-Hi, I'm Josh Goldman, senior editor with CNET, and this is a close look at our editor's choice winning Sony Cyber-shot HX9V.
Now, there are lot compact mega zooms on the market even Sony has 3 in its current lineup, and the HX9V is at the top.
The basic specs include 16-megapixel high speed sensor designed for improved low life performance, 16X
24-mm ultra wide angle zoom lens, and a 3-inch high resolution LCD.
Now, the camera can be simple automatic point and shoot, you can set it to full manual with control over shutter speed, aperture, focus, and even white balance shift and color saturation contrast and sharpness can be adjusted.
If you find the combo of settings you use regularly, it could store up to 3 sets of custom settings and while you have to dive into the menus
to make most setting changes, the menu system is easy to figure out, but should you need help of full manual is button push away.
It shoots full HD video at 60 frames per second at the push of a button.
In fact, the video quality is some of the bests of I've seen from a compact camera making HX9V a good option.
For those looking for a model to both photos and movie clips.
It has a few other cool things like shoot high resolution
panorama just by sweeping the camera.
It shoots bursts at up to 10 frames per second at full resolution, and if you've got a 3D TV, you can take descent 3D photos and panoramas with the 2. It even has GPS for geotagging photos, so you always know where were when you shot something.
Of course, all of the features in the world don't matter if the photos aren't any good, but for a compact megazoom, they are excellent especially if you take full advantage of the HX9V's tech.
Colors are not necessarily accurate, but they are pleasing environment, and if you don't like them, there's a real color mode for truer color.
It does very well in low light too and shooting performance is fast enough to get clean shots of active kids and pets.
Now, all of this doesn't come cheaply.
It's price tag is just more $300.
If that's more than you are looking span, check out the rest of our holiday gift guide for other options,
but basically, if you're a feature geek looking for a pocket camera, they HX9V is what you want.
I'm Josh Goldman, and that's the editor's choice winning Sony Cyber-shot HX9V.
