Sony HX20V review

18.2MP travel compact with a 20x optical zoom, Full HD movies and GPS

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V
The Sony HX20V boasts GPS and an excellent zoom range

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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V

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The Sony Cyber-shot HX20V once again offers its manufacturer's Sweep Panorama function, automatically compositing together a single elongated frame from a burst of images. The result is a 20MB (as opposed to an average 6-8MB) file. While exposure is even and the result's dramatic, movement has resulted in some 'diced' subjects on the far right.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V review

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A long lens reach on a pocket camera is the Sony Cyber-shot HX20V's chief selling point - and here it has come up trumps, bringing out the inner Chris Packham, enabling us to shoot handheld and capture impressively detailed close ups of wildfowl.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V review

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You can also get up close and personal with this Sony camera and still capture bags of detail and colour even when shooting at maximum 25mm equivalent wide-angle setting. Here we're only a centimetre or two from our subject, so that it dramatically fills the frame.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V review

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Another extreme wide-angle shot, and here one delivered with minimal barrel distortion, which is a boon for any landscape or cityscape photographer. However, to be picky, we notice softness towards the very edges of the frame.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V review

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By contrast, a shot taken from exactly the same vantage point, but this time at maximum zoom setting, pulling the house at the very end of the terrace - some 200 metres or more away - bang to the fore.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX20V review

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Another shot taken on the Sony Cyber-shot HX20V at maximum telephoto setting, enabling us to play at amateur paparazzi. Capturing sharp candids at maximum zoom has the benefit of enabling shots to be just that - candid - while throwing the background nicely out of focus.

Gavin Stoker
Freelance

When not wrestling wild bears or leaping tall buildings in a single bound, Gavin Stoker can be found editing British Photographic Industry News, the UK's longest running and only photo trade title. He has over 25 years of camera testing and reviewing under his belt.