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.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscr1/
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/samsungpro815/

Both cameras are now outmoded. The Sony has a terrific lens with a
reasonably wide zoom range and a limit of 110mm. So, NG for telework.
The Samsung is a lumbering brute of a P&S with a poor record for focus
at the long end of the lens. Had the Samsung stuck to a max zoom
equivalent of 200mm, it would have been a camera in league with the
Olympus C-8080 and the Nikon 8800. As it is, cheap DSLRs have
obsoleted both.