Can you talk me out of a Sony HX5?

I'm going to buy my wife a new P&S to replace the Casio z750 she's grown to

love. As much as I'm horrified to admit that I'm leaning towards a Sony HX5,

it really seems to be a fantastic P&S.

 

The Casio takes decent snaps for what it is. I don't like the low-res LCD, it

doesn't take SDHC cards, and IQ gets a passing score, but I'm sure it can't

hold a candle to today's P&S cameras in the $350 ish range. The Casio needs to go because it's getting close to needing major repairs and we're both loathe to dump more money into it.

 

I'm leaning towards the HX5 (as painful as it is to admit) because it's got a

back-illuminated sensor, IQ seems quite good for a P&S, the lens zoom

range is nice. The video also rocks. My wife will love it being pocketable (or

purse-able), and the controls are simple and easy to use. Basically, short of

getting up to the Canon G series, Lumix LX3, or something too large and

sufficiently complicated to confuse my wife, I don't see a better option.

 

So my question is can you give me a good reason NOT to get the HX5, and

why? What would you recommend instead?

 

P.S. My wife isn't stupid or anything, but my GF1 or my old G10 were, by her

admission, complicated enough to make it tough for her to feel comfortable

with. She doesn't mess around with a camera just for the fun of it to learn the

functions, she wants to pick it up and snap good photos without having to

know anything.

The Casio FH100 has better image quality, despite some color fringing in the corners. Same back illuminated (BSI) sensor as the HX5V, although the Casio lacks GPS and compass. Check the recent dpreview.com test of "travel zoom" cameras, which highly rated the FH100. For some reason, Casio has the Exmor R sensor scoped better than Sony or anyone.

<p>I had a WX1 for a while earlier this year. I can't say that I was particularly impressed with this "backlit sensor" thing. I think it's being marketed to consumers as some great innovation, when it's actually just a way for the camera manufacturers to put a cheap CMOS sensor in their small cameras instead of a higher-quality CCD. It biases small sensor cameras in favour of gadgetry like HD video, in-camera sweep panoramas and in-camera "twilight modes" at low cost to the manufacturer, instead of favouring image quality.</p>

<p>That's not to say the WX1 I had couldn't do some fun things, but it was no match for my current small camera in terms of it being a good still camera that can hold its own as a real camera. When I had the Sony with the backlit sensor, sweeping the camera for an instant panorama was gee whiz for a couple of times, but it gets old quickly. And there isn't much point to HD video if it can't keep up with moving subjects without blurring the picture in strange ways.</p>

<p>Does your wife knows that you are buying a new camera for her? And to replace the one that she "loves" (your own words)? Why replacing something that she likes?</p>

Paulo -- bwa ha ha, it's all part of my evil plan!

Actually, the Casio is needing frequent repairs, it's old and driving my wife

crazy.