Putting the Sony HX99 to the Test in Low Light

I’ve previously posted a detailed review of the Sony HX99 compact camera as well as a more general (and larger) selection of images taken with the HX99.

While the HX99 is not necessarily the first camera that comes to mind if you’re getting one for low-light shooting and isn’t likely to be the driving reason for choosing this particular camera, I nevertheless thought it worth posting a selection of sample images focusing specifically on the HX99’s image quality at high ISOs.

The HX99 has a native ISO range from 80 to 3200 and an extended option (ie. software enhanced) up to 6400. All of the images here were taken with ISOs of 1600 and above.¹

The short version is that ISO 80 to 400 is where this sensor is comfortable, noise starts to intrude around ISO 800, and detail visibly slides at 1600 and again at 3200 — ePHOTOzine’s testing found the same pattern. Everything below was shot at or above 1600, so what you’re looking at is the camera working past its comfortable range rather than at its best.

The HX99 is a very small compact camera and has a tiny sensor to match. So its performance is never going to match some of the low-light leaders like Sony’s Alpha series cameras or larger full-frame DSLRs or even mirrorless cameras with APS-C sensors — it would be unrealistic to expect that, and if that’s what you’re aiming for, you’re frankly likely to be disappointed.

In shooting with the HX99, I can’t help but wish that its low-light performance was better. When I’m pulling out a camera on my travels, I want something that’s not just going to work well in bright, sunny conditions outside but also one that’s going to work well in a smoky and poorly lit morning market, inside a beautifully decorated mosque, or with a street scene at night.

On the one hand, the HX99 has built-in optical image stabilization. That helps. On the other hand, it has a relatively slow maximum lens aperture of f/3.5-6.4 (the lens’s party trick — the massive zoom — is, after all, a key selling point and the natural priority). As a potential alternative to something like Sony’s own RX100 series or the Ricoh GR III — both of which are admittedly at least double the price — the HX99 doesn’t really compete.

A note on that price comparison: Sony discontinued the HX99 around late 2023 and never replaced it, so the choice now plays out on the used market. Nothing currently made puts a pop-up viewfinder and 720mm of reach in a pocket, which is why clean used copies don’t hang around. If you already own one, the useful question isn’t what to upgrade to — there isn’t anything — but how far you can push it once the light goes.

Yet it still performs better than other cameras I’ve used of this type and remotely at this price point. There is certainly image noise, and sharpness suffers. But you also don’t get some of the other negative effects to the same extent that you see on some other cameras. The dynamic range and color fidelity do suffer, but they don’t drop off a cliff. And, overall, if shared in relatively small sizes, such as on social media, the images still look very good.

Here are some practical examples that hopefully will help you make your own judgment.

Most of these were shot in RAW, but a few were shot originally in JPG. For several reasons, I generally shoot in RAW when it’s available. In this specific case, I don’t really like the in-camera processing that’s done to JPGs shot in high ISOs. In trying to improve the effects of the high ISO, it gives it a murky, waxy look that, for me at least, looks like a step in the wrong direction. I prefer the RAW versions with their grainier but sharper look. These have been processed in Lightroom, but I’ve not applied any extra noise corrections beyond the Lightroom defaults (Luminance: 0; Color: 25; Detail: 50; Smoothness: 50).

One thing worth knowing if you shoot RAW on this camera: Multi Frame NR, which is the HX99’s most effective built-in weapon against high-ISO noise, only works for JPGs. It combines several frames into one cleaner file and offers ISO settings up to 12800, but select RAW or RAW+JPG and the option is no longer available. So the RAW files here are the sensor’s unassisted output, which is part of why they look grainier — and sharper — than the camera’s own JPGs.

Sony HX99 High ISO Sample Images

Each image has the ISO it was taken at in its caption. And you can click on each image to open a full-resolution version.

Notes & References:

1. There’s also an Auto ISO option where you can set the minimum and maximum ISOs. With Auto ISO, the maximum ISO available is 3200. [↩︎]