Sony F717: Free recall/repair offer expired Oct 2, 2007 !!!
Written: Jun 17 '06 (Updated Jul 20 '08)
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Pros: Big, impressive, flexible, expandagle, fast/large memory stick pro.
Cons: CCD Failure/recall.
The Bottom Line: If you like gadgets, and like "upgrading" your camera, this might be a good one for you. Make sure you get the CCD failure/recall done before it expires!
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| graphics_guy's Full Review: Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-F717 Digital Camera |
This is a pretty great camera! (except for the CCD failure/recall)...
This was my first digital camera.
I didn't much like film cameras - I guess because I'm too "cheap"
to buy film & get it developed. I also hated waiting until I took
a whole roll before getting it developed, and I hated having to
keep the photos in photo albums. I'm a computer guy - I wanted
all the advantages of a digital camera!
I'm a gadget-guy, so I wanted a camera that was pretty flexible,
so I could do a lot of things with it. And unless I wanted to go
up to around $2000 for a "pro" camera, the Sony F717 seemed like
the natural choice.
Here are the features that I bought it for, which might interest you too:
Resolution:
It can go up to 5 megapixels (I seldom use higher than 3 though).
Speed:
It can use the Memory-stick Pro, which is faster than the old
non-pro memory sticks. The non-pro memory sticks were limited
to 128 Mb, whereas the pro's can go much higher (and if you're
shooting 5 megapixel pictures, you'll want fast/large memory
sticks!) Note that the previous "big Sony" camera (F707) cannot
use memory stick pro's.
Lens:
Good/Big lens - As far as digital cameras are concerned, it has a
whopper of a Carl Zeiss lens. This lens takes very good pictures,
and has very good low-light performance (I frequently take indoor
pictures with no flash at all).
Night Photos:
Like many Sonys, this camera has night-vision capabilities.
It's pretty basic, but you can get some pretty interesting
shots. You can use it in total darkness with the built-in
UV lights (they're built into the end/rim of the sony lens).
The UV light is "invisible" to humans/animals, but the camera
can "see" things in the light (makes a green-ish picture).
The UV light range is only about 12 feet, but if there's a
little light in the room, you can take pictures at some
distance. I also bought the Sony HVL-IRM - this connects
like an external flash, and increases your UV light distance
quite a bit (albeit only in the round flashlight-like beam
of light it sends out ... would be nice if you could control
the spread of this beam).
Flexibility:
Lens attachments - The lens is threaded, so you can attach specialty
lenses onto the end (this was *very* important for me).
First I bought a simple/cheap UV lens (Quantaray 58mm DMC-UV) to
protect my real lens from dust/scratches/fingerprints, etc.
Other lenses:
Cross Screen Filters - I bought two of these - Quantaray 4x and 6x.
The 'x' does not stand for magnification here ... it tells you how
many points are on the "stars". The cross screen filter takes any
bright light or reflected light, and makes it look like a little
star, with points of light emanating out from the light. I take
a lot of pictures at car shows, and local performers in night
clubs, and this works really well in those pictures.
Wide Angle - I bought the "Professional Digital 0.5x Wide Angle
Lens - With Macro". This doesn't distort the picture as much as
a "fisheye" lens, but does help get large things (like group shots
or pictures of houses) into a single picture. And if you use it
fairly close-up (like taking a picture from the corner of a car)
it makes a neat slightly-distorted effect. One bad thing about
the wide-angle lens is that it blocks the built-in flash, and
causes a shadow in the picture (this problem is solved by an
external flash!) This wide-angle lens also obscures the built-in
night vision lights that are built into the rim/edge of the
Sony lens, so you can't really use it for night photos.
Lens Hood:
This is to shade your lens from bright/direct sunlight.
I bought a cheap rubber/round one, but this showed up in the corners
of my pictures. So I gave in and bought the (expensive) Sony LSF-H58A
official lens hood. Instead of round, it has 4 "petals" long ones on
the top & bottom, and short ones on the side, with gaps at the corners.
This shades the sun well, and doesn't cut off the corners of my pictures.
(I don't think the quick-release works very well though - rather than
using the quick-release, I just unscrew it).
Battery:
The battery is an "info-lithium" battery. These hold a
pretty good charge, and they communicate with the camera so it can
tell you how many minutes it has left (this is very useful!).
The Sony/factory battery is "ok", but I ordered a couple of extras
(non-Sony) through ebay, and (as advertised) the charge lasts longer
than the original Sony battery. Your mileage may vary :)
External Flash
There are great debates on the internet as to
whether the F717 actually does through-the-lens metering for the
Sony external flash. I read all the threads I could find, and it
sounded to me like it doesn't "really" do that (not until the next
generation F8xx big Sony's came out). So I bought a Quantaray Q383
instead of the Sony external flash. It's got a reuputation as a
pretty good flash (long-distance), with several adjustments, and
most importantly it swivels & pivots (ie, you can point it in any
direction, to bounce light off the cieling, or even from behind the
photographer). I also bought the Omni-Bounce flash diffuser for this
flash - it clips on (very securely) and helps soften/diffuse the light.
The diffuser is especially important when taking flashes up pretty close.
