Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1A 10.3-megapixel, all-in-one camera with an APS-C-sized image sensor and full-time live preview |
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Sony’s
Cyber-shot DSC-R1 features an electronic eye-level viewfinder like
those in high-end compact digital cameras, along with a
swiveling/tilting two-inch external LCD monitor that shows the image
live, just like the monitors on compact digital cameras. The big news
is that this live image is produced by a huge (for an all-in-one
camera) APS-C-sized, 10.3-megapixel, Sony-produced CMOS image sensor.
This brings together, for the first time, the all-in-one convenience
and live-view features of a compact digital camera with the imaging
capabilities of a 10.3-megapixel image sensor some 12 times the size of
the sensors found in most compact cameras. Probably the first thing one wonders upon hearing “10.3 megapixels” is “How is the image quality?” My test images were strikingly sharp, with good colors and wide dynamic range. The R1 provides ISO settings from 160 to 3200—much higher than you’re likely to find on other all-in-one digital cameras, thanks in part to that large image sensor. As is the case with all digital cameras, noise increases with the ISO setting. Above ISO 400, images exhibit more “grain-pattern” noise than the best D-SLRs, but image quality at all ISO settings is much better than with any other all-in-one digital camera I’ve used.   |
