A good learner's camera

[Adam Loader]

The DSC-HX100V is a very good camera for beginners, the lens is good, and it has plenty of features. I have just bought a Nikon DSLR, however, and found that actually this bridge camera has no purpose to me not even as a second camera.

The best bits for me are:

• The zoom
• The built in ND filter
• GPS
• Small Size
• High Megapixels (16.2)
• Manual Mode
• Swivel Screen

The not so good bits for me are the following:

• Awful low light performance (ISO 160 is full of noise)
• Poor aperture control
• No RAW support
• The build quality is not good
• No hotshoe like on other bridge cameras

The build quality of a Sony camera is something I have fallen foul of before, I previously owned a Sony compact and the shutter button came off, on my DSC-HX100V, the screen side came away from the main screen and so is being held together with electric tape. I have also found that the grip just does not seem strong enough, it feels like if you squeeze your hand in the grip, you'll just go through the grip!

Overall I'd say that it is an excellent camera for the beginner, particularly as a step up to a DSLR and that it is worth buying if it is less than about £100.00 on Ebay. It is not, however, a good back up camera. Save the money and buy a second hand DSLR would be my advice.

 

[bridge77]

i have been thinking of buying a used copy of this camera and was hoping for a better review. it will be for personal use and mostly for the lens in bird pictures.

this is about the cheapest cam with a view finder. is there anything else i should be looking at in this price range. amazon has a used supply at a great price.

 

[Adam Loader]

I'd advise that you have a look on a site like eBay too as you can get amazing deals if you look in the right places.

As for bird photography, I would probably say that you don't want one of these and that there are other cameras that are better suited to the job. This is mainly because its Achilles Heel is the fact that it insists on a 2 second image review during which you cannot take another photo. This infuriated me and meant I missed out on quite a lot of opportunities.

I know this review will not be what you wanted to hear but perhaps you ought to widen your search and buy a proper compact as they have the same sort of features and zoom for a similar amount of money.

 

[tbcass]

I'm surprised you even bothered with a review. It is what it it is. An old mediocre small sensor camera that is best given to a child.

 

[bridge77]

well i kinda like the telephoto lens and the camera very inexpensive now. usually had for under 200, just don't see anything else in it's price range.