SONY HX1 Insider: is it sharp

Saturday, August 1, 2009

is it sharp - now?

You will find here how to optimize the settings so that the final picture will be more pleasing.

This post will be edited as often as I figure something out new.

1. The pictures are too soft (not sharp)
Full zoom the pictures tend to bee too soft for my taste.

The easy solution is set sharpness and contrast to +

The picture will get a bit more coarse but I find the gained clarity outweights the gained coarseness.
Let´s get into detail, shall we?
We take this picture and crop just the centerThe real pictures are the same dimensions but double in size you see here the recompressed by google.

sharpness normal

sharpness normal resharpen in camera

sharpness normal resharpen in FastStone setting 10 from 20
FastStone (freeware) is a fast, stable, user-friendly image browser, converter and editor.

sharpness normal resharpen in Photoshop

sharpness +

sharpness + resharpen in camera

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Welcome to HX1 insider

From a small island west of the Sahara I bid you a warm welcome to my global neighborhood. Relax, have a drink and let me tell you a bit about the Sony HX1.

If a post is updated it will move to the top and the GMT time stamp is updated click on the end of the post on Read more »

A few of my blogs

LED lamps

inside LED

Home Cinema 3D

cheap 3D in the living room

Home Cinema:
25 years imax@home

Epson EH-TW3200

small files - good quality - no problems playing

video codecs and compressions

looks can be deceiving

Olympus SZ-30MR

Ultra Versatile Pocket Mega Zoom

Sony HX9V

Pocket Zoom Swiss Army Knife

SONY HX5v

capable hybrid super zoom

SONY HX1

the blog what started all

Canon SX1 / SX10

a cheap waterproof pocket HD

Samsung WP10

waited too long ...

Samsung WB2000 / TL350

futuristic and sporty motorcycle / scooter hybrid -
30% more acceleration for 0 cent!

Malaguti Spidermax

from the Gulf of Mexico to Europe
the BP Deepwater Horizon oil

Black Pest - Eurotrip

decision time

Why SONY HX1 and not the Canon SX1 or Panasonic FZ38 or even the Kodak Z980, Nikon P90, Olympus SP-590, or the Pentax X70?

I can only speak for the SONY here so you compare with you favorite other choice.

the good:

it is not compatible with this new Sony product
most innovative super zoom of 2009
most flexible with the video modes
usable low light HD video with good noise reduction
good video compression and easy to work with codec
best low light performance thanks to hand held twilight mode
best handling in changing aperture, speed, ISO and exposure compensation via clickable thumb wheel
good inteligend auto and dummy mode
good for party pictures using anti motion blur mode
1st panorama hybrid, very easy and lots of fun
the 3" flip screen (would like a swivel better but only Canon makes them in super zooms) but 3" for 4:3 and 2.7" for 16:9 compared to 2.8" for 16:9 and 2.2" for 4:3 with the SX1
supplied proprietary long lasting battery with charger and a to the minute power left meter
lots of creative settings
automatic focus from 5 mm to infinity (and beyond).
No more pushing the macro and super macro button.
hot swap memory cards (no need to power down)
very strong flash throttles good down at macro exposure

the bad:

the viewfinder is as small as from the Panasonic FZ28 / FZ38
pictures sometimes too soft (not sharp)
no full HD (but compare the resolution to the SX1 there is little difference)
design (I find the SX1 design more pleasing)
button layout, crammed playback button, useless C button. They should call it an M for my button and allow to put a movie mode or what you would like on it instead of just 3 choices...
proprietary battery (supplied)
zoom and shutter noise when filming in very quiet environment (very sensitive stereo micros)
no wind filter, sound cuts out if it is too windy.
A bit crammed thumb rest area
(easy to solve, just pull the display away from the camera and your thumb has a big area to roam around)
hard plastic viewfinder
slow response menu system, you need to turn the mode wheel slowly to see the screen respond. (just look directly at the position off the wheel for instant info)

and the ugly:

the very expensive Sony memory stick ( it´s betamax etc. all over again)
That was the deal breaker for me since it came out and prevented me from buying the H1 so I got instead the S2 with SD card and AA rechargables.
I swore to myself: no camera with memory stick or XD card ever but in the end the Sony had too many good points, like getting 169 minutes of 720p or 86 min of 1080p in high quality video on a 8 GB memory stick.
need dongle (supplied) for HDMI, need special cable for usb and video (supplied).
What is the reason to spend extra money in developing a non standard plug and then providing an special made cable and a special made dongle for HDMI? It costs much more than having standard plugs and cables.
(upgraded to ugly after working with it)

this is a work in progress, I will add new points as I discover them.

