The HX99 is Sony's top of the range HX camera in its lineup.
And has a few features that have not been introduced until now.
However, it does have at a higher price tag compared to its predecessor.
This now begs the question,
Is it worth it to consider a camera like this?
Hey everyone! I'm John Sison and today we're taking a look at the Sony HX99.
 
 
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Alright, so let me firstly start off by saying
this camera is tiny.
Not only because it has a 30x optical zoom
but there are a few new features that are built into
this camera from its predecessor which is the HX90.
So for example you do have 4K video recording,
slow motion recording and not only that,
you do have Sony's famous eye-AF
which makes it great for taking portraits
So your always going to get the camera focusing on the person's eyes
and its still going to be in sharp focus.
Not only that, if you like taking selfies this does have the
flip up LCD. It is also a touchscreen as well
and if you're also a person who likes to vlog
since a lot of people are doing it on YouTube or FaceBook
or Instagram, this camera has a very good codec
for video quality.
But before you make a decision or whether this camera is for you,
let's take a closer look at the camera.
So here's what the camera looks like. As you can see
it does use a Zeiss lens.
There is also a control ring, which you can use to control your aperture,
and your shutter speed. Just depending on what mode you're in.
On the front here, you've also got a hand grip to make it more comfortable to hold
Especially for long periods of time.
On the top you do have a mode dial,
a rocker switch which is also shared with the shutter button,
a switch for your flash which pops up.
like that.
And also you do have a viewfinder thats tucked in here
It is a two step viewfinder so what you need to do is push the viewfinder down,
and pull it out. So that will activate the viewfinder.
Whether you're a person that is near or far sighted,
there is a diopter that you can actually adjust for different eye sights, so you just need to adjust it on the top there.
And once you are done using the viewfinder, you can actually tuck it away.
On the back here is a 3 inch LCD screen. It is also a touchscreen.
Taking a look on the side here
you do have a very simple button layout which a few of the
buttons you can actually customise for
different settings and functions.
On the side here is a little port
which you can actually use to either charge your camera
or to transfer photos and videos to your computer.
Taking a look at the otherside, you do
have a badge for one touch pairing. So if you have
an android phone you can actually do that. Whether that be
a Samsung, or a Google or a Sony phone.
And on the bottom here, you do have a
tripod mount, a micro HDMI port,
and taking a look under here, you do have an X type battery.
So this is rated to give you about 350 shots
give or take.
Just depends how you use it and underneath
here or in this little slot,
which I find a downside to this camera
is that it takes micro SD cards.
I see that as a bad side. I don't know why Sony went with micros
instead of just your standard.
Because there are a lot more standard memory cards that are a lot more affordable
and you do have a lot more choice.
So that's just a quick tour around the camera, lets take a look at the camera's features.
The camera has what is called eye autofocus.
This is a new feature on the HX series
models which will make taking portraits easier.
As the camera will always focus on the eye.
Another great feature that Sony have finally implemented
is the ability to shoot in RAW.
This is something that many people wanted and Sony have finally done.
There ie no GPS built into this camera like previous HX
models but the workaround with this is to turn on the
location info link and connect your camera to your phone via bluetooth.
The camera features an 18.2 megapixel sensor
which is a decent of megapixels
for a camera of this class
In good lighting conditions, the camera is capable of some vibrant and sharp photos.
When it comes to low light conditions, I wouldn't really
push it passed 800 ISO.
But if you really need to go passed that limit I would
then suggest either using a flash or using
Sony's multi shot noise reduction which will help
reduce any noise.
For the best results, your subject will need to be stationary.
Considering this is a compact camera and the fact that I've been
spoilt by my expensive full frame cameras,
they won't ever get the same amount of reach as the HX99
which is a 24mm to 720mm lens.
And while this camera is quick to focus in bright conditions at the wide end,
it wasn't as quick at the tele end, even in the same conditions.
You can see from the following videos the
the effectiveness of the stabilsiationon the HX99
with me just walking.
Also, pay a bit of attention to the background
to see how steady the video is.
Keep in mind, active and intelligent active stabilisation
is not available in 4K video.
And there is a bit of a crop when
filming with intelligent active stabilisation.
Thanks Sachi!
Thank you.
Okay,
so I hope this is giving you an idea of the audio
quality that you can expect
straight out of the camera. So there are no audio
mic inputs so if you wanted to do that
you unfortunately can't, so you're going to have to look elsewhere
but I will let you be the judge in terms
of how decent the audio is.
I think it sounds pretty decent,
but I'll leave that entirely up to you.
Now the Sony HX99 is a camera
that is going to be perfect for anyone that loves to travel.
Especially if they love to travel light. This isn't going
to be a huge burden on anyone's kit. It is
somewhat comfortable to hold but if you are
walking around a lot or taking photos at different angles
I would recommend using the wrist strap because it might be
a bit too small and if you somehow
let go of this camera or it just slips out of your hand,
despite having a rubber grip
you know, accidents can happen. I am a bit
annoyed that Sony went with a micro SD card.
I mean its not a big deal because micro SDs
are getting cheaper and cheaper. Its just that there are a lot more
more formats and speeds available for SD cards
instead of the micro SDs.
Not only that, you do have a lot of features
that is built into the camera. So a lot of features that
you may or may not ever use but you've got 4K,
you've got eye-AF, picture effects, sweep panorama,
The list goes on and on.
There is a lot of customisation with the camera, so
if you have a feature that you use quite often or
there are a lot of things that you change, you do have that customisation
available to you.
In terms of the user interface, I did
find it fairly easy to navigate myself around through.
So if anything, you just need to play around with it and just
look at where all the features are.
With the touchscreen, I didn't find it that great
to be honest. Sony touchscreens aren't very
in my opinion very good
compared to the competition
like Canon or Panasonic or even Nikon.
If you don't need all the bells whistles of this camera,
the WX800 is another option that
you can choose. Now this might be a good camera
for the casual photographer or
the travel photographer that doesn't want to add too much weight
to your kit or their kit
and probably doesn't want to have to deal with
changing lenses. So this would be a very good option and the viewfinder
does help when it does get a bit too bright
outside and you can't see the LCD screen. That's when it really comes in handy.
If you have any more questions, please feel free to leave a comment below
If you already own one,
let me know what you think of it
and remember to like this video if you found it helpful
and subscribe to my channel for more Sony camera reviews and tutorials
You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram for more sample
photos and photo updates and
don't forget to take a look in the description below
for more information about the camera as well as purchasing links.
Until then, happy shooting and thanks for watching!
Take a look at my Facebook....
Did I already say that?
Take photos with ?? zzzzzz
Flip up screen does come in handy.
................
To burdem themselves.. bleh!
 
