Sony HX400V Compact Digital Camera with 50x Optical Zoom, Black

Well, my journey with Sony started a few years back in 2010 with a Cybershot camera. One of the coolest gadgets I owned as a young man. However, I lost track of it as I moved around. I didn't 'need' a camera for a while.Then, I got settled where I am now and I purchased a used WX-100. Quite a step up from my 2010 Cybershot. It had plenty of processing functions and auto shoot modes. It lasted about a year, under heavy use. That camera's zoom gear's initiating gear had been worn out. I needed a replacement for my established hobby.I began looking for a new camera with better specifications, but with the same basic functions I loved in the WX-100. Obviously, I began my search with Sony's Cybershot cameras. Then, I discovered the Big Zoom Bridge Cameras. I loved them. I went to Best Buy to get a feel for them before I bought. I was so impressed with the ease of use that I decided to invest in the newest release in the line of Big Zoom Bridge Cameras.The HX-400V.Power.First thing with this camera, out of the box.. you have to charge it with a USB cable. Yeah, it's a ball buster.But if you're like me or thousands of other photographers, amateur or professional, you'll buy a battery charger that plugs into the wall. And possibly extra batteries. Extra batteries will come in handy if you are like me, or other people, and carry your camera in a camera bag EVERYWHERE.You won't be on top of charging your one single battery every night. So it's easy to see that it's dying, and pop in a new one. I've had this happen. It's great to have the backups.Storage.There seems to be some misunderstanding about which kind of card this camera, or any Sony camera, will accept. This camera will accept Memory Stick Pro Duo AND SD cards; just not at the same time. You need to work out orientation for putting each type of card in the card slot(s).Pins up for Pro Duo, and pins down for SD card. It's a really cool system, I think.Zoom.As the specifications will state, this camera has 50x zoom with a 20MP sensor; pretty powerful. There is also another 50x digital zoom. Depending on distance and subject, this can come in real handy. I use it for taking photographing the moon; if you try this, you might try using manual focus and setting it to ∞.Shooting Features.Like I mentioned before, there are plenty of ways to shot with this camera. Auto selection, auto with noise correction, creative styles, long exposure, picture effects, 1080p video quality, manual shutter, aperture control, many many more.There is a built in flash, the button to flip up is on the left hand side of the camera in the frontal area.To wrap it up, this is a really great camera. A little pricey, but I don't miss the money. Not at all.

What a terrific bridge camera. Works like a single lens reflex camera without having to change lenses.Can zoom in and focus quickly to capture images that would otherwise easily be missed in fractions of a second. Personally, I'd be lost without the live view finder.Great camera for the price and ease of use.

This is a phenomenal camera for the price.I bought this as a second camera for my wife to use while on safari. She's kryptonite to anything technology if it can break or stop working she will find a way to make it happen. With this camera however, she ended up taking some amazing photos on our trip of fast moving animals at distances I couldn't believe. The videos turned out even better.Reasons to buy:-This a great does-it-all camera: Enough megapixels to take photos for large print, good enough glass to make them clear and more-The 50x (1600mm equivalent) zoom takes great photos at long distances with the right lighting - my wife got photos of monkeys at 500 yards that my 200mm/F2.8 would never be able to. The clarity was phenomenal and some will be on our wall, you'd swear we were closer-The video quality is outstanding and the slow zoom makes for great landscape shots that zoom in on objects far away-GPS- We were deep in the African bush and when I synced our photos all of them were geotagged, pretty cool-Wifi - Using the playmemories app on Android or iPhone, you can control the camera and take photos or send your best ones to your phone from the camera for sharing online-If you are already bought into Sony's camera line: this takes the same batteries and has the same menus as many others-Viewfinder is good enough, it gets the job done. For better long distance shots, this is a must and is why the cheaper long zoom cameras without an EVF are just about useless-Build quality is really good. The camera is also super lightReasons not to:-The RX10 is slightly more and is easily the best all in one for those not looking for a full frame or compact system.-The Lumix FZ200 and FZ1000 are great alternatives: I'd still have bought this camera for the price howeverr