Sony announces 1080p60 CAMERAS

[Steve Mullen]

Sony today unveiled two new 16.2-megapixel Cyber-shot digital still cameras that offer Full HD video shooting capability at the touch of a dedicated movie button. Recording video at 60 progressive frames per second (1920x1080 60p), both cameras can capture fast-moving action with exceptional smoothness and clarity.

The DSC-HX100V and DSC-HX9V Cyber-shot cameras are the company’s first compact digital still cameras to include a 27mm Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonar T* lens with 30x optical zoom and a 24mm Sony G lens with 16x optical zoom (respectively) combined with full HD (1920 x 1080/60p) video capability.

Another Cyber-shot camera first, the 16.2-megapixel “Exmor R” back-illuminated CMOS sensor inside both cameras supports a brand-new Intelligent Sweep Panorama™ HR (High Resolution) mode. Images can be viewed on the cameras’ 3-inch 921,000-dot Xtra Fine LCD™ display with wide viewing angle.

“These new H Series cameras are a great addition to the already explosive high zoom market, loaded with cutting-edge innovations by Sony to shoot stills and video,” said Kelly Davis, director of the digital imaging group at Sony Electronics. “With these unique Sony technologies, including GPS, 3D, AVCHD™ video as well as increased zoom, Sony is offering consumers the best of both worlds.”

High Zoom for Stills and Videos
Ideal for travelers and photo enthusiasts, the flagship DSC-HX100V packs an ultra-powerful Carl Zeiss® Vario-Sonar T* lens with 30x optical zoom range for crisply-detailed close-ups of distant subjects. Comfortable to hold and carry, its design echoes the style and control layout of larger DSLR models.

Despite their powerful zoom range, DSC-HX100V and DSC-HX9V can capture crisp, blur-free images with significantly reduced handshake, even while you’re walking along. Featured on both cameras, Optical SteadyShot with Active Mode image stabilization is a powerful image stabilization system with ‘3-way shake cancellation’ as found on premium Handycam® camcorders by Sony.



DSLR Speed
With the high-speed auto focus feature, these cameras provide a smarter way to focus with DSLR-like speed. High-speed autofocus locks onto subjects in as little as 0.1 seconds, letting you grab the most fleeting photo moments with ease.

In addition to speed, these cameras’ GPS/Compass function makes them ideal for travel and holidays. The enhanced GPS/Compass function captures your location and shooting direction and allows you to enjoy the results after shooting as online maps with any Internet-connected PC.

The Cyber-shot DSC-HX100V camera also features a manual control ring that can be assigned as desired to adjust focus or zoom. It’s ideal for applications like macro photography, where focus can be adjusted precisely while viewing a magnified portion of the image.

Easy Menu Selection Technology
The advanced imaging possibilities of both H Series cameras offer fuss-free operation. Superior AUTO mode recognizes a wide range of shooting conditions, automatically adjusting settings and shooting a high-speed burst of multiple frames as required in low-light conditions. These are automatically combined within the camera to create beautifully-exposed, low-noise results with virtually any subject—even in challenging low light conditions without flash.

While most cameras compile two images in Backlight Correction HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode, enabling crisp details in difficult lighting, these models utilize an HDR feature that compiles the highlights, mid-tones and shadows from three separate shots to create one realistic-looking photo. With Backlight Correction HDR in the Scene Selection Shooting mode, getting the best shot in difficult lighting conditions is simple.

Designed to help users learn about the cameras’ features and how to use them on the spot, the “In-Camera Guide” is accessible from the menu button on the camera. Users can search by purpose or keyword and easily access the functions they seek.

The cameras also have Background Defocus mode, which highlights your subject like a DSLR; Soft Skin mode, which reduces visible blemishes and wrinkles, and Natural Flash, which corrects color balance for more natural shots. They also offer fast capture with up to 10fps at full 16.2-megapixel resolution.

Images and videos can be easily viewed on the cameras’ 3-inch Xtra Fine LCD™ display with TruBlack™ technology, which provides deep blacks and more color variation on the thin display. Only the 100V has a VF.

