Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v

$480
  • 15.9 MP
  • 16x f/3.3
  • 1/2" EXMOR
  • 3" LCD
Released February, 2011
Read our in-depth Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V review to find out if all this adds up to a great camera... The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V is a feature-packed travel-zoom camera, offering a 16x, 24-384mm zoom lens, 16.2 megapixel back-illuminated Exmor R CMOS sensor, built-in GPS tracking complete with a compass, full 1080p high-definition video recording with stereo sound and HDMI output and 3D Sweep Panoramas and 3D Still Images.
Rated 100% by by Photography Blog (Jun, 2011)

Conclusion Check out the Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v

68%
98%
64%
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53%
38%
82%
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43%
91%
29%
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88%
91%
83%
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63
First reviewed December, 2011

Features Key features of the Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v

Back view of Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v

15.9 MP

1/2"

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V is a new travel-zoom compact camera that seemingly offers all of the latest must-have features.
Rated 100% by by Photography Blog (Jun, 2011)

megapixels

0 MP
10 MP

10 MP
15.9 MP
20 MP
Let’s take a closer look and find out…The HX9V is built around a 1/2.3in Sony Exmor R CMOS sensor that offers an effective resolution of 16.2-megapixels.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by TrustedReviews (Nov, 2011)
The move to a 16 megapixel sensor may elicit groans amongst more experienced photographers, but in reality Sony have been able to maintain the excellent image quality that the previous 10 megapixel HX5 offered.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by Photography Blog (Jun, 2011)

sensor size

Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v
Nikon D4
Olympus PEN E-P1
My wife and I were getting tired of juggling a full frame DSLR and accopanying lenses and decided a high-end point and shoot was in order.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by Ozzallos (Dec, 2011)
Where it could not compete (and this makes perfect sense because of the different sizes of the image sensor) was in low light.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by Thomas-Hyatt (Apr, 2011)

wide angle lens

Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v
Canon PowerShot SX230 HS
Canon PowerShot S95
Memory Card, Digpro Compact Camera Deluxe Carrying Case, and more or a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3 12.1 MP Rugged/Waterproof Digital Camera with 4.6x Wide Angle Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Silver) since it's more weather-resistant and designed to withstand this dusty desert environment I live in.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by Daniel-Night--Do-to-others-as-you-would-have-them-do-to-you. (Mar, 2012)
Another really nice feature is the wide angle lens.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by Jason--Engineer--Gadget-nut--Father-of-3

aperture size

Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5
Canon Powershot S100
The Manual mode lets you set a shutter speed of up to 30 seconds for effective night-time shooting, although I missed the Aperture and Shutter Priority modes that several rivals offer, and only having two possible apertures in Manual mode does somewhat limit what you can achieve.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by Photography Blog (Jun, 2011)
By the time you are zoomed out all the way the aperture is at 6.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by L.-Wilson--Lou-W

zoom range

0x
3.8x

3.8x
16x
20x
What I like about camera: good looks,16x zoom,24 mm wide angle lens,good pictures, full hd video-looks v.good,you can zoom while recording,very good flash,very good screen,menu easy to navigate, cheap battery+charger combo that can be bought for just $10,3D effect for taking picture(will add depth to picture),panorama mode.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by Margaret-Bakalarz (Dec, 2011)
The video is amazing, with many options, zooming while shooting, stereo sound, great auto focus, fantastic in low light.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by R.-Cross

body size

105 x 59 x 34 mm
160 x 157 x 91 mm
110 x 66 x 43 mm
My goal was to find a lightweight point and shoot that has some features similar to my DSLR but easy to carry in my purse.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by BebeLeBozo (Sep, 2011)
A bit thick and heavy but aesthetically it looks very nice.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by michfan1
 

Performance Real world tests of Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v

battery life

300 photos
2,600 photos
400 photos
Battery life is great and I love the USB charger because you can get a car charger that you plug the charger into and charge your camera in the a car, or airplane.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by Chris-A.-Warton (Jul, 2011)
all these wonderful features will KILL your BATTERY LIFE!!!(This was really upsetting).
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by A.-Dorsey (May, 2011)

max continuous shooting

The camera did it's burst thing, and the results are as sharp as a tripod-mounted shot.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by C.-Hugo
The time it takes to write the burst mode of photos is a bit long, yes, but I'm still so impressed by the speed of the burst that I consider it a tradeoff.
Cybershot DSC-HX9v by C.-Rogers--BoPeep75 (Sep, 2011)
 

