Dpreview Compact Travel Zoom Comparison

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q311travelzoomgrouptest/page17.asp

HX9V seemed to fair well, but Canon and Nikon had the edge for them to both get the Gold Award.

I actually just got my hands on the Canon, Nikon, and Sony. The HX9V is sexy pimp. The build quality is approaching GF2 level and the pop up flash on it is the coolest thing I ever seen in my life. It is chrome and seems well built. Too bad the IQ wasn't as good.

If my gut feeling is correct and the IQ is equal to the HX100V then that isn't a problem at all though and should smoke the Canon and Nikon in reviews. Maybe there is an anti Sony bias going on here. hmmmm. lol

It's not anti Sony.. It's just pro Canon and pro Nikon LOL...

Never mind. Ignore my last post. It wasn't the IQ that lost the war like I thought. It was apparently sluggish controls which does sound kind of slow. Maybe it needs an HG-duo card like all the Sony cameras usually need.

Any HX9V owners want to buy one of the 50/mbs HG HX cards and see if it improves the 2 seconds they complain about? That is one of the problems of using a proprietary system like Sony does. The reviewers tend to base everything on a Sandisk extreme class 10 card when the Sony cameras are streamlined for the HG HX cards.

I never had a problem understanding the DPREVIEW system. The gold awards are reserved for the exceptional and are separate from the overall rating which is a tally of the points the camera won in each category. A camera like the A55 can get a gold with a 75% while a T3i only gets a silver award with a 77% because the A55 a) had less competition and was more innovative at the time and b) because in each separate category the A55 scored less points than the Canon but as a whole was just more fluid and impressive because some categories carry more weight. I get that unlike some other dense Canon loving folk.

However, they always followed a set pattern where gold award compacts scored around 70-74%. While Entry level mirrorless and DSLR cameras needed 75-78% to score a gold. While semi pro level interchangeable cameras needed to beat 81% to get gold like the Pentax k-5 with 85%. The GH2, D7000, and 60D were in the 78-80% silver range. Anyways, they all followed a progressive pattern where compacts never passed 74%, entry level DSLR's never passed 78%, and the high 80's and low 90's were reserved for the full frame 5D's and D3's.

Did I miss something here? How are these compacts getting DSLR scores while the Olympus XZ-1 get's a gold with a 74%? To keep up with the so far consistent review system. The Canon S230 should get a gold with a 70-73% score not a 77%.

Wait. I think I get it. Group reviews probably don't have to follow the progressive class nature that stand alone reviews do. They are kind of in their own little compact travel zoom world where the scores only apply to that class of camera and not to every other class like the stand alone reviews do.

I don't get how they missed HX9V in the final comparison rating for low light/high ISO when it got high low light score on individual camera test. Also image stabilization on HX9V is way better than S9100's lackluster sensor shift based one as their testing reveals. In my view, co-winner is SX230 and HX9V.

as ppl know I have an hx9 and am very happy with it ,have just read the review and agree with most of the findings re slow review of playback and playback zoom but what I really like about the hx9 is that I LIKE the pictures it produces , Ive had 3 dslr,s over the years but was never fully satisfied with the pictures , (IMHO that's what the manufacturers want, so you buy more kit ) If you slideshow the samples of the canon 230 and the hx9 without pixel peeping ,the pictures to me look just more pleasing from the Sony, though I have to admit the Nikon look good too,

"Both cameras are run very close (and in some respects surpassed) though by the Sony Cyber-shot HX9" That's good enough for me

Just my observations

P.S. I did look at the canon but didn't like the feel and size of it .
--
Was Nikon then Fuji then Canon now panasonic G1 and Sony HX9

Printed or on screen pixelpeeping?

The smearing is all over the place when pixelpeeping with this kind of sensors. But only if you pp. Print it and you will be surprised. Silver, gold, who gives a #$@? Your own judgement based on your own mindset. Helped by some thorough reviews like DPR. But please conclude yourself, only use the factual information. Educated guesses are still guesses.

perry

Ah, I see now. After reading all parts of the review I could not get it. But now it is clear. DPR FORGOT to include the sony scoring in the conclusions set Lowlight! When reading all the seperate review parts its clear to me what the winners are. The end conclusion was totally out of sinc and appears to be incorrect. The two winners are the canon and the sony. Oh well ?!

And look at the scoring in the comparison tool. Mwah.

perry

Overall, a buyer cannot go wrong with any of these cameras. However, by looking at the individual ratings breakdown, it is up to the buyer to decide what aspects are most important:

Best Build Quality
1. SX230
2. S9100
3. HX9V

Ergonomics and Handling
1. SX230 and HX9V (tie)
2. S9100

Features
1. HX9V
2. SX230
3. S9100

Exposure and Focus Accuracy
1. SX230 and S9100 (tie)
2. HX9V

Image Quality
1. SX230 and S9100 (tie)
2. HX9V

Flash Performance
1. Sx230, HX9V, and S9100 (tie)

Low Light/High ISO Performance
1. SX230
2. S9100
3. HX9V

Optics
1. SX230 and S9100 (tie)
2. HX9V

Performance (Speed)
1. S9100
2. SX230
3. HX9V

Movie/Video Mode
1. HX9V
2. SX230 and S9100 (tie)

Value
1. Sx230, HX9V, and S9100 (tie)

it is out of date.

This was obviously put together in a rush a few months ago as it misses some of the latest cameras in this category.

I would take all this with a grain of salt a completely wasted review of time and effort that could have been much better spent reviewing new cameras.

Concentrating on three things. Speed, IS and body quality.

Tried 4 of the cams today in shop ..extensively.. The difference in IQ of the fist 3 is only important if you pixelpeep. With most of the cams the printed quality up to 40x60 is almost alike.

