Sony HX20V review

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The Sony Cyber-shot HX20V once again offers its manufacturer's Sweep Panorama function, automatically compositing together a single elongated frame from a burst of images. The result is a 20MB (as opposed to an average 6-8MB) file. While exposure is even and the result's dramatic, movement has resulted in some 'diced' subjects on the far right.

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A long lens reach on a pocket camera is the Sony Cyber-shot HX20V's chief selling point - and here it has come up trumps, bringing out the inner Chris Packham, enabling us to shoot handheld and capture impressively detailed close ups of wildfowl.

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You can also get up close and personal with this Sony camera and still capture bags of detail and colour even when shooting at maximum 25mm equivalent wide-angle setting. Here we're only a centimetre or two from our subject, so that it dramatically fills the frame.

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Another extreme wide-angle shot, and here one delivered with minimal barrel distortion, which is a boon for any landscape or cityscape photographer. However, to be picky, we notice softness towards the very edges of the frame.

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By contrast, a shot taken from exactly the same vantage point, but this time at maximum zoom setting, pulling the house at the very end of the terrace - some 200 metres or more away - bang to the fore.

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Another shot taken on the Sony Cyber-shot HX20V at maximum telephoto setting, enabling us to play at amateur paparazzi. Capturing sharp candids at maximum zoom has the benefit of enabling shots to be just that - candid - while throwing the background nicely out of focus.