Sony's Impressive DSC-HX1

"PMA 2009: Sony has today announced a superzoom compact featuring the company's newly-developed high-speed 9 Mp Exmor CMOS sensor. Sporting a 28-480mm (35mm-equivalent) 20x zoom lens, the DSC-HX1 is capable of up to 10 frames per second in burst mode using a high-speed mechanical shutter. The new sensor also enables high definition movie capture up to 1080/30p, with sound captured by a built-in stereo microphone. The specification is rounded off by 'Optical Steady Shot' image stabilization, a 3" LCD, an ISO range up to 3200 and a wide array of scene modes and face detection options. There's also an interesting 'sweep panorama' mode that automatically stitches multiple frames in-camera to give one ultra-wide view."

The camera companies are trying to one-up each other for PMA 2009 and it's working!  Today, Sony announced their new flagship compact digital camera, the HX1 and the specs are very impressive:  1080p video, 3" LCD, 3200 ISO, 20X zoom, 28mm wide- angle lens and 10 frames per second.  Plus, it has the sweep panorama mode that takes a 224 degree photo. All this for $500.  It is a good time to be a consumer!