Sony Cyber-shot R1: 19 years later! RETRO review vs F828 vs EOS 

Trying out the Sony Cyber-shot R1 from 2005, 19 years after it was launched! Includes quality comparisons vs the F828 and Canon EOS 400D. Correction: the Olympus E330 was the first DSLR with Live View, before the E410 and 40D, but the R1 still beat it. Just not by as much! Replacement battery for R1 / F828 / F717 / F707: amzn.to/4cCxFsY Buy Gordon a coffee: www.paypal.me/cameralabs Gordon's In Camera book: amzn.to/2n61PfI / Amazon uk: amzn.to/2mBqRVZ Cameralabs merchandise: redbubble.com/people/cameralabs/shop Find vintage gear on eBay: rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=1&pub=5574908462&toolid=10001&campid=5338329149&customid=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg Sell your used gear to MPB at: bit.ly/3ULU9yL Buy used gear from MPB at: prf.hn/l/YLqwRAP Lost photos? I recover mine with: www.dpbolvw.net/click-100568658-13808570?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.stellarinfo.com%2Fphoto-recovery-software.php Equipment used for producing my videos DJI Osmo Pocket 3: click.dji.com/AIOhqT-LWUFDq-bGk8hD4Q?pm=link Panasonic Lumix S5 II: amzn.to/3Hf5IcI Sony A6400: prf.hn/l/pRO0wp5 Sony e 24mm f1.8: amzn.to/2TqWNzk Rode NT USB mic: amzn.to/3AdHcUp Rode Wireless Go II mic: amzn.to/3xkCvGo Rode Lavalier Go mic: amzn.to/3ygzzKY Godox UL150 light: amzn.to/2VpVbXE Godox QR-P70 softbox: amzn.to/3yQfGdF MacBook Pro 14in (16GB / 1TB): bhpho.to/3HiafJL 00:00 - Sony R1 introduction 02:36 - Sony R1 design and build quality 03:18 - Sony R1 screen and viewfinder 05:46 - Sony R1 controls 08:05 - Sony R1 memory cards, battery and ports 09:26 - Sony R1 lens and focusing 11:41 - Sony R1 sensor and quality settings 15:03 - Sony R1 vs F828 vs DSLR lens range 15:57 - Sony R1 vs F828 vs DSLR portrait quality 17:00 - Sony R1 vs F828 vs DSLR boke close-up quality 18:10 - Sony R1 vs F828 vs DSLR resolution 19:16 - Sony R1 vs F828 vs DSLR noise high ISO 22:07 - Sony R1 vs F828 vs DSLR sample images and verdict Music: www.davidcuttermusic.com / @dcuttermusic As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

It's great to see these older cameras get the same attention to detail that you'd have given them as brand-new releases.

The R1 was my first digital camera. I bought it in 2006 and used it for 10 years. I wanted something smaller and lighter, so I went with the Canon M5 when it was released. My reasons for getting the R1 were- larger sensor, DSLR like controls, sharp lens, manual zoom and no sensor dust. Your Camera Labs review and reviews by others, even though not all were positive, were helpful at the time. I still have it and use it occasionally.

seeing those London images from 2005 makes me wonder how much the skyline changed in 19 years

Sony needs to either refresh their existing RX10 camera or bring out a successor to R1 after nearly 2 decades. That camera was such a unique product.

Thanks for revisiting this camera Gordon. I replaced my 828 as soon as the R1 became available and of all digital cameras of that era it is the only one I still own and occasionally use. It combines very acceptable image quality (up to iso 400) with a decent lens of useful range , good build quality and great reliability. In fact it combines just about everything most photographers need most at what is now a giveaway price. Just about every image in your book could have been shot with one and nobody would be any the wiser! Want to know why the used prices are so high? Easy! Owners tend to hang on to theirs so the used market is tiny.

