[binary visions]

Sony is stepping up to the plate with something revolutionary for the digital camera world:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0509/05090801sonydscr1.asp
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/R1/R1A.HTM

Will it be good? Bad? Mediocre? Who knows? Regardless of the camera's success or failure, it's an awesome concept and was, in my opinion, inevitable. Not everyone who wants to take great digital photos wants a digital SLR.

A large sensor, live preview, Zeiss designed optics, mechanical zoom ring, really fantastic zoom range - in a simple, all in one package.

I'm really excited to find one at Best Buy or Circuit City and take a bunch of pictures with it, to see what Sony has done.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Excellent idea! Kudos to Sony for going out on the limb with it.

 

[bluebug32]

 

[mcA896]

sounds stupid.













kidding, dont get your knickers in a bunch. Props for the mechanical zoom ring. i myself am not a fan of digital zoom.

 

[T-Pirate]

I'm willing to bet the image quality will be on par with dslrs, but I still don't feel like non slr cameras can get close to the speed you get with an slr.

 

[PatBranch]

Thats cool.

 

[binary visions]

I'm willing to bet the image quality will be on par with dslrs, but I still don't feel like non slr cameras can get close to the speed you get with an slr.

For some things, the speed won't be there. The prefocused shutter release lag is a paltry 7 milliseconds, though, so some parts will still be fast. But yeah, a lot of circuitry has to be devoted to that live preview so things like a big picture buffer has to get sacrificed. Still, though, it's a big step towards a camera with live preview and such that will accept interchangable lenses and have picture quality on par with the best dSLRs.

For people who don't want the complexity and user-unfriendliness that comes with a digital SLR, it's great.

 

[Skookum]

These cameras could possibly be haunted....

 

[Toshi]

that's pretty cool, but won't suit grouchy "purists" like me. i like primes. i like fast lenses. i would never want to tie myself down to 24-120mm effective... my 135mm (effectively 216? mm) lens is one of my favorites and 120 just wouldn't cut it.

on the other hand it would be perfect for people like my friend who has a digirebel but rarely if ever takes off the kit lens. i convinced her to bring my 12-24 to europe for the architecture but it was like pulling teeth: "i don't want to change lenses!"

 

[Acadian]

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/sonydscr1/

 

[escapeartist]

i would never want to tie myself down to 24-120mm effective... my 135mm (effectively 216? mm) lens is one of my favorites and 120 just wouldn't cut it.

Agreed. It's definetly a big advantage over other non slr digitals, but i dunno, if I'm game quite yet. Wait five years and there will be a true "best of both worlds" camera.

 

[merrrrjig]

Ill stick with my canon 20D