Rating: Summary: You'll Be Impressed! Review: I bought this camera to get me started in professional photography. The quality of the photos I can now take has Launched me into a new realm of photography. Things I like: CD Storage, 20x Digital Zoom, Clearity, lots of manual settings, manual focus is great, Things I Don't Like: Slow Shutter Speed, Poor flash (but usually don't need it anyway), Samples of this cameras ability can be seen at: [another website] All the photos there were taken by this camera.
Rating: Summary: Great Camera! Review: I got this camera for Christmas and I absolutely love it. I already have the Mavica fd-83 but wanted to upgrade. The fd-83 worked well but I had heard that the picture quality was even better on the CD1000 (which it definetly is) and as convenient as the floppy disks were to put in the computer they were kind of inconvenient to carry around. As a budding photographer I had to carry a lot around and change them frequently. The max I ever got on a floppy was 13, and that was using black and white, compared to a cd's 100+. Although the size is larger than most cameras I was surprised at how lightweight it is. And though it may look bulky it fits very comfortably in your hand. Overall, I am extremely pleased with this camera. The only complaint I have is minimal. Unlike, the fd-83 it doesn't have a button on the camera to change the picture type(b&w, sepia, etc.). You have to go in through the menu to change it. Only a slight inconvenience and only because I am used to having it right at my fingertips.P.S. You can take action shots with this camera. Like, all Sony Mavica's when you press down the button half way it auto-focuses and a green light comes on. Then you push down the rest of the way to take the picture. In cases where you're taking action shots you simply keep the button pushed down half-way in preparation for your shot. I really wouldn't call it a flaw. Its just something you have to get used to. After getting my first Mavica it took me only a few days to get the hang of it.
Rating: Summary: Form Factor is wonderful Review: I got this camera to upgrade from an earlier Sony that took the 3.5, 1.44 mb disks. What a pain those disks were! The upscale to 150 shots on the cd disk from only 12 on a 3.5 disk is one of the major benefits for me. Also I had been waiting for a camera that had a date option on it also, because 20 years from now I will want to know when the photo was taken. I also like the fact that I can just put the disk in my CD drive and copy the files to my hard drive for editing with my Thumbs Plus database program. The controls are easy to operate and I really like the zoom levels. Yes, it is a bit slow to snap the picture and stick it on the cd disk but all in all this to me is a minor problem considering the form factor of a cd disk which is what I think is a disruptive technology breakthrough. No way I will use a memory stick or even a usb port when I have the mini disk form that this camera has.
Rating: Summary: Great Camera Review: I have had the opportunity to review many of the recent digital cameras. From the 1.3 to 3.34 megapixel. I wasn't sure I would like this particular camera because of the 2.1 megapixel technology. It was the CD-R that enticed me to order one. When I opened the box and started using it I was pleasently surprised. The camera takes some very nice pictures at any resolution. Tiff images @ 1600X1200 take a good 15+ seconds to write to the CD-R. JPG pictures @ 1600X1200 take a little less than two seconds to write to the CD-R. This camera is not designed to take bursting pictures or situations that require rapid succession of shots. The flash works well in normal and red-eye reduction modes. Macro shots do not do well with the flash. The lens assembly prevents the flash from reaching a macro subject. The MPEG movie mode works quite well and just like any of the other Mavica series cameras. The limitation is a maximum recording time of 15 seconds. If you shot is longer than this you have to take multiple 15 second shots. The USB connection is really nice. I can transfer pictures in seconds from the camera to the computer. The supplied drivers allow the camera to become another drive letter on your computer when it is plugged in. I am using WindowsME without any issue with this camera or software. I little FYI note is included in the box informing the purchaser that USB drivers for Windows2000 are not included. The note gives a URL to check for the Windows2000 driver. As of this writing the driver is not on the web site. Initializing a new CD-R is fast and easy. It takes about 20 seconds. The included adaptec software will also let you format the CD-R in the camera from your PC with the USB cable attached. The included software will also let you copy files from your PC to the CD-R on the camera. Finalizing a CD-R when it is full is easy and straightforward. After the CD is finalized it's contents can be viewed in any computer that has a CD. 3" CD-R's are readily available from many sources and are priced very attractively. Buy them in bulk and you are really saving a lot of money over single CD-R purchases. The image stabilization makes a noticeable differences in both the optical and zoom modes. Battery life is excellant. I get about 120 minutes of usage between charges. All in all I really like this camera and will keep it. However, I will really be interested in Sony's next version of a CD-R camera. It should address some of the minor short comings of this one.