New accessories for Cyber-shot Cameras
There’s a choice of elegantly styled carry case options for the DSC-HX100V and DSC-HX9V models. Giving easy access to your camera, the design avoids electromagnetic interference with the GPS/Compass function of both cameras. Both cases feature a quality leather-like finish, with a handy pocket for a spare memory card – ideal if you’re shooting lots of HD video. Crafted to protect the Cyber-shot DSC-HX100V, the LCS-HG case offers extra carry space for an additional battery.

Videos and photos shared via the Personal Space site can also be viewed on Android™ smartphones such as the Xperia™ X10 by Sony Ericsson or iPhone®, via a dedicated application that can be downloaded from Android Market™ or iTunes® app store. Xperia users can also upload images directly to their own Personal Space account from their smartphone.

Pricing and Availability
The cameras and a range of accessories will be available in April online at Sonystyle.com, at Sony Style® retail stores (Sony Style Retail Stores | Sony | SonyStyle USA) and at authorized dealers nationwide. Presales will begin in February. The DSC-HX100V and DSC-HX9V cameras will be available in black and will cost about $450 and $350, respectively.

• 1920 x 1080 (FX) 24Mbps, 60p
• 1920 x 1080 (FH) 17Mbps, 60p <<<< I assume should be 60i
• 1440 x 1080 (HQ) 9Mbps, 60p <<<< I assume should be 60i
• 1440 x 1080 2Mbps, 30fps
• 1280 x 720 6Mbps, 30fps
• 640 x 480 (VGA) 3Mbps, 30fps

File formats:)
• Movie Clip : AVCHD / MP4 / MPEG-4 AVC(H.264)

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Only a 1/2-inch sensor. If it offers Aperture control in Video mode, like the NEX-5, it's a very interesting option if you don't need deep DOF. The competition is the Pana FZ100 which has full manual control in video mode.

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Create Personal 3D Content
Sony makes it easy to create personal 3D content that can be viewed on an HDTV with 3D home theater system. 3D images are captured using 3D Sweep Panorama™ mode or the 3D Still Image mode. In this mode, the camera takes two consecutive shots in different focus positions to calculate the depths, and then it creates left-eye and right-eye images to produce a 3D effect. These images can be enjoyed in 2D or stunning 3D on compatible 3D televisions.

The 3D Sweep Panorama feature lets you take panoramic pictures in one press-and-sweep motion. The high-speed burst of frames is stitched together using innovative processing techniques to automatically create detail-packed 3D panoramas.

These 3D images can also be saved and viewed on a PlayStation3, using the “Play Memories™” application software downloadable from the PlayStation® Network.

The new models will let you view images in a completely different way. Unlike 3D Sweep Panorama mode, which lets you view 3D images on compatible 3D television systems, Sweep Multi Angle™ technology lets you view images in simulated 3D on the cameras’ LCD screen. This shooting feature captures 15 images at different angles and then compiles them into one photo. By tilting the camera back and forth, it creates a 3D-like effect on the display.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Some pictures of them here. That's killer specs at this price point...

Sony's DSC-HX100V and HX9V superzooms get official, headed to shelves this April -- Engadget

[Waldi Krasowski]

I love this marketing crap :)
30x zoom - but F5.6 at the far end
selectable aperture - but no manual shutter speed and automatic gain
16Mp - but 1/2 inch sensor what means more noise and less light
That makes a no-go for video shooters, at least not for me.

Anyway thanks for sharing.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Well you can't have everything right/full manual options at $350-450.... but what I think is interesting is the rise of 1080p60/50 in a variety of consumer cams recently, either here at 24Mbps or in the recent consumer AVCHD camcorders from Panasonic (TM700, 900 etc.) and now Sony (CX700) both at 28Mbps.

Of course, it remains to be seen if these two particular Sony incarnations are any good once tests eventually appear but bear in mind either would cost less than one of my lenses for my Canon 7D, for example! Choice is a good thing...

[Dave Blackhurst]

First off, the 16.2MPixel sensor is 1/2.3" according to the specs I'm seeing - meaning it'a about a quarter inch... NOT 1/2" - really got to hate the way they spec these things, so darn confusing!