To sum it up simple, the Kodak Z980, Nikon P90, Olympus SP-590 and Pentax X70 are pretty much the same cameras, same sensor, same lens - yes, yes the Oly has 2x more, go figure. But these cameras are no competition. See below for a side by side review.

The SX1 is more like the PS3 all serious and more professional with the settings, operation and design, while the HX1 is more like the WII even if the specs and some quality is a bit lower sometimes, it is much more fun to play with - and that is not only my opinion.
Watch the clip and you get an idea what I mean.

Here is my blog about the Canon SX10. The only difference to the SX1 is the video mode, shooting speed the viewfinder and display. The later 2 I have covered in my SX10 blog to exhaustion and you will see why the viewfinder issue was the deal breaker for me. The video modes are compared here and I will go into further detail here about the 10 vs the 4 fps mode.

colected tips and tricks

Alan Arthur Katz the white paper
A photo course for the beginner of the H series

Jerry Stevens: on Antiblur and Twilight
good comparison from different modes

This info is collected from clie and originates here.
1. use EV -0.3 to get better detail and colours due to over-exposure under default factory setting
2. For sharpest images, set image size to 5M (4:3) or 6M (16:9)

3. Set NR to -1 for sharper images due to Sony's aggresive noise algorithms. Then cleanup using some noise reduction software like Neat-Image

4. Set Sharpness to +1 as default.

5. Half depress shutter all the time to lock the focus before you fully press the trigger

6. Use "anti-motion blur" mode for night shots instead of "hand held twilight". Better results

7. Turn DRO to off unless you really want to use it. reduces geometric distortion when using full telephoto. I think it increases sharpness also (?)

8. Turn on Smart Zoom when you use the 5-MP mode, as this reduces the number of encoding processes from two to one. You also get an original encoding of 5 bits-per-pixel and without Smart Zoom, the first process uses just 4 bits.

9. Use the 720p mode for HD video, as I found that it looks sharper than the 1080p video.

10. For night photos using handheld twilight, adjust EV by -0.7 to -2.0 to get better details. See Jerry's excellent comparison link here
http://forums.dpreview.com/...forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=32187076

11. "Antimotion Blur” exposes exactly, "Handheld Twilight" must be corrected about -1.0 EV. Can be used in day time
see comparison link
http://forums.dpreview.com/...forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=32253896

12. White paper with lots of tips on the H series http://www.aakatz.com/whitepaper/whitepaper/index.htm

13. Avoid zoom extremes - more distortion at extreme ends. If you have to use it, set max zoom then pull back slightly (refer 12. above)

Peoples opinion SX1 vs HX1

collected from all over the net.

Stephen McDonald wrote:
One of the main attractions of the HX1 for me, is its ability to shoot good photos and videos in low light. The Canon SX1 does poorly with limited light and produces noisy videos indoors. I'm largely nocturnal in my habits or crepuscular at times (I'm on Raccoon Time) and this is essential to me.

It also has more controls and active features with its video, than HD-shooting D-SLR cameras have, in general. With the exception of those rare photos that have flawless focus and exposure, you won't want to view HX1 photos at full-size or larger. But, if you show them at about 1600 X 1200 or smaller, they can look very good.

The small, supplied battery has a long running time and I never ran short of power, with just the one. I do have an external battery pack, with a plug-in wire to the DC power jack. This consists of a large Sony Lithium camcorder battery of the same voltage, hooked to a cord with the same fixture on the end as the AC power supply. Never use something like this, unless you're absolutely certain the polarity of the connections is correct, as well as the voltage.

The lack of any supplied facility for attaching filters and hoods, is a big minus for the HX1. There are alternatives to work around this and an after-market lens adaptor tube for it, is rumored to be coming soon. Search my messages and read about ways I've solved this problem for myself.

