Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828

Sony has taken a different direction from other makers of high-end "prosumer" cameras in developing this new camera. It uses a newly developed (by Sony) 8 megapixel four-color CCD sensor (all others use three-color sensors). Unlike existing sensors which superimpose red, green and blue filters onto the front of the CCD sensor, the new Sony sensor uses red, green, blue and cyan filters to improve color fidelity and expand the color gamut. To produce the best possible images from this new sensor Sony has collaborated with Germany's renowned Carl Zeiss and fitted the camera with a Carl Zeiss T* Vario-Sonnar 7.1 - 51mm zoom lens (equivalent to 28 - 200mm on a 35mm film SLR). This lens has remarkably fast apertures of f/2 - 2.8 which should make low light photography a breeze. Experienced photographers will like the manual zoom ring operation of the lens.

Other features of this new camera are five point autofocus which is automatically or manually selectable, an infrared system for making photographs at night, recording in JPEG, TIFF or RAW file formats, and the ability to shoot high quality video.

The camera's design follows Sony's previous DSC-F717 in offering a two-piece body which allows the lens section to swivel with respect to the body and viewfinder. In a big departure for Sony, the camera also accepts CompactFlash cards in addition to Sony's own Memory Sticks for image storage. Sony is the one to watch in the digital camera category. $999; www.sony.com