Superb images, superb camera

I bought the Sony DSC-R1 in February 2006 after its excellent rating in a review in Amateur Photographer, one of the most highly respected photographic journals in the world. It is my first digital camera though I have been taking photographs for over 50 years. And the quality of the images it captures is truly superb, equal to those taken on Kodachrome 64 with my Nikon F4 and Nikon f/2.8 lenses. Last month I took the camera to Las Vegas and then on to 6 US National Parks and Monuments. People are astonished at the naturalness, sharpness and colour rendition of 12 x 8 inch prints produced on a Fujifilm photographic printer.

As other reviewers point out, the autofocus can be hesitant under some conditions, but it does get there in the end. Anyway that is no big problem for landscape photographers like me. Also I find the EVF is not as good as an optical viewfinder for judging composition. Nevertheless one soon adjusts to its foibles and it does offer two significant benefits:-
1. what you see is exactly what the camera captures, and
2. it is perfect for reviewing images in the view mode - in particular you can accurately judge which bracketed exposure is best.

Owners of DSC-F828 moan loudly that the R1 does not do video or macros and denounce the camera in consequence. In fact Amateur Photographer gave the F828 an overall rating of 72% back in 2004, one of its lowest ever, compared to 90% for the R1. That speaks volumes for the relative merits of the two cameras.

Before closing perhaps another advantage of the DSC-R1 should be mentioned. When the LCD is turned upwards on top of the camera it enables one to take shots at waist level. Allied with the total silence of the camera��s operation, pictures can be taken discretely - a useful aid in this age of increasing anti-photographer reaction.