The Dimage X1 is a camera for those who appreciate style and innovation and are prepared to pay a premium to get it, especially if they don’t want to be bothered by a lot of technical details but still want good picture quality. It is compact, very easy on the eye, and the anti-shake system and 8MP CCD ensure good results under most normal circumstances. Problems with low-light focusing may limit its usefulness as a party camera, but other than that it performs very well.
In use the X1 performs well, although the position of the lens makes it very easy to get your finger in the shot when using it two-handed. The camera starts up extremely quickly in under a second, and the monitor screen is large, bright and easy to see in most lighting conditions, although the highly polished surface of the rear panel does lead to annoying reflections making the screen difficult to see in bright sunlight. Fortunately increasing the screen brightness compensates to some extent.