Before its UK unveiling at the Focus On Imaging show in Birmingham, TechRadar has managed to get its hands on the Sony HX100V ? a superzoom camera that is the flagship of the Cybershot range.
Sony's latest range of Cybershot cameras were originally announced at CES 2011 in Las Vegas in January, so it has taken a few months for the cameras to make their way to the UK.
Although there are a range of models on offer - WX7, WX10, HX7, HX9 and HX100 - they all have one thing in common: at their heart is an Exmor R CMOS sensor, with chassis and feature changes made to suit different consumer needs.
There's a reason the HX100V is branded a superzoom ? it offers a mighty 30x zoom capability, alongside a host of other top-end features.
The highlight of these is Sweep Panorama mode in both 2D and 3D, and the capability of shooting 3D stills ? for playback on 3D Ready TVs ? all at 16MP resolution.
When it comes to Sweep Panorama, a number of changes have been made. It is now called Intelligent Sweep Panorama HR, and Sony is claiming that the quality you get is equivalent to 40MP resolution (10480x4096) ? so you can effectively get poster-sized images out of the file.
The Sony HX100V has prosumer looks, with a hand grip on the right-hand side of the chassis and a focus ring round the Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar T lens for added manual control.
If you want to switch to manual focus, then you just need to flick the switch on the side of the lens.
The Mode dial has been kept the same across the range, and features two intelligent auto modes ? one which will take multiple shots to help with things like blurring.
The zoom that the camera boasts was impressive in our tests, with no clarity lost even when used to the full 30x.
And there seems to be a number of features within the menu system that add to the HX100's prosumer slant, such as background defocus.
At 525 grams, the camera is lighter than any DSLR you will use, but it may feel heavier in the hand for those who are used to compacts.
When shooting at awkward angles the 3.0-inch 921,000-dot XtraFine LCD, complete with a wide viewing angle, came into its own as you had the ability to tilt the viewfinder to your needs.
When it comes to video shooting, the specs speak for themselves. Sony have moved on to progressive, so you can now capture 1920 x 1080 50p images. The test footage we shot seemed extremely smooth and clear, even though no tripod was used and there was very little setup of shots.
Although we would need to test the Sony HX100 fully ? the sample we had was still pre-production ? Sony has made a great camera for those not quite ready to go to a full DSLR, but want to maintain a modicum of manual control.
The Sony HX100 UK release date is April, with pricing to be around �400.
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