Must Buy Point and Shoot Camera - Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX7V #DiwaliShoppingSpecial

 

It's spending season this fortnight, that time of the year when you're most likely to be splurging your money on a gadget. In this series, our team of experts picks the best deal in each category, from entry-level dual-SIMs to superphones, netbooks, ultraportables and luxury laptops. We've spent plenty of time deliberating on our choices, saving you the trouble of poring through a sea of specs sheets, reviews and benchmarks. Today we're gonna tell you why we think the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX7V is the most promising point-and-shoot camera to buy. Feel free to debate your choices and suggest alternatives in the comments below.

Overview

Point and shoot cameras are designed for those who need something more than a built-in camera in cellphones to captures images, but nothing as sophisticated as a professional grade DSLR camera. These cameras are built under the assumption that the user will be an amateur photographer at best, and as such include several features to improve the quality of the captured image. Consequently, point-and-shoot camera takes much of the finer controls away from the user and instead uses presets and algorithms to adjust settings on the fly.

Sony Cyber-shot (DSC-HX7V) is our pick of the litter mainly because it is packed with features and comes with an impressive 10x optical zoom. This camera uses a 16-megapixel Exmor R backside-illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor that is faster than the CCD sensors that are more common in this category. The lens used by this camera is the 25mm wide-angle Sony G and has novelty features such as 3D Still Image and 3D Sweep Panorama. This Cyber-shot can capture motions at a maximum resolution of 1440x1080px at approximately 25fps.

Specs

Capture resolution: 16.20MP, "Exmor R" CMOS
Lens: 10x optical zoom, 25-250mm
Viewfinder: LCD, 3.0 inch
ISO: 125-3200
Dimensions: 4.0 x 2.3 x 1.1 in.
Weight: (206 g)
MRP: Rs 14,990

Pros

Feature-rich camera
Impressive still and motion capture quality
Full-HD video capture

Cons

Slightly sluggish interface
A few design quirks

 

Bottom line

Despite its flaws, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX7V comes out on top as a feature rich camera in its category, offering good value for its asking price of Rs 14,990.