Sony introduces new digital camera

• 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.