banderso's Full Review: Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-F707 Digital Camera
I have been in photography for about 40 years. Recently, I've been disappointed with the quality of prints I've been getting back from the developer. Because they all use the 1 hour machines and because they do not change out their chemicals often enough, the results are grainy and have poor contrast.
I used to do my own lab work back in the days of black/white. When color became the medium of choice I found out that it was quite a bit harder to get results in the darkroom than in shooting a good pictures. Ergo, I left the darkroom work to the pro's and concentrated on snapping shots.
A few years ago, when digital photography began to emerge, I bought a camera so I could send shots to my daughter in Boulder, Co. It was pretty bad, but the technology has been growing by leaps and bounds and is not a real challenger to the film format, particularly in the area of consumer snapshots.
Consumer snapshots were what Sony developed this camera for. They included many "pro" features for the more advanced amateur. I read people complaining about missing features such as "color saturation" and "color balance" controls. Of the missing "histograms". HEY !! Let's get real! The cameras that have these features are selling for $1000 more! Also, how many people would/could actually use these features without screwing up their photos?
Look what this camera gives you for considerably less than $1000. It gives you a Carl Zeiss lens. A Carl Zeiss lens on my Contax costs me more than the price of this entire camera! It gives you 5 MPixel performance. 6 or 7 MPixel is stated as the equivalent of film! It gives you Night Framing/Night Shot and the lowest noise levels in it's price class! It also gives you enough features to baffle almost any amateur photog ...
People have been critical of the electronic viewfinder. These same people like the Night framing/Night Shooting feature. I would ask them how they could perform this WITHOUT the EVF ? Also, please note that FinePix, Nikon and others are switching to the EVF! The EVF works great and is not a problem. I've done manual focus and had good results, particularly with the expanded focus option TURNED ON!
On the down side is the memory sticks. They cost more and they only come in 128Mb. Sony had recently declared that up to 1Gb would be available this year, with 2 & 4 Gb. to follow.
The battery is also proprietary ... HOWEVER; it gives an unusually long shooting period between charges. It is of extremely high quality and is not to unreasonably prices.
Well, looking at the good points, and looking at the quality of the snaps, which come from this camera, it's a no brainer to me. FOR THE MONEY YOU CANNOT GET A CAMERA WHICH YIELDS THE PICTURE QUALITY OR FEATURES OF THIS CAMERA.
'Nuff said ... I'm back in control of my pictures, once again.
Barry
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 769.00 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
The new HVL-RLA ring light from Sony allows you to consistently capture impeccably lit macro photography everytime. Just attach the light to your comp...More at eBay
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