Davy,
The macro shots seem good to me on the HX50V. That said, I don't really use that mode very often.
I've actually been through three different cameras recently, so I will give you my viewpoint on them.
1) I started with the Panasonic ZS30/TZ40 and ended up returning it due to a few (what I consider) big issues. The image quality was quite bad, especially in low light. The flash is placed in such a way that you end up with a shadow in the lower left corner if shooting a flash photo at wide angle. Also, the GPS receiver wasn't very good; it wasn't even able to get a reliable signal from within a car.
As far as the image quality, the noise really affected the chroma in an awful way. For example, if you take a picture of the silver front grate of a typical table fan, the noise would make the silver parts look "colorful." It wasn't silver anymore, but a multicolored smudge. So, I'm thinking a lot of it has to do with the type of noise that bothers me. Note that this would show up even at an ISO of 200. Here's a perfect example:
http://www.techradar.com/us/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/compact-cameras/panasonic-tz40-11...
But, even in brighter scenes, details still tended to be smudged out. I took a couple of landscape pictures while on vacation with it, and the details that should have been there just weren't. It was almost as if it had a mild watercolor effect. I do note that none of the information on this camera specifiies that the sensor is backlit in this camera. If it is not, then I suspect that may have a lot to do with the image quality issues.
That said, it wasn't all bad. It was very fast and responsive, and also had excellent video quality. In addition, it was very compact and fit in my pocket the best of all three cameras. It also had very good battery life. Overall though, it was not the right camera for me.
2) Next was the Canon SX280. We all know the image quality is excellent, and thats the main positive this camera has. However, the unreliability of the battery life (especially when shooting video) made it a poor choice for me. But to be clear, if it wasn't for the battery issue, I would have kept it!
3) Finally, I am currently using the Sony HX50V. Overall, the camera is my favorite of the three so far. The 30x zoom is great, and can really get you in close. It does have a bit of trouble focusing at the telephoto end of the lens in low light, but then so did the Canon and Panasonic. However, when comparing like zoom to like zoom (i.e. 20x on all), the Sony comes out ahead in that regard.
The camera is reasonably fast, but not as fast as the Panasonic. The image quality seems quite good, though not as good as the Canon in low light. In bright light, I would say the the Sony actually does have a bit more detail than the Canon, but in lower light, the noise takes away from the extra megapixels the Sony has. Noise creeps in earlier than the Canon, but doesn't seem to be as bad as the Panasonic. Also, the noise is much less obtrusive and offensive to my eyes compared to the Panasonic.
The battery life is excellent on this camera, and you can actually shoot video on it without it shutting down! 🙂
That said, there are a few negatives. It is noticeably thicker and heavier than the Canon and Panasonic. I can still fit it in my pocket and carry it around easily, but it is really pushing the limits. I'm having a love/hate relationship with the flash. It is positioned in a way that the large lens will not interfere with the light distribution (like the Canon). However, it is not an automatic popup flash like the Canon. Again, I'm not sure which design I prefer. I like that the Canon is automatic, but it also tends to hit my finger as it comes up then stop and complain about the flash not being in the right position...so I then have to turn it off and on again. The one on the Sony is manual (I have to push a button to pop it up), so I don't have that issue. But I worry that I might forget to pop it up and miss a good photo that would have needed the flash.
Finally, I do have a couple of issues that really bother me as far as the camera's software responsiveness goes. First is its responsiveness to me hitting the playback button. Sometimes I want to go right to playback mode to view and zoom in on the photo after I took it. However, it will ignore any keypress until after it has shown the preview of the photo (which also can't be turned off) and gone back to live mode. So, even if I hit the button while it was previewing, I have to hit it again once it is "ready." The other two cameras would go right into playback mode as soon as I hit the button. Second, when you go to zoom in on a photo in playback mode, there is a few second delay before it actually starts to zoom in. Once it starts to zoom in it is quite responsive though. Also, it only goes to 4x zoom; it would be nice if it went higher, but I find it fairly adequate.
So yeah, I still need to play with the Sony a bit more to see if it's what I stick with. I think with this camera, it's fairly minor issues and me just being overly picky. Plus, I'm not really sure there's any better alternative for me. If I change cameras again, I will keep you updated.
