SONY DSC-R1 Cybershot Great Camera

Author's Rating:

Pros: Professional grade camera super white balance Excellent low light great lens great battery life

Cons: heavier then F717 Usb Linkage problem (reset fixed) no mpg movie mode

The Bottom Line: 
Great camera to move up to from other digitals but you will have to read the book to get the most out of it. Many advanced features plus easy modes.

Author's Review
I've been doing photography since 1967 and have used many good and marginal cameras over the years. I was a high school photography and a photographer in the Navy and I do mainly event coverage, and on-site shoots. I do it full time now since I retired from my day job.
That's enough about me.
I've used Sony digital cameras since I started doing digital, with the exception of a HP digital back in 2000. (The HP ate batteries and was cumbersome to use.)
I have also used the Canon EOS 20D digital SLR .
The Sony’s’ have owned:
DSC-D700 (1.5 mp),DSC-S30(1.2 mp),Mavica FD-97(2.5 mp),Dsc-F717 (5 mp)and now the DSC-R1(10.3 mp).
Straight to the point... the R1 is the best camera I've owned.
There are several other reviewers that have covered the specs and other details you can read here on this site but I will try to cut to the chase.
I had been asking when Sony was going to use their CMOS devices they manufacture for other camera companies digital SLR cameras in one of their own and they finally did in the R1.
Real Life Problems with a Digital SLR I didn't want:
1. No electronic preview before shooting.
2. Having to change lenses and miss a shot.
3. Getting dust on the mirror or CMOS device
I waited till Sony came out with the R1 as it is the best of both worlds.
The R1's CMOS device uses 1/10 the power of the standard CMOS chip in the Dslr's according to the owner's manual. This is the main reason the R1 has a real time video preview and not just a view through the glass viewfinder/lens. The CMOS on other Dslr's the CMOS device will overheat if used to view and shoot at the same time.
The zeiss 24-120 mm lens is really great for night shooting plus pincushion and barrel distortion are minimal.
One thing I noticed when shooting,(looking through the view finder). When the image was going to be sharp the pixels in the finder will smooth out in the background when the shot is at it best to shoot. If the pixels are not smooth the shot will not be at it's best. This is quirk that works to your advantage so you can re-compose your shot if you feel the image background is not smooth.
Using The R1

If you've owned a F717 or similar you'll find all the shooting features you are use to are there PLUS MORE !
The arrangement of pressing one button while rolling a wheel or rotating a knob at the same time seemed awkward at first but after awhile it became second nature.
The first couple of weeks I had to go back to the manual for using the different functions available. But after using the camera since April 8th 2006 and shooting over 9000 shots I've gotten use to the control manipulation.
There are many advanced features like:
"Zebra Pattern ":
Places strips on the hot spots areas of your subject so you can adjust your exposure or speed to compensate for the over exposure.
"Grid Pattern ":
Divides your viewing area into squares so you can compose your shots more precisely.
"Slow Flash":
Let's your flash go off before the shutter closes. This let's you shoot longer exposures and then brightens up the subject without the "Deer in the Head light" look of a regular flash.
"Lead Flash":
Goes off as soon as shutter opens (good for sports and other types of quick flash shots).
"Variable Flash Level": More sophisticated than the F717 and the older Sony Cameras.
"3200 and 1600 ISO":
These are good for really dark night shots. The "3200 ISO" produces bright imaging but high noise levels. There are several noise reduction programs that can do a decent job on many of these shots.
"1600 ISO" Great for extreme low light with very little noise and according to your speed and shutter can produce great night shots with minimal noise.
"800 ISO and below” no noise.
"Manual Mode":
Really flexible and is just like a traditional 35mm as far as the adjustments are really accurate. You can look at a scene and decide it needs a "ISO of 400" a "4.5 F stop" and a shutter speed of "160". Then dial them in on the camera and shoot and your results should be what you wanted.
"Optional Shooting Modes":
All these are like the rest of most digital cameras and the Fool Proof mode (green camera icon) do a great job for those who don't use manual or other advanced mode setting.
The "white balance” is the best I've ever used, even with mercury vapor (green or amber) the camera gives a true rendition with more color and less tinting.
The "fluorescent setting is really great even in buildings with mixed lighting tubes"
I shoot a particular event twice a year inside a building with mixed tubes and my screen images look great on my laptop but when they would print there would be a yellow/greenish cast on the print and I would have to adjust before printing with Fireworks or photo Shop 7.
This year the photos looked great and I didn't have to adjust any for color balance.
"Battery Life":
have shot 350-400 shots "daytime outside" and still have over 115 min available. Better life than the F717 and it was great
Dual Media:
“Memory Stick and CF Card”
You can cover two areas of an event and record each event to a separate media source.
The digital zoom on the R1 is figured on a sliding scale for each resolution.
You can get a x15 factor at 1mp images or x9 at 7mp or x0 at 10
“Focusing Modes”: Multi-Point , Center AF, Spot AF (flexible)
There are three modes which boil down to Constant which focuses continually even till you shoot.
Then a standard mode (focuses when you push the button down 1/2 way)
A Constant type that will focus when you pull the camera up to view the will focus till you press half way down)
The Standard mode produces the best results inside or at night as the other modes keep moving and you end up with out of focus shots a lot.
If you use the Constant Focus modes use them for fast moving events like base ball games, track and field, air shows shots.
Raw Mode:
Nice feature but I don’t use it that much unless I am doing sit down portrait work or group shots. The software that came with the camera works well when working with Raw files.
Camera Weight:
Quite a bit heavier than the F717 and not as balanced when hanging from your side. I found the right side of the body’s grip really a great place to hold the camera when not shooting and it makes the camera feel solid in your hand as you carry it.
Lens:
Mechanically coupled to the body like a standard 35mm lens. I tried an old zoom effect the worked on old 35mm film cameras and it worked on the R1!
(The zoom effect is to use a slower shutter speed and turn the zoom ring either in or out while pressing the shutter button to give a light streaked effect from the outside to the inside of the shot.)
You can shift your shooting point from Close-up to Wide angle with the push of the digital focus button. Great feature.
I had a problem with the usb connection it was dropping after about 10 sec or so. I talked to Sony and I did a master reset on the camera and it fixed that issue.


The "Standard Focus" mode is the best I’ve found with the macro function.
The lack of a mpg movie is not that important since I have a f717 to do video with If I need to.
By the way:
Sony has just come out with a removable lens Dslr DSLR-A100 but It still is not as good as the R1 for what I do and it's using a 10mp CCD device and not the 10.3 CMOS device. so we'll wait and see what develops with the DSLR-A100 in the future
Here is a link to some photos from a festival I cover yearly with both day and night shots you can visit just copy the address below
http://www.goldenmm.com/San Marcos Swing Festival Photos.htm

the 2005 photos were shot with F717 and the 2006 photos were from the R1

Summing up:
Great professional grade camera
Best features:
Excellent low light shooting
Super white balance correction,
Great lens from 24-120 mm
Accurate manual settings
Great program modes
Added value in fine point composition features
Super battery life