Likes

- Great lens - APS-format sensor - Excellent color accuracy - Impressive handling of noise – produces remarkably clean images - Electronic Viewfinder quality - AF sensor can be moved with joystick - Excellent fit and finish

Dislikes

- Very slow operation (start-up, shot-to-shot, shutter-to-shot, autofocus, playback, etc.) - Mediocre LCD (very limited angle of view) - Poor placement of some controls, illogical design - Substandard autofocus (accuracy and speed) - Cheap plastic camera body - Hot shoe placed far off to right side - No movie mode - Buffer holds only 3 images in burst mode - Control dials don't turn smoothly

Conclusion
The Sony R1 might have been conceived in response to many photographers’ complaints about recent super zoom compact cameras. Perhaps Sony took note of the many users who want more attention paid to the wide angle end of the zoom range and a bigger and better sensor in a compact. Perhaps Sony listened to users who wanted a $1000 camera that performs well straight out of the box, not just after the user dumps the kit lens for more rarified glass.

We don't imagine that anyone has been aching for a camera as slow as the R1 – it takes several seconds for the thing to write a single RAW file to memory. There are shooters that have no problem with this, though. With enough time and storage space for those 20MB RAW files, we expect plenty of users to get great results from the R1.

The Sony R1 will ultimately serve a small portion of consumers quite well: sightseers, realtors, and those looking for a casual high-performance imager without concern for speed. The quality rivals or surpasses many entry-level DSLR kits and will not disappoint those willing to invest $1,000 for it. Unfortunately, the sharp lens and clean images come at a significant expense. Users will have to sacrifice an optical viewfinder, lens interchangeability, autofocus performance, shooting speed (all around) and durability. While the R1 is not likely to appeal to those graduating from an FZ30 or other ultra zoom model, the camera offers a unique combination of exceptional Zeiss-branded glass and APS-C sized CMOS sensor unavailable on any other model.

Overall Impressions	Page 11 of 12		Specs / Ratings
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-R1 Digital Camera Review Navigation
Intro	Testing / Performance	Physical Tour	Components
Design / Layout	Modes	Control Options	Image Parameters
Connectivity / Extras	Overall Impressions	Conclusion	Specs / Ratings