Sony Cybershot DSCR1 10.3MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Zoom

Search in internet: Digital camera with zoom lens and big sensor. There exists just one answer and it is this camera. There is no more, there is no other option in the world.-Why Sony R1 is unique.I bought this camera used here in Amazon. I was tempted for sigma dp1, but I really want an evf and not to be limited by a lens with just one focal length. I could get a mirrorless, but I don't want to buy lenses nor to take care of the sensor, and find a lens equivalent to this Carl Zeiss could be very, but very, expensive (I could use my father's Canon FD lenses with a mount but actually the pictures I saw with several cameras like nex or nx hadn't soul to my eyes) I could bought a DSLR, buy again I don't want worry about sensors and lenses, and I actually find very uncomfortable that noisy shutter that I think is suitable to studios but not to shot in the nature or in the city where it seems a gun to shot doves and people, and when someone is not a professional photographer the best is to be discrete. I like the superzooms because its form. Is safer to hold and carry IMHO.-Why this is a great camera even in 2013I am not a professional photographer, so my point of view is from my experience with small digital cameras and great film cameras, my review is for people who just love to take photographs not with the best image quality but with a better artistic meaning.**Today we have great storage in hard disks and better raw converters. The raw archive is 20mb of data and in night shots to my inexperience it's better to easily correct the white balance and reduce the noise without destroy the detail.**I tried DxO, Capture One and Lightroom: DxO doesn't support SR2, so the correction is lens distortion but to try to fix night shots is impossible, and to my taste the lens is so good that it doesn't needs correction, but for correct day shots it could be enough if someone wants to correct; Capture One was a bit hard because I don't understand it very well; Lightroom is very good, my night shots are perfect with that program, I process first in Lightroom to clean the noise and adjust the colors and in dxo i fix the horizon or the angle, or convert with a preset like film. These programs are free to try for a month and two in the case of capture one.**There is accessories, and because it's an old model they are very cheap.**This has an electronic viewfinder, these days the cameras just have a screen that and the evf are sold apart.**Current mirrorless cameras say that the distance between sensor and lens is 20mm more or less. In Sony R1 the distance is 2.1mm, so I think if the add of a 2012 camera says it's a plus a shorter distance then this camera could be better performance.**This has a great screen. Yes, it's small and slow, but if you are like me and you are trying to take better images and not to hunt with autofocus running children then it is a great screen. It thing is so useful!**I use my cameras always in manual. I don't use auto. So I could hand the well thoughts bottoms of the camera without problem. In minutes I knew what button to press in the dark. Although the dial has a strange place.**A great sensor with more than enough 10 megapixels. I barely print my photographs. I do it just to show the best to my older relatives, my grandfather, grandmother and parents. And with the raw conversion i'm sure I could print bigger sizes.**The Carl Zeiss Lens is a beauty in crystal. With real manual zoom and a focus ring that is fake but works. I know, I know, it is surely rebranded but the quality is there. Years ago i had a HP, a 4 megapixels camera, with carl zeiss lens and the sun in the sunsets always was perfectly rendered.**An actual compact camera means 450 dollars or more. With smaller sensors and mostly advances in features. I see a great dynamic range in Sony R1. And with 12 gigas of internal storage, great lens and a great range of pros I think almost is a robbery to pay near to 300 bucks for this great camera.**The shutter is Ninja Level!! It is so quiet.-Cons that you have to have in mind:**There is no video option. I don't take much videos, and when I do them is with a cell phone.**The custom white balance in night is inaccurate. Or perhaps I am doing something wrong because I cannot set the white balance as I used to do with my Olympus SP bridge.**The options to adjust the jpeg from the camera are almost childish. In day there is no problem but the night can be harder cause the limited controls. Every adjustment has just three levels where others in those times has even 10 adjustment levels.**The lack of image stabilization could be a problem, although to me not because I get a tripod or shoot with higher isos and clean the raw.**There is no much accessories or are expensive. The best is buy generic from another cameras like marumi filters to close up.**Just three minutes in bulb mode.-Last words.This camera possibly is a hidden classic, an electronic jewel with the original sin to have the cybershot name in its cover (if it would say leica surely other would be the history). Actually I don't understand why a camera with premium glass, big sensor and so beautiful colors is so forgotten. What I know is with Sony R1 I am thinking more in improve the quality and composition of my photographs than in worrying about the image quality of the camera. It is a new world to me as an aficionado to the photography. I don't think I am going to need another camera in a long time.

