OVERVIEW

Digital photography is a dynamic and rapidly developing medium that shows incredible potential. The advances in digital photography in just the last decade are astounding, based on two major considerations, cost and quality of the image. Ten years ago, with a twenty thousand dollar camera you could generate images that were comparable with 35mm single use cameras. Todays top of the line (consumer level) digital cameras cost between $1000 and $5000 dollars and image quality is on par with a "quality" point'n'shoot 35mm camera.

TECHNICAL IMPORTANCE

One consistent problem with all digital cameras has been "image" storage. Images (especially at higher quality levels) are huge files, which consume disk space (Smart Media, etc) at an alarming rate. This makes for a series of problems, first, the time needed to actually record the image file to disk is much much much slower than the speed at which 35mm images are recorded. This causes lost shots, shake & blur, and "road rage" level frustration. Second, it doesn't take long to run out of storage space, depending on the specific storage medium, this can happen in as few as one or two "top quality level" images. Next comes getting the images from the cameras storage medium into your computer, which with cables, card readers, adapters, etc. can be pretty complicated, VERY SLOW, and extremely frustrating.

Sony Corporation has always been an electronics pioneer, they have no fear when it comes to introducing new and different approaches to solving marketplace problems. The major attraction of digital imaging is the speed and convenience with which images can be made, modified, and used. The struggle to overcome the "storage" problem led Sony to take a different approach with their Mavica line. These cameras use standard 3.5 inch (1.44MB) disks, available everywhere. Shoot your image, pull the 3.5 "floppy" out of the camera, and plug it into your disk drive and start working on the image file. The only problem with this approach, 1.44MB isn't much space, one or two "top quality" images and your disk is full.

CUTTING EDGE DIGITAL

The next obvious and logical developmental step is the digital camera that records the image directlly to a CD-R. With the CD-R you have tons of storage space (160 1600x1200 images on a single $4.00 CD-R) enter the Sony Mavica MVC-CD1000 digital camera. At 2.1 megapixels, the camera will produce high quality images (though not on par with 3 megapixel cameras) and at $1300.00 the camera is priced in the ball park with other two megapixel cameras, the selling point for the new Mavica will be the two cents per image cost. When compared to other storage media, two cents per image is dirt cheap, plus the CD-R is absolutely perfect for maintaining large files, 160 images (or more) per CD-R, without using hard drive space.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

10x optical and 20x "precision" digital zoom.
"Steadyshot" Picture Stabilization.
MPEG "HQ" movie mode.
2.5" LCD with brightness control, and TTL LCD viewfinder.
JPEG, TIFF, GIF, and MPEG fornats.
"Pop up" flash, plus optional "external" flash Sony HVL-F ($120).
Manual, Shutter Priority, and Aperture Priority modes, plus Program.
Spot Metering System.
8 second to 1/500th second shutter speed range.
Auto or Manual White Balance.
Zoom Playback, with "resize" and trim.
USB cable connection can be used to send files from your PC to the camera and record them on CD-R.

SUMMARY


Are there any downsides to Sony's new Mavica? Size and weight (2 lbs 4ozs) and the unit looks more like an "industrial" video camera, than a still camera. Deleted images Do Not free up disk space. Familiarization with the instruction manual is a must, each CD-R must be "Initialized" prior to use, and "Finalized" after completion.

Battery life is from 90-100 minutes (enough time to record over 1000 images) and the camera has a meter to measure remaining battery power. Sony's new Mavica MVC-CD1000 will be the first shot in the "Memory Media" wars, but unlike the Beta vs VHS debacle, Sony will win this one. Look for the CD-R to be THE universal digital Image storage media in the near future. Sony says images will remain pristine on CD-R for at least 100 years.

What can you actually do with the Sony MVC-CD1000? You can store about 160 low compression JPEG images on a disc, or about 20 TIFF images. It averages about 2-4 seconds to save an image to disc, but recording a TIFF images may takes as long as 30-40 seconds. The "position sensor" is a nifty feature, and with the sensor "on" the camera will automatically rotate the images to the proper orientation for slide show presentation. The "steadyshot" image stabilization works very well, pro photographers are going to love the option of using the camera without a tripod, however for truly important images a tripod is still recommended. Overall the Sony MVC-CD1000 should appeal to a wide range of users, pro photographers who don't need 3.34 megapixel resolution, but do need speed, versatility, and convenience, and amateurs who want a digi-cam that is midway between a traditional 35mm SLR and a Digital video camera.
So, if you like being the first guy on the block to have the newest and latest techno toy, the Sony MVC-CD1000 is going to impress your friends.


I'm looking forward to the second (or 3rd) generation Sony MVC-CD1000 3.34 megapixel, large buffer (to improve image capture lag time), interchangeable lenses, AND records images to CD-R.

For information on How to Choose a Digital Camera please see my review:

http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-2E46-17B174E2-39A418E3-prod1

For information about specific Digital Camera models, please see my Digital Camera Reviews:


Nikon Digital Cameras

Nikon Coolpix 5000
http://www.epinions.com/content_52720406148

Nikon Coolpix 885
http://www.epinions.com/content_46290931332

Nikon Coolpix 995
http://www.epinions.com/content_40256769668

Nikon D1X
http://www.epinions.com/content_36023996036

Nikon D1
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-4868-E2433E5-38737CF8-prod2/tk_~CB003.1.78

Nikon Coolpix 880
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-2DA8-DF21E52-39E118CA-prod5

Nikon Coolpix 990
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-3B78-3C431D90-3A345313-prod3

Canon Digital Cameras

Canon Powershot G2
http://www.epinions.com/content_47646084740

Canon Powershot S10
http://www.epinions.com/content_7563808388/tk_~CB003.1.74

Canon EOS D30
http://www.epinions.com/content_11625991812/tk_~CB003.1.58

Canon Powershot PRO 90IS
http://www.epinions.com/content_30440001156/tk_~CB005.1.9

Canon Powershot G1
http://www.epinions.com/content_8768294532/tk_~CB003.1.70

Canon Powershot PRO 70
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-6496-25768DA-38C3E01A-prod9/tk_~CB003.1.70


Sony Digital Cameras

Sony DSC S85
http://www.epinions.com/content_51957567108

Sony MVC-CD 300
http://www.epinions.com/content_45591793284

Sony DSC-S50
http:http://www.epinions.com/content_15885897348

Sony Mavica MVC-CD1000
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-5F01-365BA12-3980602C-prod3/tk_~CB003.1.14

Olympus Digital Cameras

Olympus Camedia C3040
http://www.epinions.com/content_42675179140

Olympus Camedia C3000
http://www.epinions.com/content_26106105476/tk_~CB003.1.30

Olympus Camedia E10
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-59FB-183DFC73-3A17388F-prod2/tk_~CB003.1.42

Fuji Digital Cameras

Fuji Finepix S1 “PRO”
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-5591-16816C34-39047A87-prod5/tk_~CB003.1.18

Minolta Digital Cameras

Minolta Dimage 5
http://www.epinions.com/content_49104522884


Just “cut’n’paste” the URL into your browser’s address window.





Recommended: Yes