minnesøtti wrote:
I heard many times on this newsgroup and other forums about a
"superior" Sony R1 camera, and was lusting for it for sometime because
of its good big lens, swivable LCD screen and "semi-professional"
functionalities. Only recently I learnt that there was another camera
of a similar class which had a much better specification (15x zoom vs
5x zoom), huge hi-res LCD screen, and heaps of professional-level
photographic controls. One of the reviewers said that it seemed like
the Koreans took the specifications of a "bridge" camera and
exaggeratingly improved it in every dimension. I must confess that I am
mostly impressed by the cameras with the "exaggerated" functionalities.
I wonder why nobody here talked about Samsung Pro815 ? I could've
learnt about it earlier. The only problem seems to me is that Samsung
Pro815 has a 2/3" CCD sensor, while Sony R1 has an APS-C sized sensor
(just like the dSLRs), and by the moment I realised that I am most
interested in a camera with a high dynamic range and high (low-noise)
sensitivity which comes only with a n APS-C sized sensor.

From the reviews on dpreview.com, most actual APS-C sensor DSLR cameras
have better signal/noise ratio than even the Sony DSC-R1.
To my way of thinking, it would be a better idea to get either a Pentax
K100-D, Nikon D70 or Canon XTi than to get either the DSC-R1 or the
Pro815, as these DSLR camera bodies are relatively small and you can
get lenses that will cover most shooting eventualities from all them.
Tamron makes an 18-200mm (27-300mm, 35mm equivalent) zoom for all the
curent DSLR cameras which is probably better than the lens on the
Pro815 with only a slightly lower zoom ratio, 11x for the Tamron Vs 15x
for the Pro815.
Using a DSLR camera also has the advantage that you could change the
lens for something special, such as a super-wide fisheye or macro or
super-telephoto or a fast normal lens.
If you went with Pentax, they also have the nifty little pancake lenses
which make for a truly small package when attached to a K100-D.