The Design: Sony DSC-M1
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The front of the M1 features a 3x Carl Zeiss lens capable of a 38-114mm optical zoom (35mm equivalent). The built-in flash can be found just to the left of the lens. Because of its small size, the output is significantly less than average (1.0 - 5.9' at wide angle). The AF-assist/self-timer lamp is located just below the built-in flash. From this angle, we can also see two microphones on the back of the LCD panel, which give the M1 the ability to record stereo audio.
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On the back of the M1 is the 2.5" LCD monitor, which contains 123K pixels and can rotate a full 270º. On the left side of the LCD are three buttons. The Photo and Movie buttons can be used as an alternative to the Photo/Movie buttons in the main control area. They also act as back/forward buttons when viewing images and movies. The middle button serves to start/pause video during playback. To the right of the LCD monitor is the speaker that plays back audio from recorded movie clips. Directly above the speaker is the slot for the Memory Stick Duo flash card. Just to the right of the word "Pro" is a tiny access lamp, which illuminates while the camera is writing data to the card. Starting at the upper right, we can see the Reset button and three indicator lamps. Each lamp will illuminate according to the current status of the camera: charging, Record mode, or Playback mode. The Mode button allows you to select the camera's mode from Record or Playback. Below the rotating LCD monitor are the main controls for the camera. Sony's dedication to video is apparent on the M1 through the inclusion of both a photo and movie shutter button. This means that you don't have to switch to video mode in order to shoot a video. Instead, you simply press the Movie shutter button to begin recording. Below both the Photo and Video buttons are switches that can alter their functionality. In between the shutter buttons is the zoom controller that operates the optical zoom in Record mode as well as the magnification of images during Playback. Surrounding the 4-way controller are the Menu, Image size/Delete, and Display buttons. The 4-way controller has a separate "set" button in the middle. At this point, we feel we should mention that the smaller buttons on the back of the M1 are recessed just enough to make them hard to press at times. Primarily, we are talking about the Menu, Image Size/Delete, Display, and Set buttons.
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With the LCD monitor flipped open, we can see the Memory Stick Duo Pro media slot, which accepts regular Duo as well as Pro Duo cards. The M1 comes with a 32 MB Duo card, but we recommend upgrading to something larger, since the 32 MB card will only hold a handful of 5 megapixel images or short video clips. From this angle, we can also see the post for the included wrist strap.
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The bottom of the camera features a metal tripod mount as well as a rather flimsy plastic sliding door that conceals the battery compartment.
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The Sony M1 uses the included NP-FT1 rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery (3.6V 680mAh).
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On the right side of the camera is the main power button. However, the camera can also be turned on by simply rotating the LCD monitor to its open position. From this angle, we can also see the labels next to the lamps, which indicate the current camera mode.
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On the left side of the camera is a plastic hinged cover that protects the multi-connector. The multi-connector is used to connect the camera to the charging dock. You may have noticed that there are no USB or TV-out ports on the camera. These ports are both located on the charging dock. Therefore, you must have the camera "docked" in order to use either the TV-out or USB functionality.
The Sony DSC-M1 is certainly an interesting camera because of its unusual design. We are glad to see that the body is made of metal, which gives it a rugged feel in our hands. Handling the camera takes some getting used to as it is very easy to block either the lens or AF-assist lamp if you aren't careful with your fingers. With the physical design out of the way, let's take a look at some of the recording capabilities of the M1.
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Gatak - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
The video is 29.97 FPS. This seem to be rather odd to me. Is it the raw video or did someone convert it? Why would a camera record at 29.94 instead of 30? Makes no sense at all. It would also be nice if it was possible to choose FPS from 1 per x minute up to 30fps. That could make it really useful.yacoub - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
It's amazing how obnoxious society is becoming. Just use a phone as a phone, or a communication device as a communication device (phone, email, txt msg'ing). All this camera and video stuff is ugh.PrinceGaz - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
#7- I think some people just look at the pictures and don't bother reading the article.Personally I like products that use AA batteries because you don't have to buy an expensive proprietary battery as a backup or when the included one fails. NiMH AA cells have capacities of as much as 2300mAh so battery life isn't a problem-- if anything products using AA cells normally have a longer battery life than those using small proprietary batteries (such as the 680mAh capacity of the DSC-M1's battery). The other advantage of AA cells is that in an emergency you can always buy a couple of alkalines and use them, though that should only be as a last resort.
I think the main problem of the DSC-M1 is it uses Sony's Memory Stick for storage rather than the cheap and industry standard SD cards. Stupid Sony.
sxr7171 - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
Far from me to defend an all in one Sony product but has anyone actually read the article or looked at some of the pictures at least? The AA battery was just for size comparison, it uses a Li-Ion battery. I knew this thing was a piece of crap regardless of "Carl-Zeiss" being written on the lens. It's all a stupid marketing gimmick like having a so-called Mark Levinson stereo in your car. Most Mark Levinson systems cost more than the stupid Toyota.stephencaston - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
Thanks for the comments guys. I think I've fixed the link problems.Johnmcl7 - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
Yeah, the image links are messed up, they include the paragraphs below.Interesting read, I'm not much of a video fanatic but I do like to recored the occasional clip, I'm currently using a Fuji S7000 which records at 640x480 and 30 frames per second, but as mentioned in the article it's mpeg-1 so it takes vast amounts of space, something like a meg per second, giving me only 15 minutes recording on a 1GB card. I look forward to mpeg4 recording becoming standard.
I use the camera attachment for my Archos AV340 which records straight to mpeg4, more than happy with the quality and there's plenty of room for the recorded movie. Unfortunately the device is in for repair, very much missing this ability on my digital cameras.
John
JustAnAverageGuy - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
Kind of messed up the image links on the first, second, and ninth pages. No?sprockkets - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
either that or use proprietary batteries. At least you can use ni-mh but they won't last long probably in digital cameras.Locut0s - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
I'm always wary of products that try to be all things to all people, or simply integrate a number of different functions together. More often than not you end up with a product that does everything OK but no one thing great. Or does one thing great but the rest of the stuff feels like an afterthought. I also dislike products that use AA batteries, my experience is that they eat them for lunch. I also hate wasting them.Still I suppose there is a place for these types of products for those for whom owning an ALL-IN-ONE product trumps quality issues.
Boonesmi - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link
i want one