DSC-L1: Sony's Latest Ultra-Compact Digicam
by Stephen Caston on January 27, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
Final Words
When it comes down to it, the Sony DSC-L1 falls just short of being great. There are several areas in which this camera excels. For example, it has a stylish and solid metal body. In our tests, it proved to have both decent resolution and incredible battery life. In addition, the camera is very fast. With respect to startup, write speed, and shutter lag, this camera is one of the most responsive ultra-compact digicams that we've tested so far. Provided you have a Memory Stick Pro Duo, the movie mode is superb, offering unlimited video w/audio at a rate of 30 fps at 640x480. The L1 even offers some extra features that are not commonly seen in this class, such as the option to turn off the LCD backlight to save battery power in brightly-lit environments. We are also impressed to see an AF-assist lamp, which gives this camera the ability to focus in total darkness.On the other hand, the L1 leaves something to be desired when it comes to image quality. We found an overall soft/muddy quality in most of the pictures that we took. In addition, we discovered that when the lens is extended to its telephoto end, the pictures display significant blurring near the edges of the frame. Although the L1 produces well-saturated colors, the accuracy is just a bit off. The auto white balance system tends to produce a yellowish cast in tungsten light and a slightly bluish cast in daylight. In the end, it's really going to come down to priorities. For a point-and-shoot user who doesn't plan on doing any heavy cropping to their photos or printing at 8x10, this camera may be near perfect. It is very responsive with fast startup, write, and shutter lag times. The image quality is great for smaller prints or web use. To top things off, it is very small and attractive. However, if you are looking for a camera with superb image quality, you might want to keep looking. It is unfortunate that this camera has so much going for it and yet, it is unable to take amazing pictures. If the image quality was better, it would be one of the best cameras around - especially considering the reasonable price tag.
| Pros | Cons |
| - Decent resolution performance - Fast write times - Incredibly fast shutter lag times - Very fast startup time - Movie mode is outstanding - Excellent battery life - AF-assist lamp - Backlight can be turned off to save power |
- Images are muddy/soft - Blurring at edges of frame - Auto WB produces yellowish cast in tungsten light - Auto WB produces slight bluish cast in daylight - Fairly noisy images past ISO 100 - No TV-out |
Thanks again to Newegg.com for loaning us the Sony DSC-L1 for review.
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ksherman - Sunday, January 30, 2005 - link
BTW #6-- to get to contact information, click on 'about' on the left hadn menu (second down) and then click on 'contactAnandtech'Xmate - Saturday, January 29, 2005 - link
Good review, camera seems weak to me (being a photographer) but for a digicam its good, and a good review of it.I notice that Anandtech has taken a liking to digital photography, having several reviews and essays on how to take better photographs and what to take them with. This is all very good. I am really happy that more people are getting involved into the world of photography.
What I ask of Anandtech now, is to continue on their photography reviews, but to add some computer software preformance reviews. I am in the market for a new computer, and i am completely torn as to what CPU, motherboard, ram, graphics card HD to get. I will be using almost exclusively Adobe products on the computer (photoshop, illustrator, Golive Indesign, The whole Creative suite). I'd GREATLY aoreicate if Anandtech could have some benchmarkings of how different Hardware preforms in photoshop and more importantly their ram converter.
Also, I ask that you could perhaps have some reviews of colour calibration devices, such as the Gretagmacbeth ones (www.gretagmacbeth.com) and also if you could tell us what monitors are the best to use for the most acurate colour rendition.
It's great that you have more photographers articles, but people like me (you'd be surprised how many of us visit this site) really need advice on what PC hardware to get for the best and faster results, from cpu to graphics card to monitor to printer. I hope you take this into consideration.
Stefan
PS: I was looking for the 'Contact Us' for Anandtech, but I was unable to find it. If someone could tell me how to contact them directly then I'd greatly apreciate it. Thank you once again.
melgross - Friday, January 28, 2005 - link
As far as I am concerned, all of the test pictures are unacceptable. The outdoor pics aren't bad, though there are better images from others cameras in this price range.The indoor pics are all underexposed badly, and the flash calibration esp. at close distances is very poor.
segagenesis - Thursday, January 27, 2005 - link
Better and less than half the price of my old (4 years old?) DSC-P1. Guess it shows how quickly cameras are evolving.There will always be some edge distortion in smaller cameras, so when buying one this is a given. The lens is just too damn small!
stephencaston - Thursday, January 27, 2005 - link
#1 thanks, its corrected nowarfan - Thursday, January 27, 2005 - link
Maybe it will be better if there is review for all digital camera from entry level until high-end. What about Canon A75 compare with this Sony ?cosmotic - Thursday, January 27, 2005 - link
Are you sure you meant that the release date was Feb 2004?