Sony has announced the Cyber-shot DSC-R1, a fixed-lens, electronic viewfinder camera with a 10.3-megapixel CMOS sensor that measures 21.5 x 14.4mm, nearly as large as the sensors in digital SLR cameras such as the Canon EOS 20D or the DX-format Nikons. Like nearly all non-SLR digicams it incorporates full-time color live video preview. The R1's fixed Carl Zeiss lens is a 24-120mm (35mm equivalent) f/2.4-4.8 zoom.

The new Sony's ISO range is 160 to 3200, and its 2-inch "free-angle" LCD, which sprouts from the camera's topcover where a hot-shoe would normally be, tilts and swivels for very flexible viewing and composition.

The camera will begin shipping in mid-November, 2005 and will sell for US$999 in the U.S. Sony's U.S. online store is accepting pre-orders now.