Rating: 
Summary: Awesome!
Review: I've had this camera for about 6 months now and STILL nothing beats it! I come from a 35mm/medium format back ground so to ME - this camera is nearly perfect. It is VERY ergonomic, contrasted to what another reviewer said. In fact, that's one of the MAIN reasons I bought it! It just feels so good! In fact, it's about the ONLY camera out there that you can say that about. Second, low light etc. - I think that review was for the F505 - the F505V has MUCH improved all of that and I am quite impressed! I've taken the thing ALL around London, Europe, NY, LA, Las Vegas, South Africa etc. and taken GREAT, stunning night shots with it in almost zero light. It's awesome! Ya just gotta 'work it' right. (and have a tripod or very steady hands!) It works like a standard 35mm - slightly depress the button and it comes to focus - then you hold it - compose and wait for the right moment - then - press all the way down and it's taken THAT instant! That's the way to avoid the delay. Still - less of a delay would help! Lack of viewfinder? I thought that'd be a real problem - but have not yet found it to be. It's an excellent screen - I've compared it to many and it is just gorgeous with detail. In bright sun you hold it 'waist level' style and actually capture the sun light in it to make your image clear. Quite cool - like those waist level 2 and a quarter cameras. Once I got used to it - I love it. All and all - a gorgeous - beautiful camera that EVERYONE will admire and ask you about. (trust me - I met MANY people at stonehenge, South Africa, Rome etc. just asking about it.) Ya don't get that with those cheesy 30 dollar-looking '60s silver box cameras or with the plastic 'don't-drop-me' wimpy looking Nikon cheesy sounding 'coolpix'. (and I'm a 35mm Nikon fan - I'm just let down by their digital work.) Anyway - that's my two cents - hope it helps! ~ jayse (ps - in April I'll be posting pics, at the moment I just got home and need abreak! Check 'em out!)
Rating: 
Summary: Decent Camera
Review: It has many nice features... the best of which being the TIFF compressionless capture. The only problem is that you can only fit 4 of these onto a 32mb stick. The normal JPEG pictures are good, but the compression does show through. In the earlier model of this camera you could control the amount of JPEG compression that the camera uses. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a way to do so on this newer model. It does have trouble with motion pictures... they tend to be extremely blurred. But, it is a very nice camera all in all. However, I may wait if I were you to buy the Mavica... as soon as the technology is proven.
Rating:
Summary: Great Digital Camera, finally!
Review: It took a while to fully comprehend the instructions and discover exactly how to use the camera properly. It also took about two or three full photo sessions to stop trying to hold it up to my eye like an SLR camera (duh!). The LCD screen is generous for a digital camera. Sometimes tough to see clearly in bright sunlight. BUT... the photos are high qualilty with 4 or 5 different options for pixel resolution. Flash works beautifully, although it is not a pop-up flash. You have to deploy it yourself. Not a big deal. I did buy the optional memory-stick reader that goes directly into the USB port on my computer. Much easier for downloading. I also bought the floppy disk adapter but rarely use it. Of course you have to get a stick with more memory than the one they give you. But that's a given. The price has come down substantially with the introduction of the new F707 camera from Sony (which DOES have a through-the-lense eye-cup view finder.
But this camera has enough features to take you into the future of digital photography without becoming obsolete in a year! Great camera, great lense by Carl Zeiss, good features, cropping, exposure options,resolution options, fantastic zoom. Even records short movies (about 30 to 60 seconds)but you can e-mail them to friends or family. Has a direct e-mail format option. I really enjoy this camera.
Rating:
Summary: comparison to 35mm photography
Review: Ive been a photographer for a number of years and when I decided to change my equipment I thought serously about digital cameras.
Being a graphic artist I and working with design in photoshop I found that this camera really suited my needs with its versitality.
One problem I found was that in low light situations I found that the lcd screen was too dark for my liking.
If any one out there found a way around this please let me know, I will apreaciate this.
Also flash seems to be not strong enought for group situations.
the little trigger buttons are sometimes being missed
But i would not swap this beauty for anything else except for the sony 707.
Rating:
Summary: comparison to 35mm photography
Review: Ive been a photographer for a number of years and when I decided to change my equipment I thought serously about digital cameras.
Being a graphic artist I and working with design in photoshop I found that this camera really suited my needs with its versitality.
One problem I found was that in low light situations I found that the lcd screen was too dark for my liking.
If any one out there found a way around this please let me know, I will apreaciate this.
Also flash seems to be not strong enought for group situations.
the little trigger buttons are sometimes being missed
But i would not swap this beauty for anything else except for the sony 707.