The power of the lens and the good Smart Zoom extension of this in 5-MP and 3-MP photo modes (the 2-MP SMZ mode is awful in image quality), gives you much more reach than anyone with a D-SLR can get. Unless they use a $25,000. 1000mm lens, that's as big as a turkey and weighs at least 10 times as much as the camera.

Have my arguments for the HX1 convinced me personally? Yes, as soon as this holiday suspension of delivery has passed, I plan to take on my HX1 #2, after sending #1 back and then having a rather unfulfilling fling with the Canon SX1. That model is a camera that won over most of its proponents, before they or anyone else outside the high-walled Canon castle, had actually put their hands on one. Like a mail-order bride, it is loaded with surprises and disappointments. After probing each one for 12 days, I've decided I can have a happy time with the HX1, but the SX1 and I had unreconcilable differences.

The SX1 has a 5.7 F-stop lens, that is slower than the numbers would indicate. The HX1 has a 5.2 lens, that seems faster than it should be. The difference is in fact, substantial , especially for video and low light shooting. Check out my Beaver and Raccoon videos on my Vimeo album (click on the View Signature button), that were shot with an HX1 a few minutes before sunset, in a shaded area.

From my own HX1 and SX1 photos and also thousands of those online, taken by other people, I regard the SX1 as just a bit sharper in its photos, but only when conditions and camera settings are ideal. I got more keeper shots from the HX1, as it is more responsive and predictable, when you make changes in its settings.

The control wheel of the SX1 is sluggish and often jumps two or three clicks, when it finally responds. Its lens is much slower than that of the HX1, so its autofocus doesn't work as well, especially at full zoom and in low light.

However, the image stabilizer of the SX1 is better and smoother. The small viewfinder of the HX1 is sharper and the SX1 VF is surprisingly limited in resolution, for a camera of this type. Since the HX1 is easier and more pleasant to use, has a better batting-average and also has the anti-blur and twilight composite-photo modes, I give the edge to it, in a photo comparison, over the SX1. This is despite the SX1 being able to occasionally produce a picture that is somewhat sharper and holds up better when examined at full-size.

T. L. Rutter writes:

used the DSLR for some shots, but switched to HX1 the rest of the time because of the zoom, video, and panos.

There were some shots that were next to impossible to step back to get the whole shot so I took them in pano mode and got the complete tree. I took other pano modes to show the "whole scene" to give others a true shot of what I was looking at rather than just regular pictures.

The IQ varied, but most turned out better than expected. Because I am able to zoom in 40x I didn't have to crop.

The video mode was out of this world, too. I took video of nature, some song birds, and deer. I'll be able to pull all of this together for a nice video I can play back on my HDTV.

I also went to a bbq place that had eye candy all over the place. Usually business owner's get weird if someone starts taking a picture of their decor but with the HX1 and twilight mode I was able to snap what I wanted with the owner standing nearby not knowing what I was doing. No flash and the pictures turned out really nice and was in focus and sharp.

I started out on the trip thinking the a300 would be my main camera but it turned out the opposite. If I were to go to the Grand Canyon, that may be a different story!
Tobi´s facebook

off site info about the HX1

Informative Sony website

and here a snazzy HX1 promo

Reviews:
Steve Huff
Gordon Laing
HX1 vs SX1 vs EOS 450D
Don Wan
HX1 vs SX1 vs TZ27
A Review index

Want to compare the SONY HX1 with the Kodak EasyShare Z980, Nikon Coolpix P90, Olympus SP-590 Ultra Zoom, or the Pentax X70?

Jeff Keller can help you with the others ...

Videos:
Using the Sony HX1 in the field
Youtube
Vimeo

Pictures:
JOGY´S PixelGallery
gorgeous pictures and good comparison

Groups:
HX1 on Facebook
Search Flickr for HX1 pictures
Search Flickr for HX1 groups

About the main picture:
Nearly 4 years ago when my S2 was still new I found a nice image of the Canon with a converter and a nice big reflective lens. This was when I wondered how it would look what I was shooting was reflecting in the lens.
This time I let my model climb out through the lens, that captured her, back into reality.