The New Camera

My search for a new camera has come to an end and I'm now in possession of a device that can hopefully fill the void left by it's predecessor. It was a bit of a dilemma which I outlined a few weeks ago and just in case anyone is curious, here is what I went for:

Though still dreaming of interchangeable lenses, I once again went for a compact camera with a fixed lens. Sadly, both my bank balance and I just couldn't justify the cost of a DSLR/Compact system camera right now though thanks to everyone who passed on their advice :)

After a lot of research and choosing some minimum specifications for the budget I set myself, I ended up taking what I would consider a bit of a risk. That is, veering away from the industry leaders of Canon and Nikon and heading the way of a Sony. A Sony Cybershot DSC-HX5V to be precise. I did so largely because it met my minimum specs, and had decent reviews and the price was good. At £180, though closer to £200 with the extra battery that I've ordered too, it wasn't overly pricey in terms of my budget. It was a little disheartening as Amazon had it on sale a wee while back for £10 less but I think I can live with that.

I picked it up today and here are the pros and cons I've discovered so far:

Good points:

- It has the wide angle lens I was after – landscapes and city shots should be a lot better :)
- It is a lot smaller and lighter than my previous Canon.
- It has a function called 'Hand-held twilight' that has to be seen to be believed – the camera takes 6 shots in a burst and stitches them all together somehow creating an in focus, well lit image that doesn't have the loss of image quality experienced such as when using a high ISO, tripod and slow shutter speed to try to get a similar result. That function so far seems to do a decent job even when my eyes are struggling to do the same! Very impressed.
- The panorama sweep function is good fun.
- Shutter speed and processing speed is pretty fast.

Bad points:

- Manual mode is a little disappointing, only 2 F-stops and ISO settings are set away in a sub menu which seems awkward.
- If I were to use the HD video with stereo sound it'd be hard not to cover the microphone whilst holding the camera.
- There is a mirage of auto settings that I'll likely to not use too many of.
- It uses Lithium Ion batteries that are more expensive to get hold of compared to AAs. Also the recharging will take a lot longer.

So it seems as though I've bought a camera aimed more towards the auto fan which isn't exactly what I had wanted to go for - however, I think this camera will grow on me. I say that because although it isn't going to be as easy to get a shot how I want it, it is still likely to be possible in most scenarios given a few extra seconds or a bit of persistence. As I look at the list there, there are more good points then bad points so far.

On top of that with the likes of the 'hand-held twilight' it looks like this camera might open up a means to take night shots that, with my last camera, I would otherwise have given up on.

It might take a little getting used to but I think my research might have paid off. The real decider will be how good the photos turn out and for that, only time will tell but so far so good.