Compared to...

Studio scene comparison (vs. Adobe Camera RAW)

Here we're comparing the camera's JPEG output with a converted RAW file, in this case we chose to use Adobe Camera RAW 3.3 (as in our previous tests it produced the best output).

This is our standard studio scene comparison shot taken from exactly the same tripod position within minutes of each other. Lighting: daylight simulation, >98% CRI. Crops are 100%. Ambient temperature was approximately 22°C (~72°F).

Sony DSC-R1	Sony DSC-R1
(Straight from the camera)	(RAW converted using Adobe Camera RAW)
4,299 KB JPEG (3888 x 2592)	3,027 KB JPEG (3888 x 2592)

Overall a bit of a mixed bag, it's certainly fair to say that Adobe Camera RAW is the better image processor delivering finer details with better per-pixel sharpness and a crisper overall appearance. However there are certainly areas of the image which don't look as good, with some noise in certain colors (greens, reds) and a distinctly 'wrong' green color response (we could put this down to ACR 3.3 only having preliminary R1 support, it's easy to correct with a positive green hue adjustment in ACR's calibrate settings).