Thanks Gordon. Love all the videos on this channel

I had the Olympus C8080wz for travel photography, had it while living/traveling a year in Argentina, ages ago. Remember reading about the R1 with initial envy, until i saw the price. Back then I worked in camera stores for saving up money (but mostly spending them on camera gear) with dreams of traveling, and a bridge camera sounded like a decent solution. Less to carry, and master of mostly what you needed. Added a Olympus XA and I had both work and fun camera. Great to see a review of the R1 now, how it stands up with time, at least with base iso 😊

Oof, that shutter button looks like it's wobbly. I love it though, it's right at the end of Sony's mad design era. Great video mate.

Fascinating ergonomics! Great review

Hi Gordon. I've been waiting for this video for a long time. I love this camera. I bought one at the end of 2019 and still today, I use it with great pleasure. 😉👍🏻

Bought a nice one a month ago only missing its box paid £100 for it from park cameras also found a brand new leather case for it official one as well paid a £10 for so I am well happy with my r1 having fun with it which is what it’s all about

Just bought one for 30€. There's tiny piece of plastic broken of the swivel part of the screen, but otherwise - in perfect condition. Just took it for the spin and was really impressed with stellar lens quality. It's really sharp without any noticeable drawbacks, no purple fringe, no CA, just great lens. I love the screen positioning, feels somehow medium format, as you said. Definitely worth keeping it in to my collection and taking for a spin sometimes.

I love this camera, it's still going wonder if it reacts to infared filters well on the front of the lens

Always a good day when there's a new dinobytes video !

Thanks Gordon, great review. I was not familiar with this camera. By that time I already started looking into obsolete Canon DSLRs like the D30 and 10D, as I still had lenses from my film EOS 10 (which I still own and it still works).

I remember the shelves full of these but strangely I don't remember seeing too many out in the world, not that I was living in that world🙃.......An awfully long time ago suddenly, LOL....Nice review and thanks for the trip down memory lane.

I truly appreciate that you put as much effort into this as if this was a modern camera just released. Those comparisons shots are awesome! I share your view that it's a member of the bad price-to-performance club in the retro digital scene, but I don't think practicality shapes the price of old models. This was a "terminal" model of a product line outside mainstream, those are typically more pricey than what they're worth (Olympus E-5, Sony A900, Sony A99II, etc.)

Its funny. When I worked for Ilford in Switzerland we purchased an R1 for internal work in our inkjet group. At the time a great camera and it was used a lot with its versatile lens. I purchased a SH one several years later for about £60 (100chf) from a dealer, needed to do a few minor repairs but the camera was in good shape. Its an interesting camera and as mentioned addresses a few issues the F828 had, but I still prefer the F828, mainly for its IR mode. The screen on the R1 was also useful but the camera is a little big. I enjoy using all my old cameras from time to time as they still can offer good image quality, within limits. Still want to see an F828 body with interchangeable lenses and an up to date sensor. Nice to see these retro reviews.

I really like the idea of that grip and would like to see a camera manufacturer try blending a modern mirrorless camera around a Hasselblad-like medium format camera grip but for the right-hand instead of the left as the grip is currently designed. I shoot the Lumix original G9 and the deep grip with many of the important controls close to the shutter release allows for quick adjustments to changing light situations without taking your eye from the viewfinder as well as making the camera very comfortable to hold.

I got to try the R1 when it came out. It was clearly a step towards the future. I really wanted to like the R1 and I was looking for a replacement for my 2/3" bridge camera, but AF was just too slow for my use and I didn't like the LCD placement.

Brilliant video Gordon, my gear acquisition loves these videos, but my bank account tells me no! :) Fantastic review!

What a lovely camera and design, effectively a mirrorless camera before mirrorless was a thing. The flippy screen is a great design too. How long did we wait for these on DSLRS? I think that if it had video, or perhaps just the latest sensor tech of the time (for better noise control, or whatever the cause was), we could all have been using cameras of this funky shape now!

Great video as usual! And I didn´t miss the "memory stick lane" wordplay 😁 The comparison with the other cameras is also appreciated. I actually had this device from 2006-2007. While the concept was great, I sold it later for a Nikon D40. As much as I liked the R1, the flaws outweighed the advantages for me. Yes, the lens and design were great. Unfortunately, the auto-focus was especially for moving subjects painfully slow, the write times too...and noise started to creep in pretty early, as we can see here. I guess these are also reasons why there was no video mode - I guess the processor wasn´t able to handle it and the AF would have made the video unusable. Not to forget this device doesn´t have any kind of stabilisation, so the footage would have been shaky. I remember that I even bought a memory stick to improve the write times. It was only a tad but still noticeably faster. Would really love to see an R2 with current hardware, OIS and all the improvements of the last decade. Sony should try that instead of dumping the market with crippled RX100 iterations for vlogging.

