Launched today, the new Sony Cybershot HX1 digital camera incorporates a raft of innovative new technologies that should – if they work as advertised – make capturing the perfect picture easier than ever.

Starting with the basic specs, we have:

• - 20x optical zoom lens with a large 28mm – 520mm (35mm equivalent) range
• 9.1MP sensor with “Exmor” CMOS technology and BIONZ processor borrowed from the Alpha DSLR range (note that it’s still a relatively small sensor, not an APS-C size like you’d find in an SLR)
• 10FPS shooting speed (impressive, this is faster than most DSLRs)
• 1080p HD video at 30FPS (this is a first for a Cybershot model)
• 3.0” tilting LCD
• Optical Steadyshot image stabilisation (essential for handholding those those long range telephoto shots)

[edit – We’ve added a couple of sample panorama images to the end of the post – click on the pictures for the larger version] 

So far, so normal. Now we get to the interesting stuff. Sony have used the 10FPS shooting speed to enable some new features:

• A “Sweep Panorama” mode that takes a rapid sequence of photos as you swing the camera around and stitches them together to make a seamless 180 degree panorama photo
• “Handheld Twilight” mode takes a 6 shot burst and combines them to make a single low light photo with less noise than normal
• “Anti motion blur” superimposes 6 images to create one composite image of a moving subject with less motion blur than you’d normally get.

It’ll be interesting to see how those features work in the real world!

You can get more information and the full specs over at DPReview.