Summary
Sony claims that the R1 10-megapixel camera has largely reduced power consumption in the CMOS sensors, allowing them to provide a live preview. Another feature is the in-camera control of brightness, the way you can manually do in Photoshop.
Original source:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1856655,00.asp
Details
The R1 is a 10.3MP camera that includes a fixed Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T lens and an articulating LCD that sits on top of the camera, just behind the pop-up flash.
The camera looks like a superzoom, but has only a 5X optical zoom range.
What is impressive is that the zoom's 35-mm equivalent range runs from 24 to 120 mm, providing excellent wide-angle coverage.
The lens is fast, running from f/2.8 to f/4/.8 across the zoom range.
The company is promoting the fact that the camera is the first with a CMOS sensor to have a live preview (via an EVF and an LCD).
Large sensors generally consume too much power for prolonged use in point-and-shoot cameras, which are generally run by small, low-powered batteries.
But such sensors generally work well in D-SLRs, which use a mirror-and-prism construction to provide the image in the viewfinder, only utilizing the sensor at the instant of exposure.
Sony is claiming that it has dramatically reduced the power consumption in these sensors, allowing them to provide a live preview.
Another interesting feature, Advanced Gradation Control System (AGCS), evaluates the distribution of brightness in a scene via the histogram and then applies the appropriate gamma curve, the way one might manually do in Photoshop in order to improve a scene's contrast or minimize saturation in a backlighting situation.
In this case, though, the changes will be determined in-camera.
The camera carries a hefty price tag ($999.95 list) for one that doesn't support interchangeable lenses, has only a 2-inch LCD, and doesn't include video capabilities.
About the author: Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, and he has published numerous courses on preparedness and survival, including financial preparedness, emergency food supplies, urban survival and tactical self-defense. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In 2010, Adams launched TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video site featuring videos on holistic health and green living. He's also a veteran of the software technology industry, having founded a personalized mass email software product used to deliver email newsletters to subscribers. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening.
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Thursday, September 29, 2005
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