I bought this used and it arrived broken. After repairing it, I am totally blown away by this little jewel! I use it mostly to take photos for my Etsy store products and some more "artsy" photos. I protect it with my life! I don't haul it around much as it is heavy. Add to it a tripod, filters, charger, etc. and it's just too heavy for me to lug around (much the same situation as using a DSLR; too much weight). But when I want the best shots... this is the "go-to" camera! There are limitations since it is a fixed lens camera; no long zoom and macro can be done but not by getting down and close to your subject. BUT... the lens is amazing; clarity cannot be beat (unless you want to buy a $1,000+ Zeiss lens and slap that puppy on a DSLR!!!). The controls are very easy and handy to use. It can squeeze out photos of the quality you may see in magazines... I am not kidding! I've attached a few pics I've taken with this camera as they say "a picture is worth a thousand words." I also have a Sony NEX-3N; cannot even TOUCH the quality of photos that the R1 produces! I bought a new Pentax DSLR (admittedly with kit lens) and returned it; next to the R1, it was a pain to use and the consistency of shots could not match this old camera. To grab and go, I did just get an Olympus OM-D E-M10 II as it's light, small, and takes nice photos. But to take pro style shots: I always return to my beloved R1. I would have to say it is up there with the best cameras I have ever owned, including an old film Yashica that produced some magic, back in the day! Shop around for a good bargain and enjoy the excellence of this one of a kind digital masterpiece!

I pre-ordered this camera from Sony way back in November of 2005. It was shipped to me before Christmas that year. Ever since, I have used the camera as a stock photographer and a family photographer. The personal photos have been excellent and print very sharp to at least 8.5x11 (though in Photoshop the linear dimensions are poster size).Unfortunately, the main failing has been in the color noise and artifacting for stock photography. Because I do not use a tripod for on-the-fly outdoor shots, I have gotten used to either spending hours with Photoshop fixing the "purple fringes" (also cyan and red shifts) or just submitting the full-sun shots and hope the inspector will tolerate a bit of color noise for the shadier areas.The lack of any image stabilizing process (as the newer Sony/Minolta cameras have) is the major problem. Because my acceptance rate is less than 50%, and the most common reason given for rejection is color noise and artifacting, I'm waiting for the release of Canon's new DSLR (the 40D?), which might or might not have the same MP resolution as the Sony DSC R1, but it's a true SLR with image stabilization. For prosumer use, therefore, the R1 is not adequate because of its lack of in-camera image stabilization.Nonetheless, the built-in flash is bright enough for most medium- and close-range use (especially since it's positioned right above the lens, minimizing the outline shadows where the flash is offset), the focal range goes from wide angle to medium telephoto, the Sony tripod with remote control works fine with this camera (if you can tolerate using a tripod), the memory cards in 2 formats (MS and CF) allow for great utility (e.g., in-camera backup), the interfaces are handy (I back up in the field on an iPod 80GB), iPhoto runs fine with the R1 connected, and the camera's fake shutter sound can be turned off for absolutely silent candid photos (especially since people don't realize that you're focusing using the top-mounted LCD viewfinder). The diopter adjustment of the optical viewfinder can be set precisely.Not so nice is the placement of the hot shoe for the external flash to the right, above the grip/battery compartment. The shadows cast are dense and distracting, although the Sony smart flash works extremely well. Also, I have lost 2 Memory Sticks and 1 Compact Flash card--all 2 GB--until I read on the web the recommendation that memory cards should be formatted by the camera rather than by a computer. I did that with one card which I eventually filled with pictures of our first grandchild (a couple of hundred photos), when the camera suddenly showed "Format Error." I couldn't get a professional recovery company to rescue anything, even when I said they could open up the card to get inside, voiding the money-back guarantee. So...I've been deleting pictures one by one, using the camera itself (very tedious), rather than having the R1 or my iMac do the re-formatting. (A couple of e-mails to Sony resulted in polite replies, but no action.)Another limitation of the R1 is that it is hard to protect it. The Sony hard-leather case is so strangely shaped that putting the cover on and taking it off take too much time for field use. So I use the camera without the rather costly leather case I bought from Sony.The LCD viewfinder, being on top of the camera, puts off subjects who are in groups waiting for their souvenir photo because they think you're adjusting the camera instead of composing the picture. So I find I use the optical viewfinder most of the time, especially with the superimposed grid to help me align vertical and horizontal planes. I do wish that Sony had provided some kind of bellows hood for the optical viewfinder. In bright sunlight, the LCD viewfinder is hard to see, and the bright reflections in the optical viewfinder requires me to wear a baseball cap or use my hand to shade it.The self-timer (with camera on a tripod) is excellent--people can be warned that the amber light will flash slowly when the self-timer is on, and will flash rapidly just before the shutter trips. Still, if I have forgotten to turn on the audio shutter sound, people stand there for a few seconds, not realizing the photo has been taken.After a year and a half of using this camera, I am very glad I had it as my starter camera for semi-pro photography. And I still have another year and a half to go on the service/repair extended warranty I bought and have not needed. But I'm saving money to take a step up, perhaps to a true SLR from Canon or Nikon.