I beat my brains out for the past month, trying to decide on a P&S camera to replace my Pentax DSLR. I've decided, rather late in life, to go with a small pocket camera to replace my bulky SLR and several lenses, including the huge camera bag I carried them around in. So I've been reading every review and scanning every consumer review site (such as Amazon's) searching for the perfect P&S camera. I even bought (and returned) two cameras that ultimately did not work for me. I agonized over the HX9V for a couple weeks before finally biting the bullet and ordering it. I'm extremely happy I did!

From the moment I opened the box I knew the HX9V was going to be a winner. Unlike the two cameras I returned, the size and handling of the HX9V was about perfect for me. The two I returned were simply too small to handle efficiently, even in my relatively small hands, but this one was ideal (for me) with a great grip and controls that seemed to fall right under my fingers. The build... Read more

From my personal experience in the last 2 weeks since I received Sony's HX9V camera:
Overall I am happy with my purchase and consider that Sony's camera is competitive compared with similar offerings available from other manufacturers (see below).

Pros
- Wide angle lens and optical zoom (16x) are great: 24mm to 384mm in 35mm film equivalent
- Excellent clear display (3", 921k)
- Great panoramic mode - you sweep the camera around in one motion and it makes a single photo. You can sweep up and down too if the focal length doesn't change too much.
- Generally good photo quality for a pocket megazoom camera.
- Can easily fit in a jacket pocket or squeeze in a trouser one (camera is 4.2 x 1.4 x 2.4 inches ; 8.6 ounces)
- Video stabilizer is exceptionally good and quality is decent too
- GPS records your location
- Reasonably quick start-up for photo shooting - about 1 second
- Works fine with the 16 GB SDHC Class 10 card I have... Read more

I have been searching for a good, pocket-able travel zoom camera for a few months and have looked at a number of different models including the Fujifilm 550exr. I settled on the Sony for its specs and the reputation that Sony has for making state-of-the-art cameras. I have to say I have not been disappointed. I am most interested in the out-of-the-box image quality since I know that on most occasions my approach is to take a series of shots without too much fuss and let the camera do most of the work for me. This is certainly the case when I am traveling since I am usually trying to get the most of the experience I am having rather than focusing too much on tinkering with camera controls.

So I compared the images from the HX9V to a Sony NEX5 and to an older Panasonic. I used the IA settings on all three cameras. I have to say I was very pleased with the results. The HX9 gave consistently good images from its Intelligent Auto and Superior Auto modes that in some cases came... Read more