Thank you so much for posting these HX-30 photos. There's a 75% chance we'll be headed back in September *2013*, so I started looking at getting a new camera to get me different/better images compared to those I got from my Canon SD1200IS from our 2010 trip. (Un?)fortunately, I found the HX-30 today, and now I'm nearly sold on buying it, even though I KNOW something else will come along before our trip. It's a neat looking camera though!
I think my biggest concerns at this point are:
1. Low light quality (too noisy), but your examples look very good. Unless a bunch of your 2000 unposted photos turned out noisy and grainy?
2. Camera size. My Canon slips in and out of my pocket really easily in the parks and it's really convenient to use. I'm a big afraid that this camera (which is twice as thick) won't slip out of the pocket as easily (or worse, create unsightly camera-bulge!).
Thoughts on touring at WDW with this thing?
You're welcome.
1) most of my pictures were good,( I had a lot of pictures of DS, and I don't get into posting those. ). And there were times like LMA where I used too much zoom and wound up getting nice pictures of empty pavement because I didn't follow the action well enough
. But yes, I did have more dark ride picture misses than hits. *A lot of that was motion related. *(dark pictures are easy if you have a tripod and a static subject)..a boat would bump a rail when I started to take a picture, or in FOTLK, the tumble Monkeys seemed impossible to catch... I now notice that zoomed pictures worked better in my camera.(a bit odd, the lens has a higher *f/ value, but I guess image stabilization works better with less to track)
2) I always use a small belt mounted camera bag, that also lets me carry an extra battery, memory card and a few ziplock bags for wet rides...so the bulk does not bother me. *In fact I prefer a bit of bulk because I can hold it more steady than say, my iPhone. *(I prefer a belt clip for I'm iPhone vs pocket, too so I may be a bit weird)
But I'm a firm believer that there is no best camera, just best for a specific person. *I think the Sony has great video and great Auto modes ( and it does have manual controls when i want to play more) *that gives pictures that look really nice straight from the camera. But there seem to be others that produce better images after post processing, if you like that.
For thinner cameras with zoom I would look at the Canon SX-260 and Panasonic ZS30 and 20. *Wihin pocketable cameras, If you do not need zoom, the Canon s95 and s100 do better at low light. *The Sony RX100 would do even better yet in low light..
Start looking at reviews at dpreview.com
Have fun camera hunting!
