Inspiring ways to improve your photos
Inspiring ways to improve your photos
Photo Review Reviews section
A smaller, lighter replacement for the NEX-3 with a higher-resolution sensor plus new Picture Effects.Just over a year after entering the mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera market, Sony has added another model to its line-up. The NEX-C3, which replaces the NEX-3, is smaller and 14 grams lighter than its predecessor. It also comes with a 16.2-megapixel sensor, offering higher resolution than either the NEX-3 or NEX-5, both of which were 14.2-megapixel cameras.
Sony’s latest ultra-zoom digicam offers higher resolution, Full HD video, 3D stills capture and a higher-resolution monitor.The HX100V is the flagship model in Sony’s super-zoom range and one of two digicams announced at the end of January. Featuring a 30x optical zoom lens that covers the equivalent of 27-810mm in 35mm format, it sports a backlit CMOS sensor with 16.2-megapixel effective resolution and provides plenty of attractive features for tech-savvy photographers (although not, alas, raw file capture).
An ultra-zoom digicam with HD video recording capabilities and some handy functions for still shooting.Sony has brought its Exmor CMOS technology to the super-zoom arena in the form of the 9.1-megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-HX1. Styled like a mini-DSLR – but too big to be pocketable – the HX1 is the highest-priced model on the current market. However, it boasts a 20x optical zoom lens plus a couple of features that make it stand out from the crowd, including a Sweep Panorama mode and 10 frames/second continuous shooting speed.
A compact,15x optical zoom digicam with high resolution and advanced image processing functions.Sony’s top-of-the-range ‘super zoom’ digicam, the Cyber-shot DSC-H9 combines a compact Carl Zeiss 15x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 31-465mm in 35mm format) with an 8.1-megapixel (effective) CCD imager. Like the DSC-T100 model reviewed in late April, the H9 comes with Sony’s BIONZ image processor which was first featured on the DSLR-A100 model but has been adapted to support new functions like Face Detection and Double Anti-Blur stabilisation.
A pleasing long zoom digicam with above-average performance for both still shots and video.Sony has replaced last year’s DSC-H1 long-zoom model with two new cameras, the 7.2-megapixel DSC-H5 and the 6-megapixel DSC-H2. The H5 sits at the top of the range, offering not only higher resolution but a larger LCD and 30 MB of on-board memory. As the built-in memory only holds nine high-resolution shots, you need additional storage in the form of a Memory Stick Duo card (a 1GB card was supplied for our tests).
The DSC-H1 Cyber-shot is Sony’s first entry in the competitive, image-stabilised, ultra-zoom digicam market. Designed for photo enthusiasts, the 5-megapixel H1 provides a generous suite of controls and can record JPEG stills with 4:3 or 3:2 aspect ratios plus MPEG movie clips at 30 frames/second with VGA quality.
[ia] Sony’s Cybershot DSC-F828 has similar ‘SLR-like’ styling to the DSC-F717 but is larger, weighs roughly 250 grams more and its 28-200mm (equivalent) Carl Zeiss T* lens is better integrated into the body, making the camera more comfortable to operate. The lens barrel can be tilted up through 70 degrees and down to 30 degrees and has rings for zooming and focusing. The mode dial carries P, A, S, M and full auto positions, movie and playback modes, plus a scene setting covering landscape, portrait, twilight and twilight portrait shots. Three AF settings are provided: multi-point, centre AF, and flexible spot AF, selected via the joystick multi-selector. Sony’s NightShot and NightFraming modes are included, the former delivering a grainy monochrome image captured in infrared light and the latter using the hologram emitter to provide a range for the focusing system and flash.
A mirrorless interchangeable-lens camera with a high-resolution APS-C sized sensor, sophisticated controls and both 3D and Full HD video recording.Sony has taken the 23.5 x 15.6 mm 24.3-megapixel Exmor sensor it used in the Alpha SLT-A77 and installed it in a compact camera body to produce the NEX 7. It has also built a high-resolution, 1.3 cm XGA OLED electronic viewfinder into the new camera body, along with a proprietary hot shoe that accepts Sony’s flash guns. Further adjustments have been made to allow the NEX 7 to match (or exceed) the capabilities of many DSLR cameras while retaining a small, almost pocketable camera body.
A distinctively-styled, ultra-compact, interchangeable-lens camera that can record Full HD video clips with stereo soundtracks.Although Sony claims its new NEX-5 as the world’s smallest and lightest interchangeable-lens camera, this can only apply to the camera body itself, which is similar in size and shape to Sony’s H-series digicams. Attach the low-profile E 16mm f/2.8 (SEL16F28) ‘pancake’ lens and the camera remains just pocketable; fit the E 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (SEL1855) zoom lens and you’d be hard pressed to get the camera into a jacket pocket.
A sister model to Sony’s NEX-5 interchangeable-lens camera with the ability to record 720p HD video clips with stereo soundtracks.The main difference between Sony’s NEX-3 and the more expensive NEX-5 model we reviewed in June lies in the video recording system. Whereas the NEX-5 uses the AVCHD format and can record Dolby Digital soundtracks, the NEX-3 uses the less efficient MP4 compression system for video and MPEG-4 AAC-LC for audio. The NEX-5 is also Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) compliant while top video resolution for the NEX-3 is 1280 x 720 pixels.
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