The 5-me2gapixel DSC-V1 offers a great combination of features and performance in a relatively small body. While it’s smaller than its prime competitors - the Canon G5 and the Nikon 5400 - there are even smaller models in this month’s company.
The DSC-V1 isn’t the most comfortable camera to hold, with its numerous protruding buttons and switches, mounds and troughs lending a somewhat cluttered feel. Consequently, one-handed operation can be tricky. The other downside is the location of the flash, which pops up from the top - left corner where your fingers naturally fall.
Having said this, the V1's design is all about easy access to the multitude of features. Exposure compensation and bracketing are accessible with just a couple of button presses, as is the powerful flash, the intensity of which can be adjusted. Also, focus and exposure can be quickly locked with two separate buttons or altered with a control dial. However, the F717's dedicated metering mode button is absent, although the functions are still available
The 1.5in LCD is bright and responsive and provides a real-time histogram, as well as an accurate estimate of the remaining battery time, courtesy of Sony's Info-Lithium system. The same night modes as the F717 are also present. Night shot invisibly illuminates a near-totally dark scene with an infrared LED, resulting in a green monochrome image. The Night framing setting uses Hologram AF - a matrix of laser beams - for focusing before popping the flash and capturing an accurately focused shot.
This certainly isn’t suitable for stealth photography, unlike the near-silent lens operation, which puts cameras like the HP and Casio to shame. Both the V1 and F717 allow much finer zoom control than others, but the V1 has a smaller but wider angle 4x optical zoom.
In terms of quality, the DSC-V1 showed itself to be capable in most situations. Resolution was above average and the Sony tendency to oversaturate reds and oranges is acceptable thanks to colour controls in the menus. Only a few photos in harsh light conditions saw highlights blown out and occasionally indoor shots were underexposed. Overall, most shots were sharp and well exposed, occasionally even rivalling the F717.
It isn’t just stills that impressed us, though. Sony’s excellent MPEG-VX movie capture means you can shoot 640 x 480 movies limited in length only by the Memory Stick capacity - a 32MB card is included.
The V1 is ideal for those wanting the F717’s features in a smaller package. But the Olympus is almost $170 cheaper, has a better macro mode and a 10x optical zoom while offering almost equal image quality.