Review: Simon

Hey all, it's Simon here.
I'm the last of the (X)ers in team number 5 to trial the HX20 cyber-shot camera.

Let me start off by saying thanks to Sony for an oppurtunity like this come along, for the second time - as I was privileged enough to be a part of the Tablet S trial last year (which resulted in me buying it!). I'm very grateful.

Now for my review.

I think it's worth noting that I did not do any prior research to this camera and this trial is the first experience I've had with it so I didn't have any high expectations for it or anything like that. With that in mind, I can already say that the camera is very easy to pick up and use straight away - great for novice photographers. The controls are simple and the wheel navigation is a nice touch.

First impressions were very good. I like how there's a grip for your thumb on the back. The interface is intuitive and easy to use. The camera even has a GPS for geo-tagging!

Another feature I found nifty was face detection that can even recognise blinks.

Onto my photos.. (Note that you can view the album in its entirety via my Facebook)

Unfortunately I didn't get to take too many as I was working over the weekend and hadn't gone out too much. But I did what I could and the results are quite impressive!

The auto-macro mode was perfect. It was able to focus on this flower in no time and resulted in this wonderful photo.

The colours are vibrant, and the photo was a true representation of what you could see with your own eyes.

In low light, the image is still decent. I like the orange tinge of the night sky, but of course you can change the way the photo is taken by choosing a different mode on the camera.

I started to mess around with 3D and panorama shots. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a 3DTV so I couldn't test that out, but I managed to get a panorama of a university computer lab. It's done with a continuous sweep of the camera in one direction, and the camera figures out the rest.

I am very impressed with the camera, even in the short time and little experience I had with it. The HX20 is great for casual photographers, but I bet the more seasoned photographers might like it as well.