Sony HX400V Compact Digital Camera with 50x Optical Zoom, Black

Best camera I have ever had. Too bad Sony discontinued the entire CyberShot line of products

Una excelente cámara fotográfica.No sé de fotografía, la uso en forma automática y tomo unas fantásticas fotos.Aquellos que tengan conocimiento de fotografía, van a obtener resultados óptimos.Muy contento con mi compra !!!

Well, my journey with Sony started a few years back in 2010 with a Cybershot camera. One of the coolest gadgets I owned as a young man. However, I lost track of it as I moved around. I didn't 'need' a camera for a while.Then, I got settled where I am now and I purchased a used WX-100. Quite a step up from my 2010 Cybershot. It had plenty of processing functions and auto shoot modes. It lasted about a year, under heavy use. That camera's zoom gear's initiating gear had been worn out. I needed a replacement for my established hobby.I began looking for a new camera with better specifications, but with the same basic functions I loved in the WX-100. Obviously, I began my search with Sony's Cybershot cameras. Then, I discovered the Big Zoom Bridge Cameras. I loved them. I went to Best Buy to get a feel for them before I bought. I was so impressed with the ease of use that I decided to invest in the newest release in the line of Big Zoom Bridge Cameras.The HX-400V.Power.First thing with this camera, out of the box.. you have to charge it with a USB cable. Yeah, it's a ball buster.But if you're like me or thousands of other photographers, amateur or professional, you'll buy a battery charger that plugs into the wall. And possibly extra batteries. Extra batteries will come in handy if you are like me, or other people, and carry your camera in a camera bag EVERYWHERE.You won't be on top of charging your one single battery every night. So it's easy to see that it's dying, and pop in a new one. I've had this happen. It's great to have the backups.Storage.There seems to be some misunderstanding about which kind of card this camera, or any Sony camera, will accept. This camera will accept Memory Stick Pro Duo AND SD cards; just not at the same time. You need to work out orientation for putting each type of card in the card slot(s).Pins up for Pro Duo, and pins down for SD card. It's a really cool system, I think.Zoom.As the specifications will state, this camera has 50x zoom with a 20MP sensor; pretty powerful. There is also another 50x digital zoom. Depending on distance and subject, this can come in real handy. I use it for taking photographing the moon; if you try this, you might try using manual focus and setting it to ∞.Shooting Features.Like I mentioned before, there are plenty of ways to shot with this camera. Auto selection, auto with noise correction, creative styles, long exposure, picture effects, 1080p video quality, manual shutter, aperture control, many many more.There is a built in flash, the button to flip up is on the left hand side of the camera in the frontal area.To wrap it up, this is a really great camera. A little pricey, but I don't miss the money. Not at all.

Before you read this, you need to understand that my frame of reference is as a birder, so the zoom and image quality are my most important concerns. The GOOD is not really good, it is GREAT and that is the ImageClear zoom at 100X. This is a digital zoom on steroids and you have a much better resolution than with a digital zoom. I shot the camera at 50X which is without imageclear and then at 65 same object with image clear. Could see just a little loss in sharpness.The BAD is the camera has a 2 second delay between shots ( the screen turns black). Spoke with Sony and they said this is normal for this camera. Two seconds might not seem like much but I do loose shots since some birds may only be present for 2 or 3 seconds while others will just sit there. The UGLY is the continuous shooting mode which I use for birds in flight which is an important feature to help identify birds since you can see the coloration of the underside. It is a respectable 10 frames per second but after 10 shots ( or if you only take 2 shots) you have a 5 second refractory period and will not see the object and can not shoot while it dumps the images to your card even using the fastest card available. Even worse is that you have to change modes to do continuous shooting, unlike my previous canon sx540 where you get continuous by just pressing and holding down the shutter button. So I have to plan to do continuous prior to approaching my subject and if I make a mistake and start shooting too early ( Birds frequently poop prior to taking off) will loose the real flight.All things considered, the great zoom and high quality resolution ( shoot at 350 DPI, my Canon did 180, can see the difference when blow up pictures to 8X10) I love this camera! The zoom is incredible and makes up for all of its shortcomings. If you want to spend $1,200 you can move up to a Nikon with an optical zoom of 125, but that was a little steep for me. If zoom is important to you, avoid the Panasonic line. They have some high zooms, but the reviews of the lens quality is poor. The camera also has a bunch of other neat features. You can use the auto focus then sharpen it using manual focus. I find this helpful when there are wires or twigs in front of an image, since the camera may focus on these instead of the bird. The only time I use the 100% manual focus is using a polaroid filter, since autofocus will not word with it. The image stabilization is excellent. There is a special feature that I use for sunsets, which will automatically take 3 pictures in low light, and combine the best features into one shot. The panoramic view is nice. Like my canon there are tons of adjustments you can make like presetting shutter speed but still having auto for focus, ISO, and aperture; spot focus, saturation and sharpness adjustment, etc. The electronic view finder helps when the light is shining on the lcd screen and also has better resolution than the lcd and I also use to find small birds that are hard to find on the lcd. If zoom is not important to you there are a bunch of other less expensive cameras with good resolution out there. However if you are like me and need the high zoom you are going to LOVE this camera in spite of its shortcomings.

What a terrific bridge camera. Works like a single lens reflex camera without having to change lenses.Can zoom in and focus quickly to capture images that would otherwise easily be missed in fractions of a second. Personally, I'd be lost without the live view finder.Great camera for the price and ease of use.