Memory Stick Reader:
Connecting the camera to the computer to transfer the pictures
is *so* slow & cumbersome. My laptop didn't have a memory stick reader,
so I bought an external USB-connected one. When I first bought it,
the guys in Circuit City didn't know about "memory stick pro" yet,
and at first sold me one that would only read regular memory sticks
and promised it would work with the memory stick pro (I bought these
2 items at the *same* time). When it didn't work, I took it back to
the guy that promised me it would work, and he let me exchange it :)
My new computer has a built-in memory stick reader.
Remote Shutter Switch:
There is much debate on the internet as to which remote shutter control
to use with the F717. Vendors sell a couple different models, but I've
read some people saying that certain features don't work with certain
switches. I got the Sony RM-VD1 -- it controls the power switch, and
the zoom in/out, and has a shutter button. The cord is about 5 feet long.
When the camera is on the tripod, this allows you to take the picture
without touching the camera (this is good because the camera doesn't
shake). I also set up the tripod on my back deck, and take pictures
of hummingbirds by pressing the shutter button from inside the house
(keeps from scaring away the birds). One "gotcha" is that the camera
shuts itself off after being idle for a few minutes, so you have to
zoom in/out every few minutes so it won't auto shut-off.
Training:
This camera's got a *lot* of features. I read the manual cover-to-cover
twice, and still go back to refresh my memory on finer points. After
I had had the camera several months, I ordered the training video by
Joe Correia. It's pretty good, but is aimed more at the total beginner
(it would have been great if I had it at day-one). Correia's video is
somewhat limited in being only a video - I would have liked a book along
with the video (it's hard to go back and find things in the video, whereas
it would be much easier to stick a bookmark in a book).
Tripod:
I got a monster of a tripod - the Bogen 3251. This is a very big/heavy
tripod, with lots of fancy features (such as a special button for quick
setup leg auto-release). The Sony F717 has a tripod-mounting screw/hole
right in the botton of the lens, in a position that balances the camera
pretty well.
Results:
I'm no professional photographer, but I'm pretty happy with the results!
Note that when people see you with this rather-large camera, they sometimes
*assume* you are a professional photographer :) I've taken pictures in a
variety of situations, indoor/outdoor good-light/bad-light distant/close-up,
flash/no-flash/night-vision, etc. Here's some examples I took at car
shows, and some singer/performer shots, as examples (these aren't my "best"
shots, but they're the ones I have on the internet)...
http://robslink.com/Links.html
http://robslink.com/Performers.html
The Recall:
A few weeks ago (spring 2006) I had received something in the mail
about a class action lawsuit, regarding the Sony CCD's (this is the
part of the camera that "captures" the image). Apparently the CCD's
in certain Sony cameras (including the F717) have started failing
approx 2 years after manufacture (more likely to fail if in high
heat and humidity). Well, when I tried to use my camera to take
pictures at a motorcycle show today, it wouldn't work (the LCD
screen showed me all the text/programming stuff, but no picture).
The last time I used it (last weekend) I was taking pictures at
an outdoor car show all day - about 90-degrees & North Carolina
humidity (I guess perfect conditions to hasten the CCD failure).
I found the following Sony webpage which steps you through a test
to verify this is the problem (they have you make a video with the
camera, and talk during the video, and then play back the video -
if you hear sound, but see no picture, or blurry picture, your
CCD has probably failed). They have you fill out an online form,
and they will send you a shipping label to return the camera
which they will fix at no charge (even if it's out of warranty).
Here is that webpage:
http://esupport.sony.com/perl/news-item.pl?news_id=118&mdl=DSCF717
Specifically, here's how to make that short video...
First, I put memory stick in computer, and deleted all pictures.
Insert memory card into camera.
Turn on camera.
Turn dial to "Set Up" and on the "Camera 1" page, make sure
that "Moving Image" is set to MPEG Movie.
Turn dial to the icon that looks like a filmstrip (right beside set up on dial).
(make sure lenscap is off :)
Press shutter button to start video.
(you'll see the word 'REC' in red letters on your screen)
point camera around room, and say some stupid stuff.
Press shutter button again to stop video.
Turn dial to the "play/preview" icon (just beside the filmstrip icon).
Select that video clip, and press the middle of the left/right/up/down button to play it.
You should hear your recorded voice, but see a black screen.
Aside from the CCD failure, I've been very happy with this
camera. I was somewhat disappointed about this CCD failure though.
I was unable to make pictures at this bike show, and who knows
what kinds of photo-opportunities I'll miss out on while the
camera is being repaired...
If you buy one of these cameras used, be sure to ask if it has
had the CCD replaced. The free repair offer is only good until
Oct 2, 2007 (according to the above sony webpage), and if you
buy a used sony that hasn't been repaired, and if it fails after
that date, you might be s.o.l. :)
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July 2006 update:
About a week after registering, I received a pre-paid shipping label to mail my camera to Sony. About a week later I received an email that they had received it and assigned it to a technician (and gave me a url/link where I could check the status). A little over a week later, I received the camera on my doorstep. The box was a little crushed on the outside, but with *lots* of bubblewrap on the inside the camera wasn't hurt. I was kinda surprised they shipped it with the lenscap in a separate bag from the camera (I guess that's just the way they do it - put the lenscap, battery, and memory stick in a separate plastic bag...)
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 800
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
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Epinions.com ID:
graphics_guy
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Reviews written: 35
Trusted by: 3 members
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