Sony DSC-N1

Reviewed March 2006

Image Quality

There is a real "wow" factor to the DSC-N1, something which is rare nowadays. In part this is because of the large 3-inch LCD monitor, but mostly it is due to its touch-screen, and the ease with which the N1 is operated. In fact, the touch screen drives home the point that no matter how well designed 4-direction controllers are, or for that matter joystick controls, none are as effective as this type of system.

In use, the N1 responds quickly to its on-screen keys, and although the image is overlaid with keys, it is not distracting.

The N1 has no noticeable shutter lag, and autofocuses quickly. With most subjects the Multi AF system is able to find the focus point, or points, accurately. On occasion, however, one of the alternative focus options is preferable. The Centre AF, for instance, is always able to focus on what is at the centre of the frame. And when the focus point is shifting, or off-centre, the Flexible Spot AF is very precise. Indeed, the Flexible Spot AF is another of the features that becomes impressive because of the touch-screen. The focus point can be dragged around most of the screen using the stylus or even a fingertip, and appears to be invisibly tethered to the stylus, like the tail on a dog. Regrettably however, the spot focus system is not tied to the spot metering, and is best used with the Multi metering pattern.

The N1 yields images that are nothing short of excellent, especially when these are captured under full sun. The images show no sign of chromatic aberration, no barrel distortion with subjects at standard distances — a little bit of distortion is sometimes observable when the subject is shot in macro mode — and no pincushion distortion at the telephoto end.

Sharpness is also excellent right across the frame, and is uniformly good irrespective of the focal length.

Like most other Sony digital cameras, the DSC-N1 can only save images using JPEG compression. With this camera, however, Sony's engineers seem to have tweaked the algorithms and when set to the Fine image quality, the N1 is able to save finely detailed photos with beautiful and accurate colours. And, while at this level the compression hovers between 6:1 and 8:1, photos rarely show any trace of the compression process, and artefacts are either difficult or impossible to find.

Still, this camera is so good, it is regrettable that a RAW mode was not made part of its capabilities.

Equipped with an 8-megapixel CCD, our expectations were that images would be a bit noisier than those captured using lower resolution CCDs. We were pleased to observe that this was not the case with the N1. At the lowest sensitivity, 64 ISO, and even at 100 ISO the DSC-N1 yields noise-free images that compare well with those of an SLR of a similar resolution. At 200 ISO some noise increase is detectable, but the image — especially if shot in daylight as a means to maximize shutter speed — is nothing short of good.

Increasing the sensitivity, noise starts to make an appearance around 400 ISO, and is clearly visible at 800. Nevertheless, an 8-megapixel 800 ISO photo captured with the N1 is not much noisier than some 400 ISO photos captured with other 8-megapixel CCD cameras.

The built-in flash of the N1 is able to handle most indoor shots as long as the zoom is set to the widest angle, and the camera benefits from the maximum aperture of f2.8. With telephoto shots, the starting aperture of f5.4 means a lot less light is available to the CCD, and the flash strains to light a subject much farther than a meter and a half (4 ft). In this situation, exposure compensation, or manually increasing the flash output in the menu, or setting the CCD sensitivity to Auto are the only alternatives.

Using Auto sensitivity and the increased flash output, the camera boosts the sensitivity to 400 ISO, and yields an image that is bright and not too noisy of a subject that is up to 2.5 m (8.2 ft) away, while with the brighter aperture of the wide angle, a subject as distant as 3.5 m (11.5 ft) is well lit at 160 ISO.

The default metering pattern of the DSC-N1 is called "Multi". The system is effectively an averaging system that takes an unspecified number of measurements throughout the frame to establish the most appropriate shutter speed and aperture. The metering is very reliable, even with backlit subjects. Should it fail to provide an acceptable result, the Centre-weighted pattern can be relied on to produce an exposure that will expose whatever is at the centre of the frame perfectly. And should this prove inadequate, the spot metering mode will base the exposure on a tiny area at the dead centre of the frame, ignoring the rest.

The Sony DSC-N1 is a ground-breaking camera, and this is primarily due to its intuitive and easy-to-use touch screen. But beyond this, the DSC-N1 offers an excellent image quality and adds features, such as the slide show functions, that take full advantage of the medium.