How about macro performance?

The HX1 has a an AUTO macro mode. If you set the camera to its wide setting you can get extremely close to your subject. While I was out exploring in an old Log Cabin site I saw this butterfly just sitting on the ground. I set the camera down, tilted up the LCD and inched in closer and closer. I managed to come away with this shot, which in my opinion is pretty cool! Without the tilt LCD, this shot would not of happened.

The water bubble you see above was about the size of a piece of belly button fuzz! Really, it was VERY small. Smaller than a fly but bigger than the tip of a pin.

I am not a big Macro guy so I did not take a ton of macro shots, but what I did take came out fine. How about the new SWEEP PANORAMA MODE or the TWILIGHT mode? Click on to page 3 to see how that went!

MORE ON PAGE 3 OF THE REVIEW - CLICK HERE >>>

So after going over the features of the Sony HX1, I realized that it was geared towards those who prefer simplicity. Meaning, if you want great results without having to set a bunch of buttons then this is a GREAT camera. It is actually just about foolproof, meaning if you are a fool, then you can even use this camera!!

When my wife saw me shooting this one she gave me that look. You may know that look.. “ANOTHER CAMERA?!?!” - She calmed down when I assured her I did not buy this one but I was just using it. She is about ready to kill me as I have been spending too much money I do not have on camera gear and running this site, but hey, I am having fun and hope that it soon pays for itself.

When I started to shoot the HX1 it felt odd. I was used to my M8 and D-Lux 4 and this was different. Not in a bad way, just different. It is like a mini SLR and once I got used to it, there were no issues. The swivel LCD was pretty cool, and the ease of use was great. With the mode dial, it was simple to go from A mode to PANO mode to TWILIGHT mode, etc.

20X superzoom? Yep, lets give it a try...

One thing I wanted to try out was the crazy 20X zoom. I really have NO ZOOM or tele on any of my cameras so this was sort of a treat. What better way to test this than by shooting birds?

So as you can see, the zoom worked great. I wanted to test at FULL tele to see how the shots would be. Many super zooms these days have lenses with soft performance when shot at full telephoto, but this sony, providing good light, does a good job. The ONLY issue I had was with metering. Seeing that the camera only shoots JPEG, it was hard to get the exposure dead on with a bright sky behind a black bird. This can be overcome by using manual mode but most of you will not be interested in that with this camera as it is set up to be an EASY to use camera.

The Dynamic Range is not the best I have seen and my D-Lux 4 does a better job in this area. But then again, the D-Lux 4 does not have any kind of a telephoto, so the HX1 was pretty cool to have for “birding” in my backyard.