Sony DSC-HX300 Extensive test in Roma

Hi Followers,
some weeks ago a friend of mine told me that he choose this Sony DSC-HX300 bridge camera as his B camcorder because of the picture quality, the 50X zoom, the autofocus, and because a US magazine tested it against the Panasonic DMC-GH3 and they wrote that the HX300 is better; so I decided to try it... I hope that you will enjoy my Sony DSC-HX300 Review/ extensive test.

The shots were made at 1920x1080@50p, but, as usual, Youtube reduced framerate to 25p. Video was exported by ivsEdits as an .MP4 (H264) file at 20Mbps and preserved most, if not all, video details, but most of them were lost due to the Youtube compression.

BTW, here is what I think about this camera. I had no much time to test it before shooting, so probably I could have got better results in the night shots using the full manual mode.

The HX300 provided me very good results. The 50X zoom allowed me to catch any distant subjects with a wonderful detail. The servo is good but the zoom lever is not progressive like the one of a true camcorder. During Zoom IN, most of times it hasn't a constant speed. Autofocus is good, as well as manual focus. You can use the ring on the lens for manual focus or zoom. In manual mode, a rotary button allows you to choose which feature to handle (ISO, IRIS, Exposure Time) easily and quickly, like on a true prosumer camcorder. When the light is good, images are wonderful, few camcorders can do better, while with low light, it is good but not like a modern camcorder like a JVC GY-HM70. Another weak point is the rolling shutter, that is the true enemy of this camera. When you have a so long focal lenght, any camera movement, provides large movements on far subjects, so vertical lines can be distorted. This won't happen if you will use a steady tripod. Take a look at the Train Test. There is much skew. Built in microphone is good, but there isn't a mini jack to connect an external one, as well as there is no way to place a microphone or led light over the camera. From this side, the newcomer DSC-HX400, that is an evolution of the HX300 (very similar to it), will have the slide with the Sony cold shoe for an external microphone (but not mini jack, so you will be compelled to choose a Sony MIC, and not a different unit like Rode Videomic Pro).
Conclusions: the camera is very good and cheap. With few modifications it could be a camcorder killer (jacks for microphone and headphones, less rolling shutter, larger sensor for bokeh and low light sensitivity).
Bridge cameras are evolving much faster than DSLR, who knows, maybe in some years they will replace low and mid level Reflex cameras.
Stay tuned,

Paolo

P.S. Do you want my opinion about the pictures that the HX300 produces? They are very nice, under all light conditions. I was able to make good hands free shots with 1/8 exposure time, that was not possible with my old bridge. If you are a friend of mine on Facebook you can see some of them into the album "Biking in Roma" (most are made with an LG GT540 ancient smartphone).

Видео Sony DSC-HX300 Extensive test in Roma канала Paolo Castellano