I had some quality hands-on time with the Sony DSC-HX80 digital camera. With improvements in smart phone cameras, manufacturers have been trying to differentiate between them. In this case, Sony has a tiny camera that has an EVF, huge zoom range, and a flip-up screen. The camera has a small 1/2.3″ sensor but they try to make up for that in features.
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| Front of the Sony DSC-HX80. |
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Features of note:
- This is a compact 1/2.3 inch sensor camera with a 24-720mm equivalent lens with an 18.2mp lens.
- It’s solid in the hands, very compact for what it includes.
- A flip-up screen for selfie photos and videos.
- The battery is a NP-BX1 X-Type rated at 1240 mAh. Not too bad for a small camera like this with an estimated ~390 photos per charge.
- It has optical stabilization.
- WIFI and NFC for connection to phones with their PlayMemories app.
- It has a small pop-up electronic viewfinder.
Features I’d like to see improved on:
- The maximum aperture range of f3.5-6.4 isn’t ideal. That means less light will get to the sensor than a lens that starts at something like f2.8 and ends at f5.6.
- Contrast detection AF only, so no phase detection pixels.
- I’d personally prefer at least 20mm on the wide end.
- The pop-up viewfinder is very small. If this is a key feature for you then you might want to look into a larger camera.
- Video recording goes up to 1080p only.
Check out sample photos and video clips in this unlisted 4k Youtube video.
Final thoughts?
It gives you features you won’t get on a smart phone such as the 24-270mm zoom lens and various dedicated camera specific control options. Smaller and with better build quality than the Nikon A900, but includes features such as the electronic viewfinder. Though, it doesn’t have the extreme range of the A900 (24-480mm) or the 4k video.