Sony Cybershot G1 digital camera detailed

That batch of new Sony Cybershots let loose this morning was quite a bit to digest all at once, so we thought we'd take a minute to go over one of the more interesting of the still-to-be-officially-announced cameras in greater detail, namely, the Cybershot G1. Apart from that new (for Sony) model name, the camera's particularly notable for its big 3.5-inch (or possibly 3-inch) LCD and uncommonly spacious 2GB of internal memory. Though less unusual, the camera's other specs are also nothing to sneeze at, with a decent 6 megapixel resolution, 3x optical zoom, Carl Zeiss Vario-Tesar lens, built-in WiFi, and Sony's usual SteadyShot and Anti-Blur features. Still not clear, unfortunately, is the price, although as we mentioned earlier, that should be revealed by the end of the month.

[JIM @ Feb 20th 2007 4:12PM]

£450 rrp in uk.

[Kev50027 @ Feb 20th 2007 4:20PM]

Looks pretty nice, but the shot clearly shows a 3.5 inch screen, and this information was available in your earlier posting.

[Anthony @ Feb 20th 2007 7:36PM]

The text says 3.5, but the icon (above camera) says 3"- that's why they're mentioning both.

I'm more interested in how this thing actually works. Does the whole camera slide open? Just the "housing"?

[Jake @ Feb 20th 2007 4:27PM]

We got luv for Wifi!!!

[totalfixation @ Feb 20th 2007 4:43PM]

OMG finally, built in Wi-fi, something I've been waiting for from Sony for while. I was beginning to think Sony everything (meaning PS3, electronics, SE, and etc) was going down hill. Now I gotta wait for G2=bug free.... =)

[Jeff @ Feb 20th 2007 4:48PM]

Hmmm, I must be ahead of the curve here. I already own the G2!

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canong2/

[rfruit @ Feb 20th 2007 5:06PM]

I know it's not all about the megapixels, but isn't 6 a little low? Clearly 6 would still allow for great pictures, but Sony announced a 10 megapixel camera in the same press release and has had several 7+ megapixels cameras for over a year now.

Is 6 megapixels the sweet spot consumer cameras? Clearly at some point adding megapixels will be moot for most consumer uses, but I figured that point would be higher than 6...

[Joe @ Feb 23rd 2007 3:58AM]

The more pixels you squeeze into a sensor the smaller they have to be and the less light they can capture. The camera must then amplify the light captured and this causes noise in the image. This is why a large 6mp sensor typically used in an SLR camera is so much better than a tiny 6mp, 8mp or even 10mp sensor used in a typical consumer camera like this one. There are benefits to each though.

There are some errors in the pictures. It says 3.5" LCD in the text but 3.0" LCD on the features icon above the image of the camera. It also says it has a 6mp CCD sensor but Sony just announced a 6mp CMOS sensor with impressive video capabilities. Could this too be a misprint? Perhaps it really uses the CMOS (not CCD) sensor and the 2gb storage would make sense for video.

[tekdroid @ Feb 20th 2007 5:31PM]

2GB of internal memory meaning send it back to Sony when the flash memory fails instead of replace a removable card and buy a new one? Progress.

[Shnugi @ Feb 20th 2007 6:21PM]

@tekroid. Since when does built-in Flash memory fail on a regular basis? You're just being nitpicky.

[tekdroid @ Feb 20th 2007 7:51PM]

Shnugi @ Feb 20th 2007 6:21PM

@tekroid. Since when does built-in Flash memory fail on a regular basis? You're just being nitpicky.
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you're right, I am being nitpicky...but flash, if it had unlimited writes, I could understand, but it can and does fail (seen it several times already, once personally). Not often maybe, but it's something I'd rather replace myself than have to send it back outside of warranty - or even bother with inside warranty (in other words, I would never buy a cam that integrated so much flash).

What bothers me most is what is the advantage in doing it? As far as I can tell, there is none. Some people want 1GB, some want to use their existing cards, some don't need it there, some would rather not pay for it, and it just adds anothr potential point of failure while the rest of the cam might work beautifully. It's unnecessary, IMO. We have flash cards giving us far more flexibility.

[Kevin @ Feb 20th 2007 6:29PM]

so much for a new prosumer camera...looks like ill be seeking a D40

[Castle @ Feb 20th 2007 8:44PM]

@tekdroid

Calm down, probably comes with removable flash. Many digital cameras come with internal flash memory, including several Sony models, this one happens to actually be a useful 2GBs. Also Sony doesn't manufacturer NAND flash memory and modern memory is incredibly durable to rewrites compared to flash memory half a decade ago. Look at the iPod Nano.

[Bean6 @ Feb 20th 2007 9:26PM]

I hope Canon sues Sony - anyone remember the Powershot G1? (G2, G2, G3...)

[Kiwi616 @ Feb 21st 2007 12:13AM]

Numbers cannot be patented only words. Remember the 486DX processor issues????

[Bean6 @ Feb 21st 2007 11:42AM]

Well I was thinking about words also; "cyber"shot and "power"shot awfully similar!

[hijk @ Feb 21st 2007 2:03AM]

Of course, if they do offer removable memory it will likely be their proprietary Memory Stick Pro Duo II Mini or some other such nonsense. I usually don't want to buy anything sony because of the Memory Stick requirements. So this is a good concession to make -- offer a good bit of flash for everyone, and let people who have already bought into the sony memory system expand as they like.

[tekdroid @ Feb 21st 2007 7:42AM]

So this is a good concession to make -- offer a good bit of flash for everyone, and let people who have already bought into the sony memory system expand as they like.
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When you consider that this internal memory can only be used in the camera, it's extra poor value. No card reader. No other camera. No other device can use it.

@Castle
The iPod Nano & Shuffle all have internal flash, yes. Which also have failed. While this is getting off the subject, I fail to see why Apple doesn't offer removable flash in its players to be far more accommodating to the users. There is no advantage to internal non-removable flash. Increased reliability is not flawless reliability. Same goes for batteries. They all fail at some point. Again, no real advantage, and *everyone* pays for it, whether they want it or not. Sorry, I will call it what it is: a fad, IMO.

Sorry if I offended anyone here with these 'rants', but seriously, keep making better cameras Sony, but don't integrate them with 2GB of inflexible flash, please.

[PlayerKill @ Feb 21st 2007 6:32AM]

-.-" Good god I don't see people bashing Sony yet again. Great cameras indeed. I want the T100. =P 5x Zoom~~

Seriously though, Edgadget is highly biassed when it comes to Sony. :/ People should realize that the company does make great products. The PS3 is great, game producers just can't produce good games for it yet. Walkman isn't much worse than the iPod. -.-" It's just that iPod is now so widely know....

I wonder when the T100 will be released. Now my P200 is outdated in every aspects. T-T (3x optical for point and shoot, no double anti blur, smaller LCD...)

[Jason @ Feb 21st 2007 10:37AM]

@rfruit

Sigh. Megapixels do not matter, and more can be worse.

As you cram more and more pixels into the same sized sensor, you're making each pixel smaller and smaller. This means it's more likely to pick up noise, and getting the optics to cast a sharp image onto these smaller pixels is really, really hard.

All other things being equal, a 5MP sensor with large pixels {larger sensor} will take way better photos than a 10MP sensor of the same size {much more densely packed, smaller pixels}.

[Kiwi616 @ Feb 21st 2007 11:52AM]

Yes and no. Not sure when either has come out, but I do know that they have been both using Cybershot and Powershot for a while I have a Powershot S300 and SD430 and a Sony Cybershot N1. If they didn't dispute the names already they probably will never.

My 2 cents