The Sony Cyber-shot® HX1 Digital Camera

I was in the market for a new digital camera. I take a lot of pictures on my forays into the woods, and out and about at various National Parks, so I wanted a camera that would give me some great shots without carrying around a lot of film.

I got my hands on the Sony Cyber-shot® HX1 Digital Camera and took it to Yellowstone National Park, to put it through its paces. One of the first things I noticed was its 28mm Wide angle lens. You get a great wide angle view on every picture, but what really makes this work for me is the Sweep Panorama mode.

The Sony Cyber-shot® HX1 Digital Camera lets you get a great panoramic shot with this mode, by holding down the shutter button, and panning the view you want to take. It shoots a continuous picture, and then seamlessly stitches the shots together to give you a beautiful panoramic shot. I shot a wonderful view of Old Faithfull spouting at Yellowstone.

Another nice thing about the Sony Cyber-shot® HX1 Digital Camera is the intelligent auto mode. This mode will automatically adjust to lighting changes, enhance natural skin tones, and reduce blur. Blur is a real problem when shooting outdoors.

Along with that the Sony Cyber-shot® HX1 Digital Camera also uses Intelligent Scene Recognition. What that means is that the camera will automatically detect eight different types of scenes and adjust within 1/30th of a second to select the correct settings. These include Backlight, Backlight Portrait, Twilight, Twilight Portrait, and Landscape to name a few.

While a lot of my photography is outdoor scenes, I do shoot pictures of my family and friends. The Sony Cyber-shot® HX1 Digital Camera includes a wonderful feature called Anti-Blink. When you are in Portrait Mode, the camera will automatically take two shots and only keep the shot that has less squinting. I don't have to worry when I hear "Oh wait, I had my eyes shut!" When I hear that I just smile now.

Taking portraits with the Sony Cyber-shot® HX1 Digital Camera is made so much easier with technology like the Smile Shutter. Activate the Smile Shutter button and the camera will wit until a smile is detected before taking the picture. I have even used this as a self timer by following the suggestions on the Sony Site, and setting up the camera and then smiling when I am ready for the picture to be taken.

The Sony Cyber-shot® HX1 Digital Camera is expensive with an MSRP of $499.99. However with everything this camera offers, I have found it to be well worth my money.