Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1

For the first time, a Sony camera—the 10.3-megapixel Cyber-shot DSC-R1 ($999.95 list)—is using the large CMOS sensor the company developed in-house. (In the past, Sony manufactured the sensors strictly for sale, making them available only to D-SLR manufacturers.) The electronics giant believes this enthusiast camera's picture quality will compete with that of D-SLRs and hopes that the fixed-lens design will lure photographers who aren't interested in swapping optics.

To sweeten the deal, Sony used a 14.3- to 71.5-mm Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T zoom lens, which gives a zoom range of 24- to 120mm (35mm equivalent) with a maximum f-stop spread of f/2.8 to 4.8. Although the camera is not especially fast at the telephoto end, people who love wide-angle shots will love the 24mm end, which gives a better chance of capturing full interiors without needing to stitch images together. The downside of the DSC-R1 design is the inability to swap lenses when you want more than 5X optical zoom.

The camera does have some nice options, though. One, which (not surprisingly) borrows from many D-SLRs, lets you change the color gamut from the default to, say, Adobe RGB—good news for those who want precise control over color interpretation. And when your eye nears the electronic viewfinder, an auto sensor shuts off the 2-inch screen on the articulating LCD (perched atop the camera behind the popup flash) and turns on the EVF, and vice versa. The DSC-R1 uses Sony Memory Stick media, but gives you the option of CompactFlash, too.

Now for the bad news. To begin with, this is one of the bulkiest, heaviest, and most expensive cameras we've tested that isn't a D-SLR. At $999.95 (list), it costs the same or more than nearly all entry-level D-SLR kits, even some—like our Editors' Choice entry-level D-SLR, the Nikon D50—that come as part of a two-lens (an 18- to 55mm and a 55- to 200mm, in this case) kit.

And when you find that the DSC-R1 does not offer video capabilities—typically the only advantage fixed-lens cameras have over D-SLRs—you might think Sony brought an undercooked product to market. Perhaps the designers thought still-photography enthusiasts aren't interested in shooting video clips—a belief we don't share—but if a camera costs as much as a D-SLR yet lacks interchangeable lenses, its features have to go beyond those of a D-SLR.

Instead of more, though, the DSC-R1 gives less. To our surprise, there's no vibration-reduction technology. True, the optical zoom is only 5X, but for the price—and because the telephoto end of the zoom has only an f/4.9 maximum aperture—Sony should include the feature.

Even in performance, the DSC-R1 couldn't always compete with our favorite entry-level D-SLRs. The EVF/LCD is terribly slow in low light, so seeing what's coming in through the lens was difficult. And burst-mode is limited to just two or three shots followed by a pause of several seconds while the buffer unloads the photos. In contrast, the Nikon D50 and the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT shoot steadily for dozens of repetitions, and even cameras that aren't D-SLRs—the Fuji FinePix S9000 and Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30, for example—beat the DSC-R1 here (while costing a good deal less).

After all this, why would you consider purchasing DSC-R1? One reason: The picture quality is exquisite. We compared shots with a number of images taken by recent entries in the D-SLR market and were quite impressed. Simulated-daylight and flash shots taken with the Sony camera displayed very little fringing. Color accuracy and saturation were excellent, and test images had no noise until 1,600 and 3,200 ISO, which is what we'd expect. Exposure was excellent overall, with a very good dynamic range that included a rich, deep black and pure white. Contrast was very good, with no loss of detail.

Still, even here, there were a few flaws. Flash coverage was just average, and our flash image was underexposed by about one stop. The focus on the flash shot was a little soft, and the image could have been sharper. Resolution averaged 1,825 lines, which is within the range for an 8MP camera, but disappointingly low for a camera with a 10.3MP CMOS sensor—with that many pixels, resolution should have been off our charts, but it wasn't.

Our lab tests did reveal some quick, reliable performance, with an exceptional boot-up time of 1.5 seconds and a recycle time of 1.3 seconds. The camera responded as quickly as a D-SLR and had absolutely no shutter lag. Although the zoom's fairly wide 24mm angle caused a tiny amount of barrel distortion, there was no pincushion distortion at the telephoto end.

If you've got deep pockets, absolutely abhor changing lenses, and don't mind a 5X optical zoom limit, perhaps this camera's great image quality will offset its heft and make it a good buy. For everyone outside that narrow subset of photographers, however, there are just too many good enthusiast cameras and affordable D-SLRs to consider spending so much on this one. Save $300 and go with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30, or if you like a wider angle on your zoom, go for the Fuji FinePix S9000. If you've got a thousand bucks to spend on your next camera, though, we suggest making the leap to a D-SLR and picking up the Nikon D50 with two lenses.

Benchmark Test Results
Click here to view the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1's benchmark test results.