Our analysis How does it stack up against its top 10 competitors

pros

  • 16x
  • 921 k dots
  • HD video
  • 24 mm
  • Records the location of your photos automatically
  • Create 3D photos to view on a 3D TV
  • HD video
  • 88%
  • Combines multiple photos together to capture both bright and dark areas
  • 15.9 MP
  • 300
  • Stitches together multiple photos into a single ultra-wide view
  • 30 s

cons

  • Jan, 2011
  • 50 mm
  • Lacks the ability to create slow motion video
  • 245 g
  • 34 mm
  • 1/1600 s
  • 105 x 59 x 34 mm

Reviews Word on the street

Rated 100%
Read the review (Jun, 2011)
Add in the 3D Sweep Panoramas and 3D Still Images, amazing 10fps burst shooting mode, 0.1 second auto-focusing and the much improved 921K dot LCD screen, and it's easy to recommend the Sony CyberShot DSC-HX9V above all of its travel-zoom rivals.
Rated 80%
Read the review (Nov, 2011)
On top of its panoramic and depth-of-field abilities, the HX9V also has the ability to record 3D still images and panoramas, although you’ll need a compatible screen to view the results as the HX9V’s otherwise excellent 3-inch, 921k-dot rear LCD is strictly two-dimensional.
Rated 83% by 277 users at amazon.com
The bottom line is that if you want a camera that you can just set to auto and take great photos and great movies, you will love this camera.
Rated 100% by by Brian-Hollander (Mar, 2012)
I love this camera i have it just few month ago but I'm happy with result it produce beautiful and very cealer picture the optical zoom is geat i will definately recommend it to anyone.
Rated 80% by by clear-picture (Aug, 2011)
The battery has to be charged internally (no external charger included), so if you purchase a spare battery and want to be able to charge it when you're using the main battery, you also need to purchase a separate charger.
Rated 80% by by Doug-Colt--dwcolt (Nov, 2011)

Video

Depending on the level of movie quality selected movie files are either stored in the space-efficient AVCHD format or as less space-friendly MP4 files.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 80% by by TrustedReviews (Nov, 2011)
I just feel that the file size is something I an handle easier and movie editing is easier using this mode.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 100% by by Prat (Jun, 2011)
The video and sound on this camera are pretty amazing as well.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 100% by by Zack (Jun, 2012)

Lens

The 16x optical zoom is probably the best feature on it; combined w/ the 16 MP imaging, you can get incredible detail on digital stills, even after zooming in on the actual picture.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 80% by by G.-Stiller (Dec, 2011)
Commendably barrel distortion is well controlled even at the 24mm wide-angle focal length of the versatile 16x zoom lens.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 100% by by Photography Blog (Jun, 2011)
This camera takes great pictures, the zoom is awsome and even pictures of small insects come out great.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 100% by by John-J.-Kelleher (Sep, 2011)

Zoom

The zoom is amazing, you can zoom up to 16x even when recording video, which is also nice.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 100% by by Michel-Costa (Oct, 2011)
I was able to zoom in on a boxed stereo about 200m across the store, take a picture, and then when I zoomed into the photo I could clearly read the font that was no more than 1 inch in height.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 100% by by J.-Weeks--insurance-dude (Feb, 2012)
I highly recommend this camera to anyone who lights to take videos and take great pictures with a large zoom range.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 100% by by Sturghill (Aug, 2011)

Image quality

Anyway, all of what everybody said in this forum is true: Very good picture quality in low light conditions, fast output, superb video, great panorama function, small enough to fit in your pocket, great to use either hand held or with a tripod.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 100% by by Francisco-Rísquez (Dec, 2011)
Other positive features of the camera are the focusing speed (when you shoot in scene mode and choose action mode with high burst speed, the camera does an excellent job at freezing the moving subject in a series of shots - this will come very handy when shooting sporting events), panorama mode, background defocus mode, low light pictures (in good lighting; otherwise, expect to see a lot detail smudging and noise), and last but not least, the video.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 60% by by michfan1
The still photo quality is not as good as the Canon (it has some smearing of fine detail), but it's far better than the Panasonic.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 80% by by Pipper (May, 2011)

Photography

Compact size though is very attractive if you travel and I essentially bought for my travel pictures.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 80% by by Michael-Schuster--Michael (Sep, 2011)
We have beautiful trees in bloom right now and spring flowers,PIX when blown up to 200% and even 300% of.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 80% by by K9WHF (Mar, 2012)
It’s quite big and chunky though, even by travel compact standards.
Sony Cybershot DSC-HX9v | Rated 80% by by TrustedReviews (Nov, 2011)

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April 11, 2012
Canon sx230

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Unanswered Questions

June 5, 2012
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May 16, 2012
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