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Reviewed by UK Guest, 5th Apr 2005. |
| Review Summary: Well built, great lens, good to use |
Overall Score: 5/5
 
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Review: Like many people, my first couple of digital cameras piqued my interest in photography. But because they were fully automatic, there were times when I couldn't take the shot I wanted.
I fancied a digital SLR to get the flexibility I wanted, but bought the Pro 1 instead in the end. Why? Mainly because I wanted a variable-angle LCD screen that I could use to frame shots in awkward places. The Pro 1's LCD monitor is very good in bright light, and at 235,000 pixels, probably the highest resolution LCD available on a camera. The viewing angle is more critical than I would like though, made slightly worse because it snaps into certain preset positions which make tiny adjustments impossible.
I like the electronic viewfinder too, which shows all the menu items and settings, shutter speed etc. and has dioptre adjustment. I wear glasses and there's no problem. It's the same resolution as the main LCD.
There's also a top mounted LCD for basic information, which is thankfully illuminated and very handy.
You might think that the battery life would suffer on a camera with three LCDs, a myriad of blinking LEDs, a heavy lens with continuous focus and a long zoom... but I've found the battery life excellent. You can turn off continuous focus to make it last a bit longer.
I suppose the outstanding feature of the Pro 1 is the lens. At 28-200mm equivalent, this is a very flexible zoom. And because the widest aperture at full telephoto is still f3.5, it's pretty usable handheld if the light's good.
An unusual feature is that you turn the ring on the lens barrel to zoom, or to focus in manual mode. I quite like this, but to me, it turns the wrong way, and I still haven't got the hang of it. That may just be me though.
Manual focus gives you an enlarged central area on the display and a distance reading. But I found it still wasn't easy to tell if the focus was right. But the camera can sharpen up your manual focus attempt, which is useful.
As you'd expect from a camera at this level, it is bristling with features. I won't mention them all. The only one I would've liked that it doesn't have is a live histogram display. It's also a bit of a shame that the excellent 3cm super macro is only available at 4MP resolution.
Minor annoyances in use are a non-tethered lens cap, a strap that always seems to be in the way of the swivelling screen, a manual focus button that's too easy to press by mistake and a screen that freezes momentarily while the camera focuses.
But pretty much everything else is more than satisfactory. This is a very well built camera that's satisfyingly simple to use, and most importantly, has a great lens. The photos I've taken so far have impressed me enormously: sharp, great colour, great subtlety and naturalness. And with 8MP, you have all the flexibility you need to enlarge and crop. |
Ratings
| Value For Money: |
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5 |
| Review Score: |
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5 |
| Recommended? | |
Yes |
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Digital Cameras