Sony Mavica MVCCD1000 2.1MP Digital Camera
by Sony

List Price: $1,099.99
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Category: Digital Camera
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Digital Photo Product Details

• 2.1 million pixels
• 10x optical/20x digital zoom
• Images saved on 3'' CD-R disc
• Images can be viewed on Macs and PCs via CD-ROM drive or USB connection
• Uses Sony InfoLITHIUM NP-F550 rechargeable battery; movie mode records up to 60 seconds of audio and video

• Adobe Photoshop CS5 Upgrade [Old Version]
• Serif PhotoPlus X3
• Adobe Photoshop CS4 Upgrade [OLD VERSION]
• Aperture 3
• Pixelmator [Old Version]

Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sony Mavica MVCCD1000 2.1MP Digital Camera

Customer Review: It's a still shot camera only
Summary: 4 Stars

The after-market CD-Rs not only are more than 1/4 the price of Sony, but they hold 200MB vs the standard 156MB. A warning does come up, recommending Sony Mavica disks, but all work fine, including downloads into the PC.

The economics of CD-R photo storage is incredible. The CD-R stores about the same as 4-5 rolls of 36 exposure 35mm film, even at the highest JPEG resolution setting for the CD1000. That's about $16-$20 just for 35mm film, not counting processing or printing vs the cost of the disk which is about 80 cents.

The bad stuff:

(1)The CD1000 cannot put up with even slow motion activity shooting. Basically, when you slightly depress the shutter, a green light comes on and the image "freezes", ready for the final press of the shutter to store "that" image, right? Not so. The green light and the frozen image simply "charges" the CCD array and when you press the shutter further to actually take the shot, the CCD receives whatever image is presented through the lens. If all is still, no problem, but if the image is moving, like at a social event, you come out with part of an arm, leg, or the back of a head or two. This takes a while to adapt to and if you're planning to use the CD1000 for a sporting event camera, forget it.

(2)Associated with the above problem, is the image in the view finder and LCD screen goes to freeze or blank when the shutter is activated so any action is lost. The view finder is a small LCD and not an optical look through the lens. Sure, on 35mm cams we lose the image during the shot, but only for the shutter speed. With the CD1000, you're off for as long as the CD-R write cycle takes, about 1 to 5 seconds.

(3)The flash "hot shoe" is not. It's only a bracket to attach Sony's own CD1000 optional flash that's non-standard via their interrconnect cord. That means all those smart flashes for our 35mm won't work. BTW, the CD1000 built in flash is good for about 5 feet with lots of controls. However, when the flash is up, the CD1000 compensates it's exposure and darkens the shot for longer distance. Better to make 2 shots, one with flash, another without, just for safety.

(4)Connecting the CD1000 to USB sounds and is simple. However, in very small type on pg.32, a warning that no other device be plugged into the other USB port. So if you have an HP Scanner already plugged in to USB and want to connect the CD1000 to the other port, forget it. I've heard sometimes it works. My installation issued "the blue screen of death" under Windows 98 SE. A call to Sony Tech Support, reminded me to "read the manual", even the fine print. This goes against the industry standard USB spec, but Sony says the CD1000 must "own" the USB environment and that's the way it is.

Other than (1-4), the CD1000 is still a great camera. Flexible to a fault, lots of storage, great shot economics (except the price of the camera), and Sony quality. I'll stay with it, even with it's faults.

Description of Sony Mavica MVCCD1000 2.1MP Digital Camera

Sony has solved the floppy capacity problem with its newest Mavica--the MVC-CD1000--by using a much more forgiving storage medium: CD-R. To keep the camera's size as reasonable as possible, the CD1000 uses miniature 3-inch CD-R discs that offer 156 MB of image storage--enough space to store 160 2-megapixel images at maximum quality--as well as what is effectively instant image archiving. Additionally, the smaller CD-Rs are readable in almost every CD-ROM drive (including the slot-loading iMacs), and for those few drives that can't handle the smaller CD, the MVC-CD1000 comes with a snap-on adapter.

A high-powered storage medium is worthless without the optics to back it up, and the MVC-CD1000 comes with most of the same high-quality components used in Sony's other high-end Mavica cameras, including an f2.8 to f11 10x optical zoom lens with SteadyShot optical image stabilization. New for the Mavica line is the ability to save images as uncompressed TIFFs for maximum image quality (and huge file sizes). The MVC-CD1000 uses a less harsh compression ratio of 6:1 for its high-quality JPEGs. The camera's numerous shooting modes include: aperture priority, shutter priority, twilight, twilight plus, landscape, and panfocus. Additionally, the MVC-CD1000 can also be set for fully automatic operation. Focus is auto or manual. White balance can be set on automatic, indoor, outdoor, or one-push, which allows you to have the camera set the white balance situationally. A macro mode rounds out the package.

A quick note about the zoom lens: it has a 10x optical zoom, plus a 2x digital zoom, for a 20x total zoom. Every other digital camera manufacturer calls this "10x optical and 2x digital zoom," but Sony chooses to describe this lens as "10x optical, 20x digital."

The MVC-CD1000 uses a 2.5-inch LCD monitor on the back, and the optical viewfinder also uses an LCD to provide a through-the-lens type view, similar to what you'd get with an SLR. In another first for the Mavica line, the MVC-CD1000 includes a USB port as an alternate method to download images. Power is provided by a Sony InfoLITHIUM battery, and a readout on the monitor estimates how many minutes of energy are left in the battery, a big plus. The MVC-CD1000 also comes with an AC adapter, which plugs in to the camera and recharges the battery when the camera's not in use. The software included is Sony's Picture Gear Lite and MGI's PhotoSuite and VideoWave.

Digital Cameras

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