Cool to see the video. The R1 is a sleeper, incredible value for what it is today if you can snag one between $100-$200. (I paid $220 for mine boxed new) and it’s amazing. But I would never trade it for an F828, despite having the IR capabilities. The R1 is the winner hands down. My current and now longterm perfect combo setup is the R1 for nature/forest shots and the Pentax MX1 for literally everything else and including! I wanted to love the F828 for its RGBE sensor but as you eluded to in your last video, it just doesn’t make much of a difference. Sad too because I love the quirkiness of the different cameras. Thankfully they’re both relatively cheap so owning both an R1 and F828 if you want to shoot IR is affordable to do!

We have one of these, put many photos on it. The lens is lovely and the camera is remarkably fun and easy to handle. About the only knock I have against it is the high ISO performance is horrible (and by high, I mean 400 or more!).

Thank you Gordon for the back to the R1 review. I always wanted to check out one of these.

What's impressive is that Sony would use the same screen on their mirrorless line well into the 2020s.

I *think* the Evolt E330 was the first Olympus DSLR with live view (albeit clunky) in Jan 2006 so only a month or two after the Dec(?) 2005 R1?

Never knew about it until last week when it showed up in a big box sale (alongside some EOS and Olympus E-). Quite nice first impression, grip and LCD (easy articulation, not exactly early OLED) in particular, SOOC monochromes are usable, RAWs are in some ancient format that needs a DNG translator. USB 1.1. transfers of only a few hundred MB of jpgs takes minutes :) (and I'm not getting a CF reader). Tempted to keep it as a carefree cam somewhere and test the Zeiss zoom a bit more. Maybe DIY some parchment paper or masking tape as flash diffuser and ugly grain nor darkness shall prevail. OTOH if videos like these push prices above €100 it may need to go.

Nice! Sony to me is that company that spends time and money researching and developing interesting products that doesn't always work, but it leads to products that end up being successful. For example, Sony created the DAT audio tape, which unfortunately annoyed the music industry, so it didn't get a broad adaptation, but they learned and for the mini disc they bought a music label and was able to release albums. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for this review. An aside question, when Canon launches its R1, will it cause a trade name dispute with Sony?

I rather like the closing remarks being delivered over the sample shots at the end. No knock on jazzy music, but the VO is nice or nicer

Great review. I bought one about a year after they came out. I believe sales were not up to expectations and the prices were starting to drop. The launch price in the US was $1000. I paid $700, new. I was attracted to the large DSLR-sized sensor and excellent Zeiss lens. It didn’t disappoint. In your review, you showed the poor ISO performance. True. Were you only comparing jpgs SOC? Since it also shot RAW, would those images, properly processed, produce better results? Since I still have mine, I may do that myself. It will be interesting, given what modern noise reduction software like Topaz AI can do. Finally, I have owned a half dozen Sony cameras and high ISO jpg processing was behind its peers for many years. It wasn’t until the A7S and later A7Rii that they figured it out.

I loved the Sony R1. Best feature was the screen on the top. This was a great for shooting stealth mode, I used it a lot. On Family events the fotos are on the kids level. This gave these fotos a very different look than the DSLRs. But I switched to the Canon EOD 50D after some years, because the Sony R1 focus system was to slow.

I went from a HP (Yes Hewlett Packard) 945 to a Sony A300 with a Tamron 18-200. Gordon, If you ever have your hands on many Sonys, from "many generation" I would really like to see the differences in "full auto jpeg". To really see if there are changes in "Color science" during the different years.

Gordon, when will Brighton Pier erect a statue, or plaque in your honor? At this point, your series of test photographs of the area could be used as a way to study how the pier and surrounding scenery has changed in the past few decades.

