A Cracker of A Camera

I have not done as much in the past with Sony cameras as with some of the other brands. It hasn't been prejudice - just opportunity. You see, Sony in many cases seal the boxes of their goods with a metal tape, and it was not done to slit that tape to extract a camera for testing. I had to wait until one of the demo units was put back into the storeroom to get a chance. This came the day before Valentine's Day. The camera I grabbed was the Sony Cybershot DSC HX400V - a super-zoom designed for the tourist market that combines an all-in-one design with a long telephoto and an active stabiliser system. It's the sort of thing that you get when you are going to Africa or Alaska - or want to take long-distance sporting shots but cannot carry the big DSLR cameras into a venue. ( WACA ) As with most of my tests, it was done OOTB ( out of the box ) with minimal resetting and fiddling - to replicate the sort of experience a tourist or first-time user might have. As with most of this class of camera, it is sleek and bulbous. The hand grip usefully large, though not as big as a DSLR type. The layout is thankfully conventional with a single-tilt LCD screen. The entire control set is on the right hand side of the camera with nothing but the dioptre wheel for the left. There is, however, a sliding switch that decides focus options on the left hand side of the lens housing, and you'll want to play it up and down for various purposes. I will make one minor gripe - the button that chooses between EVF and LCD screen seems to need to be pressed before you go through the set-up choices . Otherwise you're peering into the EVF to get into the start sequence. I'm spoiled with my Fujifilm cameras as they all seem to feature the Eye Sensor cell and circuit and I just don't think about it. Mind you, the Fujifilm Eye Sensor uses up electricity, and sometimes I switch it off for dance shows to save battery. Um. Batteries. Well I guess this is the time to mention them and their charging. The Sony HX400V uses the NP-BX1 which looks to be a pretty small unit. Given that this camera uses EVF and LCD for viewing, and power zoom, I would be nervous going out for a day's shooting if I did not have a couple of charged spares as well as the one in the camera. The charging option presented in the box is a power connector to the mains but the battery remains in the camera for the charge. Frankly, I would also add a separate accessory charger from Sony or another maker and two more NP-BX1 batteries before I left the shop... I'd also add a drop-in bag such as one from the Think Tank range to keep the camera safe. These superzooms are somewhat of an awkward shape and the mirror-less bags are not really perfect for them. It would pay any buyer to spend an extra 20 minutes trying two bodies - the camera and their own - to see if a convenient marriage or carriage could be arranged. If so, consider a Joby or Peak wrist strap to pull it in and out of the bag. Last picture - the whole thing stretched out on the table. You cannot miss the long lens setting. Thankfully, Sony have not put anything on the left hand side of the camera that interferes with the left hand cradling the lens...you can do that for a long time. Some other cameras are demons with this - and if you put hard metal brackets under the cameras you make it worse for yourself. This one is a pleasure. The LCD screen is the best guide to what you actually have taken...the small EVF screen is best thought of as a sighting aid rather than a screen that will replay nuances of colour. But even the LCD screen at the back does not do full justice to the files that this camera produces. Read tomorrow and see how good they look.