Sony HX200V review: Does this feature-packed superzoom camera strike the right balance?

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posted Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 11:58 AM EDT


Superzooms like the Sony HX200V are the veritable Swiss Army knives of the camera world. Where some cameras seem aimed for a specific task, this superzoom camera takes the "jack of all trades" approach, bolting on a versatile lens that tries to cover every possible shooting situation you might encounter.

But the superzoom's design is all about one thing: compromise. Make the right tradeoffs, and you get a great travel companion: smaller than an interchangeable-lens kit covering the same focal range, yet able to get you far closer to the action than any other fixed-lens camera could. Get the balance wrong, though, and no amount of zoom can make up for it.

On paper, the Sony HX200V offers quite an imaging combination: a 30x zoom lens, 18-megapixel sensor, and features such as a tilting display, in-camera geotagging, and more. How does its real-world performance measure up? Read our Sony HX200V review and find out!