Normally I take photographs with a digital single lens reflex camera or DSLR. DSLRs are unbeatable for image quality, but they are big and heavy. I decided that I needed a compact camera to take with me on hikes, especially now that I'm planning my first long-distance camping trek. As I did my research I settled on the following requirements for my new camera:
Compactness. I wanted the camera to be pocket-sized so it could fit into the hip-belt pocket of my rucksack.
Zoom range. My favourite DLSR lens is a 100-400mm, but I have never taken it with me on long walks because it's heavy. I wanted to regain the versatility that a long zoom offers.
A viewfinder. It can be hard to see LCD screen displays in bright sunlight. A viewfinder – a little DSLR-style window through which you squint to compose your shot – solves the problem. In addition, using the viewfinder means holding the camera close to you instead of away from you. This helps you to hold it steady, which is important when you' re shooting at full zoom.
GPS. Geotagging photos eliminates the "now where was I when I took this photo?" syndrome. Many cameras allow for photos to be geotagged using your smartphone’s GPS receiver. However, I decided I wanted a camera with its own GPS receiver. This makes geotagging less fiddly and it saves phone battery consumption.
Just two cameras met these requirements: the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 and the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX90V. Both cameras pack a x30 optical zoom lens and an 18-megapixel sensor into a remarkably compact body. Both can also shoot videos in full HD format. I went for the Sony because it is appreciably smaller than the Panasonic, and because – having compared sample images from both cameras – I felt that the Sony delivers marginally better image quality than the Panasonic.
This said, one should not expect too much of any compact camera with a x30 zoom where image quality is concerned. No zoom lens is going to deliver sharp images throughout its range. The wider the zoom range, the more image quality is compromised. This is one reason why they don’t make x30 zoom lenses for DSLRs.
Furthermore, fitting a x30 zoom to a pocket-sized camera is only possible if the camera has a tiny sensor. Tiny sensors generate grain and resolve fine detail poorly. This is not about the megapixel count but the physical size of the sensor: squeezing more megapixels onto a tiny sensor only makes the problem worse. The main reason why DSLRs are bulky is because they have big sensors. In going for a compact camera with a long zoom I was consciously opting to sacrifice image quality for practicality.
As this photo shows, another advantage the Sony has over the Panasonic is a hinged screen which can be raised 180 degrees, great for shooting selfies.
The Sony has a pop-up viewfinder and flash, both of which are more fiddly to use than the fixed viewfinder and flash on the Panasonic. However, this is the price of the HX90’s greater compactness.
I've had the HX90V for nearly two months now and I thought I would post a review here in case others are looking for a good camera for hiking or travel purposes. I've learned a lot from this forum and this is a way of giving something back. So how does this camera measure up?
The camera handles nicely thanks to a protruding grip on the right side which allows you to hold it securely with one hand. It feels heavy for its size at 245g, indicating just how much gadgetry is packed into it.
Sony’s designers have pulled off a remarkable feat in making the HX90V so small, but even they couldn’t fit a x30 zoom lens completely within the camera body. The protruding lens housing adds bulk to the camera, but on the plus side it gives you something to hold on to with your left hand: two-handed shooting DSLR-style helps a lot in keeping the camera steady when shooting at full zoom.
And there is a very handy control ring around the lens housing which can be set to control various functions. I use it to set exposure compensation. Sometimes you’re taking a photo with large areas of background shadow, which can fool the camera into overexposing your main subject. You can avoid this by setting negative exposure compensation. This normally involves diving deep into the camera menu, but with my HX90V all I need to do is turn the control ring with my left hand while I'm framing my shot.
Anyone familiar with compact cameras will find it easy to get the hang of the various buttons on the back of the camera. The camera menu system is intuitive.
Image quality is a mixed bag. Colour rendition is accurate and exposure is generally good. The photo above is a good example. The autofocus is excellent: I have never yet had to delete an image because of poor focus. Images taken in good light are pleasing to see on your monitor – so long as you don’t expand them to full size. At full size you will see the effect of the small sensor as the camera struggles to capture fine detail, as the crop below (taken from the lower middle section of the photo) shows:
The limitations of the lens optics show up in wideangle shots such as this one, which suffer from blur in the corners – particularly the lower right corner in my camera’s case, as the next crop shows:
At high ISO settings grain becomes more and more visible in photos. The camera does its best to wipe away the grain, but at the cost of eliminating fine detail and giving images something of a watercolour-effect look. This is illustrated by the next sample image, which was shot at the maximum ISO setting of 3200, as well as the crop immediately beneath it from the full size image. The crop is from the nearest window in the picture.
I thought it's worth making a direct comparison between the HX90V and my DSLRs. Here is a first set of photos for comparison purposes:
Taken with my HX90V
Taken with a Canon 450D and 18-55mm lens
The Sony produced a better exposed photo than the Canon 450D. But a comparison at full size shows up the Sony's weaknesses:
HX90V
Canon 450D with 18-55mm lens
Both shots are framed just about identically, but the subject appears larger in the HX90V crop because the HX90V image is bigger to begin with – 18MP versus 12MP for the Canon 450D. But as the crops show, megapixels do not equate with image quality. The HX90V photo was taken at ISO80, the lowest setting, yet as the crop shows it is grainy and does not bring out detail as well as the Canon 450D photo. Compare the name of the yacht, which is easier to read in the Canon crop, and the lifebuoys at lower right.
The second set of shots compare the HX90V at full zoom with a Canon 7D and a 100-400mm lens, also at full zoom:
HX90V at full zoom (equivalent to 720mm focal length)
Canon 7D with 100-400mm lens at 400mm (equivalent to 640mm focal length because of this camera's sensor crop factor)
I'm still amazed that my little 245g Sony can get me closer to a distant subject than a DSLR and lens combo weighing literally ten times as much. And once again the Sony image is the better exposed and more pleasing of the two when viewed at small size. The Canon image is noticeably dark and a little too cool in terms of colour tone. Again, however, crops from the full-size images show where the Sony falls short:
HX90V
Canon 7D with 100-400mm lens
The HX90V image appears soft and grainy compared to the Canon 7D image, which brings out fine detail much better.
However, neither of my DSLRs can tell me where I was when I took a particular image or allow me to transfer images wirelessly to another device. In these areas the Sony wins hands down.
The HX90V's in-camera GPS is easy to use. It does not appear to increase the camera’s power consumption excessively although I have not yet needed to keep it on for a whole day’s shooting. The image below shows how the location of a photo can be identified using Sony's PlayMemories Home app on a PC, obviously provided that the camera GPS was on when the photo was taken:
Like many other compact cameras, the HX90V can transfer photos wirelessly to your smartphone or tablet so you can email them or upload them to social networks. The HX90V is equipped with NFC (near field communication), which supposedly allows you to set up a connection between it and a compatible phone or tablet simply by holding the two devices against each other. I say supposedly because I have not yet been able to make this feature work. Not that I have missed it, because setting up a connection manually is very easy once you have downloaded the necessary app to your mobile.
My overall verdict? As I said I bought this camera for practicality not image quality. It scores highly for practicality with its combination of compactness and a long zoom range, not to mention other features like GPS and a tilting screen. Although I expected compromises where image quality is concerned, I admit I have been surprised at just how extensive the compromises are. Still, I'm very happy with it overall. This camera is not for you if you want professional-standard image quality. But if, like me, you’re looking for a small but versatile camera, and it’s enough for you that images look good when sized to fit a computer monitor, then this camera would make an excellent choice.