISO 800 are excellent. A big improvement over a mobile phone and certainly better than any of the compact cameras I have had in the past.
 
12800 on a superzoom.......if you had told someone 3 years ago that it would even be possible, they would have laughed you out of the room. Nice series. Superior Auto, indeed.

Absolutely mad, isn't it? I would have never ventured that far but with the processing it works adequately (although dynamic range is not brilliant). Christine thinks the camera is wonderful (and for it's intended purpose, it certainly is). My last compact camera was a Nikon S710 which was a 14mp camera and other than the shorter zoom, a very similar camera (i.e. full manual controls available, smallish premium body but also larger physical sensor size) and it also claimed to do ISO 12800 but was complete crap even at ISO 400 in reasonable light.

The Opera House shot from that set is ISO12800 and if you look too closely, it isn't great, but just fine for sharing on facebook etc. The Superior Auto works very well for a casual shooter.
 
I was a big fan of my HX20V for well lit shots - not so great for high ISO, in fact anything over 800 was very noisy. They certainly seem to have improved that, and the zoom range is better too. An excellent travel camera.
 
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