Sony’s Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V – Tech Gift Tuesday

Continuing tips for tech gifts for the holidays, we take a look at digital cameras. On Thursday, I'll do a digital SLR, but today I'll talk about a highly rated compact camera, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX9V. This is a 16 Megapixel camera that comes in about $350 retail, and has a lot of great features.

The LCD on the back is 3 inches and it shoots HD video. I have become an HD junky recently because of the great quality. I even watch 2 Broke Girls in HD so I can see Kat Dennings in more "detail". The video and still formats are all standard, with JPEG and MPEG-4 AVC, so your pictures and videos will import to any software that supports these formats, which is just about everything, even Linux OS computers can handle this. Before, Sony was very proprietary with formats.

Some of the other cool features are image stabilization and a 16x zoom. Great for getting close when your farther away. And another awesome feature that I like is that it has GPS, for geotagging your photos. This makes it easier to see where your photos were taken. If you use iPhoto on a Mac, you know what I'm talking about with Places.

And probably the one that gets a lot of people's attention is the 3 different 3D modes you can shoot in. This seems to be the new "IN" thing now. Not so much for me, but a lot of people want to do something different with their shots. And this camera can fit the bill.

There is a lot more to cover about this camera, but you can read up on it in Cnet.com's review and see for yourself how well this stacks up. But my opinion is that this is a great gift and wouldn't mind seeing it under my tree or in my stocking this Christmas.And I bet who ever you buy it for would love it too.

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