Sony HX5V - HHT

Thank God for HHT (Hand Held Twilight mode)... Kind of, at least. The new Sony DSC-HX5V that I am using has one mode called this (HHT). This mode take 6 shot really quickly, less than 1 second if the shutter speed allows it, and then combines the shots to reduce noise and improve detail. It is explained more in this review. What can I say, it really does work. This weekend I took my kids to Golden State Model Railroad Museum so they could check out all the trains. I tried the HHT mode here, indoors, with not so much light. Using the zoom also makes the lens quite slow and long shutter speeds, or high ISO is the result. But check these photos out and I can only say that HHT really seems to be working. 

Sony HX5V vs Casio FH100?

No, not another camera, but I stumbled on this picasa web album comparing "identical" shots from Sony DSC-HX5V and Casio EX-FH100. Take a look if you were comparing these two cameras. The casio lacks GPS and other features, but has a 24mm-240mm lens, High-speed video (up to 1000FPS, low resolution) and 30FPS 9Mpixel bursts.

Sony HX5V - barrel distortion at 25mm??

I read somewhere that people had experienced (extreme) barrel distortion at the wide end of the HX5V camera. I have honestly not seen much or thought about it, so I did a test... Seems like this photo (not video) of some boring bricks is ok by me (at 25mm).

Link to original here.

But then this is the "same" scene in AVCHD video, 1920x1080 format, a frame grab:

Link to original here. And the "video" is here.

So... it seems to me that the Sony DSC-HX5V is doing some fancy image processing to correct the barrel distortion when taking photos. That's not that uncommon, the Canon S90 does the same.... Just FYI...

HX5V - XSi

From a walk today, two shots, first with Sony DSC-HX5V and second with Canon XSi (with 50mm f/1.8 II)

Not quite the same focal length and not from the same place, but still. I like the XSi color and sharpness better, but I would not really complain. It is not a D-SLR, but it has a lot going for it. Here is another from HX5v: