Sanyos line up of digital cameras falls at the budget end of the spectrum and the VPC-R1 is no exception.With a 1.3- megapixel CCD, the camera is large compared to the current crop of mini-cameras available.

Shots captured at 1,280 x 960 resolution are of surprisingly good quality, reproducing bright colour well in dimly lit environments. Although it supports CompactFlash out of the box the VPC R1 only comes with 1MB of space onboard which will store two images at the highest resolution.While this allows the price to stay significantly lower, most people would be looking to purchase a CF card anyway.

The cameras larger size also allows for a larger screen and, while its only 110,000 pixels, it provides an adequate preview screen.The OSD gives simple access to flash and image quality and features a quick jump to single, sequential or film capture.

Unlike the ultra portables, the VPC-R1s bulky size and 180g weight is an advantage as its much more comfortable in the hand, rising above the novelty of smaller cameras. If you have some spare CF cards lying around, the VPC-R1 is a good quality, budget choice.