A friend of mine told me that Rush Limbaugh has been raving about the Sony Cybershot DSC-N1 digital camera. Apparently, he got one from a national sponsor that is a computer retailer, and he was struck by the high resolution and the 3-inch touch-sensitive screen on the back of the camera.

I did some research into the camera and found that it has a pretty unique design. The DSC-N1 is supposed to be both a digital camera and a portable photo viewer. In spite of the small size, the Cybershot N1 can shoot an 8.1-Megapixel image that's optically zoomed up to 3x. It's also designed to allow you to organize your photos into albums so you can play slide shows of your recent photos. To me this means that it's unlikely that a DSC-N1 user would also have a Video iPod, but I doubt that most DSC-N1 or Video iPod users would push the limits of either machine for storing and showing off photos.

The DSC-N1 has very few controls other than the touch screen. This is probably a good thing in the minds of people who like to take their camera out of a pocket and snap a picture immediately. It would take getting used to for a lot of veteran camera users. On the other hand, on-screen menu navigation can be quick once you get used to it, thanks to the large screen and absence of buttons. The N1 also comes with on-board photo editing tools, including tools for simple line drawing and cartooning. So, the Cybershot DSC-N1 actually has more UI features than could easily be represented in physical switches and dials.

Another potential issue I see with the DSC-N1 is that it requires Memory Stick Pro add-on memory, such as the 1-Gigabyte Memory Stick Pro. The price of this memory has come down a lot, but it's still more expensive than widely-used SD cards.

More good information about the Sony Cybershot DSC-N1 is available on The Digital Photography Blog.

Technorati Tags: digital cameras, Sony Cybershot DSC-N1, Video iPod, Christmas gifts, Hanukkah gifts