Speed is entirely different from findings here. The sony is much quicker in 5 out of 6 categories. Only start up time is somewhat slower. The canon is very slow compared to the nikon and certainly the sony.

IS, OMG there is only one.... the sony, it's IS is light years ahead. Even on the cam screens this is very obvious. But looked on 20" and at pixellevel its incredible. And I also looked hard at the DPR samples of this cam. There must be something very wrong here. In the DPR samples the sony is worst in IS !

The bodies of the camera's are also light years apart. The canon feels like a toy, if you like toys this is it The sony wins the hands-on contest by a fair margin for feel and ergonomics. The grip surface here is perfect.

BTW Most tests are done for pp and tearing apart the cams by bits. The whole of the camera compared to what you need/want is what's important. How does it suit your needs. What kind of shooting do you like or do most. How does it feel in your hand, what is the percieved IQ for you.

Glad the forums are super! with great contributors

perry

Canon sx230 (and Nikon) won easily

I strongly disagree on putt S9100 ahead of HX9V in focus/exposure accuracy. S9100 struggles on focusing at telephoto often. HX9V literally crushes S9100 in image stabilization too. Imaging-resource recently published their reviews on HX9V and S9100 and you can see clearly how soft the corners are at wide and telephoto in S9100 compared HX9V. So S9100 is worse than HX9V in lens quality too.

That is the great thing about this forum as we are all entitled to our personal opinions, however very few Expert Reviewers can line up as many camera as dpreview did for their review with actual hands-on comparisons:

Best Build Quality
1. SX230
2. S9100
3. HX9V

Ergonomics and Handling
1. SX230 and HX9V (tie)
2. S9100

Features
1. HX9V
2. SX230
3. S9100

Exposure and Focus Accuracy
1. SX230 and S9100 (tie)
2. HX9V

Image Quality
1. SX230 and S9100 (tie)
2. HX9V

Flash Performance
1. Sx230, HX9V, and S9100 (tie)

Low Light/High ISO Performance
1. SX230
2. S9100
3. HX9V

Optics
1. SX230 and S9100 (tie)
2. HX9V

Performance (Speed)
1. S9100
2. SX230
3. HX9V

Movie/Video Mode
1. HX9V
2. SX230 and S9100 (tie)

Value
1. Sx230, HX9V, and S9100 (tie)

Jinwons said:

I strongly disagree on putt S9100 ahead of HX9V in focus/exposure accuracy. S9100 struggles on focusing at telephoto often. HX9V literally crushes S9100 in image stabilization too. Imaging-resource recently published their reviews on HX9V and S9100 and you can see clearly how soft the corners are at wide and telephoto in S9100 compared HX9V. So S9100 is worse than HX9V in lens quality too.

Click to expand...

There is no need to repeat posting that ratings from DPreview. Once is enough on each thread. If you want to refute my comments, at least come up with another comparison review source contradicting it. Or better yet, from your own testings.

opinions will differ, it always comes to personal preferences

last years travel cam comparisons review brought up a final listing in favor of two models as well.

I personaly dont care about video, but i have a list of things that i'm looking for in a camera if a camera is missing that or doing it away i cant influence its of the hook.

the differences in image quality can be close but the options to be creative are counting for me.

i had many travel kind of cameras over the years Canon Nikon Panasonic and this year i bought a Samsung WB650 ( last years model )reason why because the camera came closest to what i wanted in such camera and price tag was great.

if you like a camera who gives apes sh*t about what a review site says.

whatever they say, some will always dissagree specialy in brand specific forums.

you have to like it what you have brought for your personal reasons.

make a list of Pro and Cons your self and see what fits you best based on your own personal likings/ needs.

--
All my Post Processing is done with Capture NX2

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marti58/

The final rankings do not even provide a discrete ranking for stabilization, although that is arguably more important than high ISO results for a travel zoom.

I would have to agree, though, that the slow response time for the HX series in general warrants a demerit. The slow navigation from shoot mode to review and back to shoot mode is generally known. The navigation from auto to scene mode is also sluggish. Using the HX7V's dedicated video button, it takes almost 9 seconds from the instant one clicks the button until the LCD signal changes from "stand-by" to REC, then about five seconds from the instant you press to stop a video shot until it returns to shoot ready mode. I presume the HX9V and HX100 are nearly identical by that measure. The panorama, HHT, burst, and HDR modes also take some processing time, although that is perhaps more to be expected.

How fare the Canon or Nikon in response time?

Is it true that none of the HX models allow one to turn off auto-preview, which alone contributes a lot to inter-shot delays.

Cy Cheze said:

The final rankings do not even provide a discrete ranking for stabilization, although that is arguably more important than high ISO results for a travel zoom.

I would have to agree, though, that the slow response time for the HX series in general warrants a demerit. The slow navigation from shoot mode to review and back to shoot mode is generally known. The navigation from auto to scene mode is also sluggish. Using the HX7V's dedicated video button, it takes almost 9 seconds from the instant one clicks the button until the LCD signal changes from "stand-by" to REC, then about five seconds from the instant you press to stop a video shot until it returns to shoot ready mode. I presume the HX9V and HX100 are nearly identical by that measure. The panorama, HHT, burst, and HDR modes also take some processing time, although that is perhaps more to be expected.

How fare the Canon or Nikon in response time?

Is it true that none of the HX models allow one to turn off auto-preview, which alone contributes a lot to inter-shot delays.

Click to expand...

I am not going to bother doing rough counts but no, they HX100V isn't that slow. Not with my 50mb/s memory stick at least. The only thing that is true is that if you hit the record button it takes awhile to start recording. Unless you are in movie mode already then it takes like a second to start. Not a deal breaker to me at least.