Trying out my new Cyber-shot camera…

Favourite shot so far with my new Sony HX50 camera – a scarlet lily beetle, Lilioceris lilii

All I want is a decent point-and-shoot compact camera that is good at taking pictures of birds from a great distance and flowers and insects in close-up. Plus general views, obviously.

I have great affection for my old Olympus Camedia C-765 Ultra Zoom, which has been with me since August 2004, a good five years before I started this blog. I had long been wondering what I would do if it broke or stopped working suddenly, so I have visited my favourite camera shop – Cameraland in Cardiff – several times to ask what the best replacement would be. Always I was told I wouldn’t get anything as good at both zoom and macro in one camera.

Things became more pressing this year when my Olympus lost some of its settings – it wasn’t recording the date pictures were taken and it kept on reinstating the annoying beeps the camera makes when shooting unless you switch them off. Cameraland explained all I had to do was restore the factory settings and I have now done that, so the camera is fine again. But meanwhile I fell in love with a compact camera I was shown, that could now more than match the old Olympus for zoom and macro.

My compact cameras, old and new…

The excellent Clive Brooks at Cameraland showed me all I needed to know about the Sony Cyber-shot HX50, and within a few weeks I had gone back to buy it. I have bought all my three cameras there (the other one is a Nikon D5000 DSLR with changeable zoom and macro lenses).

Their recommendations are good and they manage to do deals that match even Amazon. The HX50 was £199, which is £50 under the Sony recommended price. Obviously adding on spare battery, memory cards and leather case took the price nearer to £300, but I was happy!

Top of my cameras old and new – the red lines show where the lenses end when the cameras are switched off

This isn’t a technical review, just my impressions and some examples of pictures I have taken in testing the new camera against the old. My first impression was how much quicker the Sony is when you switch it on. It’s ready to shoot in just a second or two, while the old Olympus seems very sluggish in comparison.

Back of my cameras, old and new

The Sony seems very slim compared to the Olympus, but weighs more or less the same. The new camera seems to me a bit more fragile, which is why the leather case is essential. The Olympus had a plastic lens cap that could be popped on and off, but the Sony has a built-in – but rather exposed – lens cover that must surely be easy to break?

Sony Cyber-shot HX50 flip-down case…

Anyway, let’s have some pictures! Since I bought the camera in mid May, I have tried to compare like with like in order to judge whether the Sony will ever replace my beloved Olympus…

Macro for flowers and insects

Sony HX50 – scarlet lily beetle…

Sony HX50 – Bombus hypnorum – tree bumblebee

Olympus C-765 – beetle on Campanula leaf…

Can anyone out there identify this next flower for me? It appeared in the garden and I can’t decide whether it is a “weed” or a garden plant, as it is pretty but the flowers are very small. My first thought, from the leaves, was a member of the Geranium family, but I have been unable to find a match. Any ideas?

Olympus C-765 – mystery pink flower

Sony HX50 – mystery pink flower a week later

One very good feature of the new camera is its apparent ability to switch to the right mode – such as macro – automatically. With the Olympus you have to press buttons and find the macro setting when you need it.

The problem of red

Quite a few photographic systems have trouble portraying bright reds and bright purples. My old Olympus camera included. As a test, I took a picture of the same red pelargonium, at the same time and in the same light, with my old and new cameras…

Olympus C-765 – red pelargonium – washed-out colour

Sony HX50 – red pelargonium – not perfect, but the colour is a lot better!

Here are some more flowers…

Olympus – Ceanothus from a few years ago

Sony – Ceanothus a few weeks ago

Olympus – whitebeam from a few years ago

Sony – whitebeam a few weeks ago

Multiple points of focus

One huge improvement in the Sony over the old Olympus is the focus. In most shots the camera is constantly seeking multiple places to focus on, not just the one. Here are some standard images (not zoom or macro) – in most cases I can’t really judge whether the old or new camera is better…

Olympus – cat

Sony – cat

Olympus – hornbeam trunk

Sony – hornbeam trunk

A surprising zoom

But most surprising was when I realised how good the new Sony’s zoom is. I thought it was on a par with the old camera but now I see it has a 30x zoom when the old one was probably a 10x zoom.

To test it I just pointed the cameras through the window and used maximum zoom on various plants…

Olympus – moon maple, maximum zoom

Sony – moon maple, maximum zoom

Olympus – peony, maximum zoom

Sony – peony, maximum zoom

I have been trying for years to get a decent image of my Deutzia, which grows in a part of the garden I can’t get close to…

Olympus – last year’s Deutzia

Sony – this year’s Deutzia

Birds and foxes…

Olympus – foxes from a few years ago, cropped…

Sony – this year’s fox…

Olympus – I will never again take such a good picture of a young starling as this…

Sony – young starling

Olympus – male blackbird on mahonia

Sony – female blackbird on mahonia

Perhaps my favourite subject during my first few weeks with the new camera has been the Cotinus coggygria Notcutt’s Variety (smoke tree)…

Cotinus in sharp focus through my window thanks to the Sony

Cotinus again – such great colour…

Sunlight through the leaves…

Anyway, I think you might say I am impressed with the Sony Cyber-shot HX50. I will definitely be taking it with me on my summer holidays. But the little slots and flaps for battery, memory card and charger cable are not very robust, compared to the Olympus. So I will probably take my old camera as back-up, just in case of accident…