Hi, I purchased recently a Sony R1. I wonder if the shown images on all 3 cameras are JPEGS?

With an actual camera you can shoot the palace pier, with the Sony R1 you can have also the west pier on your memory card. That makes the difference.

Got mine in mint condition, even with stickers on, for about $80 equiv, few months ago.

My first digital - loved it for years. Much better when I discovered Raw

Hold on, the R1 has already been released?! Oh wait... 😅 Ant plans to review that Canon 300D, Gordon?

Wow, Canon really was ahead of the competition with their CMOS-based 400D. The image at 1600 ISO is so much cleaner than my Nikon D80 could ever achieve - and they were released the same year :)

The Alpha series began in 1985. Sony bought it from Konica-Minolta in 2006.

Not sure but when youu mentioned the camera didnt have video functions is it not because of some tax reasons which would make the camera much more expansive ? And talking about vintage how i miss the old days of camera labs. The videos that time where so entertaining and interesting that i even watched a video when i was not even interested in that camera. Good old days

i love your video

Loved the R1, I shot with it for years until it was stolen, best point and shoot for somebody like me that grew up with point and shoots, even in film I prefer point and shoots to SLRs. So I didn't replaced it with a DSLR but a Fujfilm X100S as my R1 was stolen precisely because its size meant it had to sit many times at home, also the bokeh in the R1 is so so, due the manufacturing process of the aspherical lenses it has onion rings, which the Fujifilm hasn't. If somehow my experience helps this is: - If you are going to use the Sony R1 you need a graduated filter, and I recommend DxO filmpack. DxO prime would be good but the R1 has no raw support from DxO. For raw processing Photo Ninja is good. - If you want a modern fixed lens camera with the same lens and aperture the closest to it is the Canon G5 X mark II. Its 5x zoom covers the same 24mm to 120 mm (equivalent in 35mm) and the 1.8 to 2.8 aperture more or less is equivalent to the one in the Sony R1. The lens isn't optically corrected as the R1, the controls probably aren't the same as you can shoot with the R1 by touch alone, but is the closest. There was a Leica X Vario as well, with an excellent lens, but it was a slower lens and consequently big as well. A second close would be the Sony RX10 I and II, they would be my first choice of replacement if the petite G5 X mark II wouldn't exist. - Personally the Fujifilm X100 is my natural choice, as it has an aps-c sensor, an excellent fixed lens, which is only a 23 mm lens but in exchange its aperture is a f2 so you can add more to the creative arsenal. If wallet allows it it has a a wide angle and tele lens as add ons, so it isn't totally zoomless. - The Canon G1 X mark III could be an option, but sadly, to my preferences, the slow lens and short zoom seem to not encourage to take it with you despite the small size, and the bokeh seems not that good for its high price even today.

I always wondering about this camera and lately able to get this one with super cheap price (around 40USD). image quality is superb because it have big sensor with great glass but live view is kind of horrible(have some serious latency), i think live view from olympus E330 way much better lol but anyway i got this super cheap and have fun with this for while

Best SONY Camera ever made.

One inconvenience is that the camera has an internal rechargeable battery that saves clock and menu items when changing batteries. This battery recharges via the main batteries. But after a number of years, it dies and each time you change batteries, clock and all other menu items reset. Am I the only one with this problem?

Last year you recommend me the R1 over a Canon G1X

Maybe is time for Sony to bring back APCS, at least M43 level DC, like RX-10/100 with M43 coms ?

The bokeh, zoom range and iso performance when compared to canon surprised me

It was a great camera and the lens was insanely good. A bit heavy but it served me well until I smashed it onto a rock accidentally.

sadly no more vintage digital cameras reviews.

A fixed lens reduces GAS.

Wait so if Canon releases an R1 camera, do they have to pay royalties to Sony?

mann I just paid 17 pounds for 512mb memory stick pro for my P100 /cry

I see no point in fixed lens cameras, if you are going through the effort to make a camera then just make it with the mount.

Memorystik lane LOLOLOL

This is a very ugly yet charming beast of a camera. What a strange design. No wonder Sony bought Minolta A mount after this camera.