Second, it looks like this sensor is a newly developed EXMOR R, and it's showing up across the Sony P&S line (TX100, WX7, HX9, HX100), along with 1080/60p, and a number of other fancy still features depending on the price point. I'm presuming they are refining the "R" sensors, and they do offer improved performance.

Being familiar with the various camera series, I'll just say they represent a lot of bang for the $, and let you carry a reasonably capable still and video camera in your pocket or bag - I carry a TX, the wife likes the WX... Can't beat the portability, and I'd rate the image quality at "OK" to "not bad at all, considering". If you know how to use the camera to it's fullest capabilities, they aren't bad, and are only improving in quality.


Two years ago, this "consumer class" camera with the equivalent series designations sported a 10.2 (or in the case of the HX1, 9.1) MPixel resolution, and 1080/30p or 1080/60i, last year, the sensor bumped to 12.2MPixel and 1080/60i... this latest incarnation simply extends the lines, with slight upgrades, and a new 16.2 MP sensor.

The intro of 60p is notable, since it's something that even the most recent "high end" camera releases don't have, and Sony clearly regards it as a necessary feature, so it'll be around soon enough. I've started to notice Sony introduces it's "latest and greatest" technology in the consumer space FIRST, probably to offset R&D costs with VOLUME, rather than trying to sell fewer, high $, "pro" units...

It remains to be seen how good these are for low nose video. The 12.2 sensor was slightly noisier than the 10.2 from my tests with otherwise nearly identical TX series, akthough the stills were quite a bit sharper and cleaner, probably due to in camera processing. If they got the noise under control with the new sensor, could be impressive, the existing ones really aren't bad by any estimation. I shot a bit of concert footage with a TX7 (because it was there), and when put on a big screen TV at home, it looked substantially better than the "house" video being projected that night, I was pleasantly surprised. Certainly better than ANY camera at anywhere close to the price from say 5 years ago... not bad for a "pocket cam"!


Most important to note, IMO, is the simple fact that "HD video" is becoming not only a democratized commodity for "everyman" but an EXPECTATION when they go to buy ANY camera. The real challenge facing the manufacturers is that these little "consumer" cameras are getting so good so fast that it's hard to justify a "pro" purchase, when the incremental gains in image quality may well be negligible and nearly invisible to all but the knowledgeable "pixel peeper" - if the CONTENT is there, the technology to capture it is now most certainly available to the lowliest soccer mom/dad... interesting times!

[Robert Young]

Originally Posted by Dave Blackhurst

First off, the 16.2MPixel sensor is 1/2.3" according to the specs I'm seeing - meaning it'a about a quarter inch... NOT 1/2" - really got to hate the way they spec these things, so darn confusing!

Dave- seems to me that a 1/2.3" sensor would be somewhere b/t a 1/2" and a 1/3", not a quarter inch (1/4").

[Dave Blackhurst]

I know I've seeen it explained somewhere (Googling was no avail), it absolutely baffled me, because you'd THINK that these chips would be measured in NORMAL "fractional" measurements, meaning that 1/2 is ONE HALF inch, and 1/3 is one third inch and 1/4 is one quarter...

BUT my (admittedly weak) understanding is that it's actually the lower number representing in effect a percentile (?) of "1", not the fraction our brains have been trained to "see", so say a 1/2.88 sensor of a CX550 or most single chip consumer cameras is just under the one third (i.e. 3.33), so the 1/2.3 would be significantly smaller...

Put another way, 2.3 is smaller than 2.88, and relatively close to 1/4 (which I'd suppose would be expresed as 2.5?) rather than a third or a half.


I just checked the specs for the current TX9 (one of the "class" of cameras that will also get this 16.2MP CMOS - they are "plug ins" for the earlier sensors so they don't have to redesign the lens and mechanicals on every camera every year, just the cosmetics and any engineering tweaks), and it shows:

"Imaging Sensor : 1/2.3" (7.81mm) "Exmor R" CMOS Sensor" - so MM wise, it's actually a bit OVER 1/4"... while the new 3D camera shows "1/4" chips, being 4.5mm, which on my ruler is significantly smaller that one quarter INCH... (more like 1/5" maybe?) making my brain hurt the way the "express" these measurements!!! I can figure out the metric mm easy enough, but the way they're stating sensor sizes is otherwise VERY confusing!