Rating: Summary: Still a great camera!!!! Review: I have had this camera for 4 years now and its still a great camera!!! I bought this camera new. Writing to cd is really great. I can take 155 pictures on the highest quality setting. The disc needs to be initialized before using, this can take about 30-45 secs. Then it has to be finalized, another 30-45 secs. That has to be done before you put it in your computers cd rom drive to view your pictures. However, you can just connect the usb feature and save from there. The lcd on this camers is great too. You can also take a 1 minute long video. Still very happy with it.
Rating: Summary: good camera Review: I have owned this camera for about 1 year, and am very pleased with it. The best feature it has is the CD. When you are on vacation you do not need to worry about running out of storage, you can just put in a new disk. No plugging the camera into a computer to download pictures, just pop the disk into the drive. No need to use a lot of computer memory to store pictures on your hard drive, there is a permanent record on disk. The disks run about $5 each, about the same as a roll of film. I only have two negative comments. The video is worthless, the quality is terrible. The LCD is sometimes hard to see if you are not in a well lit location (the picture comes out fine).
Rating: Summary: I Love This Camera Review: I love this camera. This is the camera that has converted me from using standard film to "going digital." Without the cost restraints of standard film or the space restraints that digital camera memory place upon the number of pictures I take I feel free to take as many pictures of I want at no risk. This results in far more pictures per event than I would normally have taken. The automatic aspects of the camera work great. It is extremely rare for a shot to be out of focus or exposed improperly. Out of appx. 1000 vacation shots I took in August only 1 or 2 were inexplicably out of focus and only a handful more were too dark, and those were due to the lighting conditions themselves being far too dark for taking pictures. The camera is large and bulky compared with almost every other digital camera but is lighter than any SLR I have ever used. The lens is big and provides a remarkably wide range (10x optical times 2 digital - total 20x zoom - excellent). Shots taken at 20x zoom are not pixelated in the least! At the highest resolution I get somewhere between perhaps 100 and 180 images on a third party 3" CDR (less than $1 each). At the lowest resolution it looks like one could get in excess of 1000 shots onto a CD. The single drawback I find with this camera is that during a day of really busy shooting it can really drain the rechargable batteries. I keep a spare (charged) battery on hand. We spent a 9 hour day at Disney this summer and I used 1.5 charges during the course of the day.
Rating: Summary: Sony Mavica MVCCD 1000 Digital Camera Review: I own a Sony Mavica and I realy injoy it before I was buying 15-25 rolls of film a month the antisapation of not knowing If my pictures turned out or not was hell, with my Mavica I know right there on the river or were ever Im at. This camera was the best investment I ever made, I have 6 cameras or more and I have not used any of them sence my Mavica, I have taken pictures of spiders to ants and they are all great. The ones I took with hornet nests were great.
Rating: Summary: Great stuff - just watch for a couple of things Review: I purchased a camera last year (another 2.1 mg) and was shocked at the $$ in hidden costs so sent it back. It needed more memory and ate batteries like there was no tomorrow. Six months later I purchased this sony and I continue to be delighted with it and am relaxed about the price. When I added on the cost of extra storage media and batteries that most other cameras demand I concluded that the MVC-CD1000 wasn't so far off the mark after all. I recommend you do not buy the camera case - its shamefully expensive (for a bit of vinyl) and doesn't protect a thing. Considering the size of the camera I swapped my handbag for a daypack (small backpack) which has several compartments & carries the camera, cables, discs etc plus all my girl stuff - perfect for a day out or holidaying as my main bag. The zoom is great - better than my friends camera which was supposedly the same range. Some scenery shots have a green tinge to them - I noticed this in Steve's digicam review and I haven't worked out how to sort it out yet. But its only a very small minus. The biggest bugbear is the delay before taking the photo (so aptly described by Ken McKenzie review). (:-)It can test your humour if your subject matter keeps walking out of the photo frame)! My bottom line though - This camera is pure fun!
Rating: Summary: Fantastic - Flexible - Yet Simplistic to use !! Review: I purchased one of these. After I got it, it took me 5 minutes of reading the excellent manual to figure out how to use it...(read about initializing and finalizing the CD). I proceeded to take about 20 pictures in bright sunlight, shade, very dim light, animals, flowers, trees blowing in the wind (to test the steady shot). I took the CD and inserted it in my generic WIN 95 conputer with a color printer attached. Within 5 minutes, I had opened a WORD document, created a title, and by repeating the simple sequence of "Insert picture" (from the cd drive)and titling each picture with a piece of text, I created an index of 3 pages with each picture (about 2""X1.5""). I personally sized them by corner pulling. I printed some of the pictures particularly dear to my heart, in draft quality (8x11) on reqular paper. They came out fabulous. They were from recording in "Normal" mode. I have owned many leading edge of technology video, still, and video/still cameras. NOthing I have ever seen matches the simplicity and power of this camera. You can record a sort audio title with each picture, so when creating your index (NO SPECIAL SOFTWARE!!! Just Microsoft word), you can label your picture!!
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