Rating:
Summary: Great Digital Camera - Terrific Lens
Review: Like and SLR or high quality camera, its all in the Lens. This one delivers a relatively large - especially for digital - high quality Carl Zeiss lens and it shows. Pictures are crisp and full of color. My only complaint is that it only has an LCD viewfinder and it doesn't work well in bright light or low light for me. And given the lens, its not all that compact. But go for it!
Rating:
Summary: A very good camera with a few annoying flaws
Review: The heart of any camera is in the lens, and the Zeiss lens on the Sony DSC-F505V is one of the best, if not *the* best, lens I've seen on a fixed-lens digital camera. Add to that the high resolution and Sony's novel pixel interpolation software, and you've got a camera that will produce absolutely striking 8x10s- prints so good that you'll find it hard to believe they weren't made from film. Add to that the manula override and incredible cool looks of this camera and you've got a winning package- almost. Unfortunately Sony decided to equip this otherwise outstanding camera with their own proprietary memory stick storage format. These sticks cost anywhere from 20-50% more than SmartCards and are only available from Sony. And with the resolution this camera produces you'll need at least one 64 meg memory stick- more if you plan on extended outings. The ergonomics aren't great, either. This is not an easy camera to use with two hands and work the controls as well. It almost looks as if ergonomics were sacrificed for style. Hence only 4 stars. If Sony had used a more standard high-density storage format nd made it a little easier to handle they'd have a 5-star product.
Rating:
Summary: DSC F505V vs previous F505E model
Review: The new F505V camera is a superb camera that has cured any niggles that I have with the previous F505E version, but Sony have introduced a new problem that wasn't present in the F505E. On the F505E, with a 64 Mb memory stick, I could take over 300 shots at 1024 x 768 resolution, which matches the resolution I use on my PC. This is ideal if you have a month's annual leave (away from the ability to download all your shots onto your PC). With the F505V, the lowest corresponding resolution is now 1280 x 960, which allows only 90 shots on the 64 Mb memory stick. Even if they can't provide a mechanism for fixing the resolution vs storage problem on the F505V itself, I would strongly recommend that Sony re-institute the 1024 x 768 resolution on future models of the camera. PS The primary problem I have with the F505E is "red-eye", which means that, on all my indoor shots - and there are very many of them - I have to use the software provided to try and edit out "red-eye" manually. This painstaking problem has been eliminated on the new F505V by strobing the flash before taking the picture. The F505V also now has the ability to use an external flash, which might have also helped with the "red-eye", had it been available on the F505E.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding picture quality!!
Review: This is a 3.3 mega-pixel digital camera, and is a very high quality product, as you would expect from Sony. It has a lens made by Carl Zeiss, a world-renowned leader in the optics field. It has a 5X optical zoom, and a 10X digital zoom - the lens itself can magnify what you're zooming in on up to 5 times, and the camera's electronics can double that, effectively giving you a 10X zoom. It has auto-exposure/auto-focus, and the exposure and focus can also be adjusted manually, which is a big plus on a camera like this! It has a built-in flash, a connector for an external flash (very handy!), and the controls are easy to use. It comes with a 8MB memory stick to store the pictures, and can record up to 1 minute of mpeg video with sound. Also comes with a USB cable and software, along with a rechargeable lithium battery and charger. A little expensive, but definitely worth every penny!!
Rating:
Summary: Pros and Cons of the DSC-F505V
Review: This is a really good camera, but there are some drawbacks. The large lens and overall design fits well in you hands, if you have small hands. The 505's image quality is very good and often opt for the lower resolution images (1856x1392). The low light capabilities are quite good, but you end up having to take one or two shots before finding the best as there is no enhancement of the LCD image prior to a shot. It is sometimes difficult to target with the camera unless you are used to the LCD screen. The menu system is very easy to navigate and allows you to do almost everything you need w/o the use of the computer. Despite the limited (~65min) battery, it is adequate to fill a 64 or 128Mb Memory Stick through normal use. A second battery along with the charger can keep you shooting all day long or as long as your memory holds out. As with any Sony product, the memory will cost you more but go to Synchrotech.com and they have good prices. The flash on the 505 is excellent. At its highest setting, it can easily penetrate 16-20ft. Because of the 505's odd shape, it can be a challenge finding a good case for it other than the custom Sony case. I ended up with a Cascade Pack (#66009) a part of the MULTI pack series by MRock. Everything I need (camera, extra memory, extra battery, A/C battery charger and cables) will fit into this case and the overall size isn't much more than the camera itself. Many of the people I work with wouldn't buy this camera as it is more camera than they need. The 505V is really for someone who wants more control of their shots than the simple point and shoot cameras that are out there, but the 505 does have that ability.
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