Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX1

Resolution (12.47)

To test the resolution of a camera, we look at three areas of performance: distortion (how much images become distorted), sharpness (how much detail is captured in an image) and chromatic aberration (how much color fringing there is in an image). Our overall score for resolution (shown above) is based on all three of these tests.

Overall, you can see that the HX1 scored significantly higher than our comparison cameras, thanks to its better overall performance. It’s certainly not perfect (especially at the longest zoom setting, which had some issues with sharpness and chromatic aberration that adversely affect image quality), but it is a strong performer overall. More on how we test resolution.

Distortion (15.35)

We saw extremely low distortion in the images captured by the HX1. Even at both ends of the zoom range, there was only about 0.3% distortion and was less than 0.1% in the middle, which is barely noticeable. Contrast this with the Nikon P90, which had an extremely noticeable 3.2% barrel distortion in the middle of the zoom range, and 1% pincushioning at the zoom and telephoto ends.

Sharpness (13.23)

The HX1 also did well in our sharpness test, where we look at how much detail a camera can capture. We test this at three points on the zoom range: at the widest, the middle and at the telephoto end, and we typically see problems at the two extremes caused by imperfections in the lens. The HX1 had good, consistent sharpness at the middle zoom points, but there were some problems at the widest and longest zoom points, where the images were sharp in the middle of the frame, but somewhat soft at the edge. All long zoom lenses have these issues to some degree, though, and it is worth noting that the HX1 is better than most similar cameras. You can see samples of this below.

Chromatic Aberration (6.27)

This is caused when the elements inside a lens act like a prism, with different frequencies of light being diffracted by different amounts. This was a particular issue at the longest zoom settings; in the examples below you can see a distinct blue fringe on the edge crops of our test images, which is caused by the aberration of the lens elements.

Quality & Size Options (6.28)

The HX1 offers a number of options for taking photos at different sizes, but there are no options for changing the quality of the saved photos, and there is no option to save the RAW files, which is a pity. Serious photographers like to save photos in RAW as they are easier to tweak and edit in image editing applications such as Photoshop.

Image Stabilization (23.14)

The DSC-HX1 includes a special mode called Anti-motion blur for hand-held shooting, which we found to be extremely good: in our tests at a shutter speed of around 1/30 of a second, we found that the images with this mode enabled were significantly sharper, as out examples below show. This is because this mode enables the active image stabilization of the lens, where the camera senses movement and shifts an element within the lens to compensate. More on how we test image stabilization.

Stabilization Comparisons
Sony DSC-HX1	Nikon P90	Canon SX1 IS	Olympus SP-590UZ
Stabilization Off
Stabilization On

As the examples above show, the stabilization on the HX1 was more effective in our tests than most of the comparison cameras. The camera also offers another mode designed to help reduce camera shake called Hand-held Twighlight mode: we test and discuss this in our Controls section.