Given the size, price, and performance of this class of camera, I'm fairly comfortable saying that the CMOS chip is most likely in the 1/4" range (looks to be a bit larger than 1/4", actually closer to 5/16 by my crude hash marks) but I'm fairly certain that this new 16.2 MP chip is the same one being used across Sony's new P&S line, and the TX series is only a little over 1/2" thick - you couldn't squeeze a 1/2" chip in there if you tried!

I'm sure we'd all LOVE to see big chips in LITTLE cameras, but you quickly run into physical limitations in relation to the lens geometry that I don't think you can overcome.

Hopefully Steve can shed some light on this odd measurement methodology they use for the chips... I just don't have a link handy (Google was not my friend tonight!), but I'm pretty certain of the "math".

[Robert Young]

Dave
That's really amazing, not to mention deceptive.
Somebody had to stay up very late indeed to concoct such a bizarre scheme to describe a simple physical measurement.
All this time I've been imagining that the CX550 sensor was a little bigger than 1/3" :(
I suppose it's a bit academic in the sense that a camera either makes good images or not,
but still...

[Steve Mullen]

Originally Posted by Dave Blackhurst

"Imaging Sensor : 1/2.3" (7.81mm) "Exmor R" CMOS Sensor"!

Divide 1 by 2.3 to get 0.43478 inches which is 0.44 which is slightly smaller than 0.50 inches.

Here is how Sony does it:

Diagonal 28.47 mm (Type 1.8) APS size

Diagonal 10.972 mm (Type 2/3)

Diagonal 8mm (Type 1/2)

>>> Diagonal 7.763 mm (Type 1/2.3)

Diagonal 7.183 mm (Type 1/2.5)

Diagonal 6.49 mm (Type 1/2.8)

Diagonal 6mm (Type 1/3)

Diagonal 4.74 mm (Type 1/3.8)

Diagonal 4.58 mm (Type 1/4)

Diagonal 3.6 mm (Type 1/5)

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You'll notice Sony calls it TYPE which means that it relates in some way to something that is or was 1/2-inch. As I remember, in the early `60s when the VIDECON tube was introduced it had a physical diameter of 1/2-inch. The lens focused a 4:3 image on the center of the face of the tube. This image was obviously much smaller than the outside of a vacuum tube.

If the outside had a diameter of 12.7mm then an image diameter of about 8mm sounds about right.

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This way of describing chips is standard, so no difference between old camcorders and new cameras.

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Looking through the Sony catalog over time, shows that CMOS can be made to have more and more and more and yet more pixels. It's like the engineers have no other metric by which to measure their work. My guess is that as long as the S/N can be maintained, all companies will keep upping the pixel count. Not what we want, but clearly what is happening.

If you read the Panasonic camera threads, the FZ100 uses Pana's new 14MP CMOS chip is very noisy. A step backwards.

Because of Sony technology I don't think we will see a step back. But, clearly 16MP in a 1/2.3 chip is not going to offer the QUALITY of 16MP in a Super35 size (APS) chip.

[Dave Blackhurst]

Well, I "think" that helped... leaves me a bit confused about the typical "consumer handycam" Sony sensor, which I've always seen called out as being roughly 1/3"...

Here's what makes me wonder even more - the CX550V has a vastly superior and cleaner (low noise) image than any of these P&S cameras in practical use, and yet they in theory are using the same technology "EXMOR R" just in different sizes, and theoretically a larger chip should provide "better" performance on those two metrics.

Trying to wrap my head around the possibility that these little P&S cams have a bigger sensor, but worse image quality...

Can't complain about the 550 in any way, it's a great camera and does what's expected of it, but since I've been searching for a "dual use" cam and have always been slightly disappointed in the video mode of the still cameras (although I'm using the TX7/9 regularly now for "casual" personal shooting). The specs on the HX100 (and the TX100) certainly look impressive, but it's still a "small" sensor compared to say the A55/A580 (and of course the VG10).

PS - on my ruler, 8mm isn't even close to 1/2" physically, but I'm guessing this dimension has to do with the circular diagrams I finally found on another site which still don't really make much sense to me...