Sony HX5V woes, or not ?

[davegsony]

After a lot of research; reading countless reviews and watching dozens of u tube videos I've recently bought a Hx5v, I bought it to replace an ageing Fuji F70exr and as a back up to my Sony A500 dslr.

To say that I'm a Sony nut would be an understatement as thus far I've owned an A100, A200, A300, currently an A500, A Sony H2 which I really loved and pushed (see AP forum & wdc mag etc), and in the p&s category the much under-rated S600, not to forget my bravia tv, sony alarm clock, & psp etc,etc,etc.

Why am I writing ?, sadly I find the HX5 truly frustrating, it has without doubt got excellent features, features like panoramic, gps, compass and hdr video, and yet sound quality (wind noise), is very poor, and although I have found the panoramic mode spell binding and it's IQ to be excellent, generally I have found normal still's IQ to be, at best average, and having messed with several modes I can't see a lot of difference between say P mode and intelligent auto, photo's lack clarity/sharpness & anything above iso 400 turns to mush, noise control definetly degrades IQ, sometimes even at iso 125.    As i said I read a lot of reviews before I bought the camera and a lot commented on the camera's ability to put out poor photo's, I put this down to the reviewer using Auto or easy mode, having tested P, M, Intelligent & easy I'm less convinced that it was the reviewer at fault.

What I don't understand is how can Panoramic photo's be of very high quality and yet normal photo's be good to very poor, could it be agressive noise control ?.

The Sony a700 received a firmware (vers 4) which addressed noise control, is Sony going to address the mush that the HX5 produces by realising  a firmware fix?.

Does anyone out there have a "general" settings guide in order to get the best out of the hx5v please ?.

To be honest I am very disappointed at the HX5v, I am not comparing it to my dslr but previous p&s cameras I've owned; e.g TZ 3 etc, and if it were'nt for the panoramic mode the HX5 would have alreadly been sent back.

Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[davegsony]

It's been 2 days since I posted my concerns over the HX5, unsurpisingly I haven't heard a thing, no ideas on how to improve IQ, no info on possible noise control firmware updates, why the speaker essentially ruins the hd video, and having fiddled with my own anti wind contraption, "and Sony we should'nt have to, should we ?", i was able to stop the noise but in doing so got the zoom and focus noises ;-(  which essentially means the video is only any good in doors, or when the user keeps the camera totally still on a totally windless day.

Worringly no one has said that I should be getting excellent iq, or for that matter questioning what i originally wrote about the camera, I.e no one from Sony has said that is unusual.

To say that I am bitterly disappointed in the camera and the subsequent lack of help/support guidance is an understatement, the staff at WDC know how i stand up for a product when i believe it to me good, I am bigdaveg40, I also go the same way, and sadly Unlike the A500, h2 and all my previous Sony camera's I would'nt recommend the hx5v to anyone, only the auto panorama is it's saving grace.

Message was edited by: davegsony

Message was edited by: davegsony

[davegsony]

Dave, Wiltshire      “Keen amateur” More like this

In the absence of any help, advice and news of any firmware updates that would drastically improve the hx5v's image quality I have posted several reviews, e.g (as found on reevoo).

Score 5.0/10

+

Excellent auto panorama.
Gps when used with PMB software.
zoom range 
Wide angle lens.
Very good flash image quality.

-

Wind noise ruins hd video totally
Photo's lack clarity/sharpness.
Backlit hdr isn't much use, program & -.7 evf is more effective.
Due to noise control images are mushy & lack definition above iso 400.
Camera manages to switch itself on, despite the sunken on/off button.
Spare battery needed, as battery life ok but not great
No Shortcuts to ev.
No control of saturation or contrast.
hap-hazzard auto white balance.
Buttons are small and fiddly
images poor on a Sony Bravia 32inch hd tele
Poor macro mode
screen smears easily and after just a few mins use the camera can look tatty (finger prints)..
battery/card door is of poor quality
PMB hard to update (100+ mb download fails at the last minute, have tried 3 times)
Charging takes 3+ hours.
Over priced, over-rated.  Image quality in panorama is very good but sadly when taking normal  photo's they are very hit or miss and more worryingly lack clarity and  sharpness, regardless of the mode used.

Image quality above iso 400 continues to be average to very poor and then there's the wind noise when using the video, looking at other reviews, and comments on here regarding wind noise it looks like I'm not in the minority, I only hope the hx7 and 9 (which i will never be buying), are an improvement ?.