PMA 2009 : Sony DSC-HX1 Gets Video Intro, Sweep Panorama Demo

From rumor to an official release and getting to hold one in our hands, the Sony DSC-HX1 superzoom was every bit as good as Sony advertised. Excellent built quality, 20x optics, 3-inch tilt LCD, 1080p video, Face Detection and a newly announced Exmore CMOS sensor with 10fps burst speed at a whole 9-MP; what's not to like?

At the Sony booth, we met with Mark Weir to give us a walkthrough of the new HX1 and the super cool Sweep Panorama stitching technology. Obviously, there's nothing new about an in-camera Panorama mode, even cellphones comes equipped with one these days. However, the Sony's works faultlessly, though it was hard to tell if the edges were stitched seamlessly from a small screen, but the result was completely instantaneous. It takes a lot of horsepower to sew up a 7152 x 1080 ultra wide panoramic photo.

Other features that Sony put that BIONZ imaging processor to good use with are battling motion blur and the incredible handheld-capable twilight mode; in the latter, the camera takes six shots within a fraction of a second, then superimposes them into one sharpest-possible image.

The Sony's CyberShot DSC-HX1 will be available this Spring at a suggested retail of $499. To learn more about what the Sony's HX1 can do, and see the Sweep Panorama mode, check out the video below; Mike Weir is by far the best speaker we've recorded at the show.

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