Sony Mavica MVCCD1000 2.1MP Digital Camera
by Sony

List Price: $1,099.99
Our Price: $79.99
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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
• Aperture 3
• Pixelmator [Old Version]

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

Customer Review: Great Camera
Summary: 5 Stars

The camera takes some very nice pictures at any resolution. Tiff images @ 1600X1200 take a good 15+ seconds to write to the CD-R. JPG pictures @ 1600X1200 take a little less than two seconds to write to the CD-R. This camera is not designed to take bursting pictures or situations that require rapid succession of shots.

The flash works well in normal and red-eye reduction modes. Macro shots do not do well with the flash. The lens assembly prevents the flash from reaching a macro subject.

The MPEG movie mode works quite well and just like any of the other Mavica series cameras. The limitation is a maximum recording time of 15 seconds. If you shot is longer than this you have to take multiple 15 second shots.

The USB connection is really nice. I can transfer pictures in seconds from the camera to the computer. The supplied drivers allow the camera to become another drive letter on your computer when it is plugged in. I am using WindowsME without any issue with this camera or software. I little FYI note is included in the box informing the purchaser that USB drivers for Windows2000 are not included. The note gives a URL to check for the Windows2000 driver. As of this writing the driver is not on the web site.

Initializing a new CD-R is fast and easy. It takes about 20 seconds. The included adaptec software will also let you format the CD-R in the camera from your PC with the USB cable attached. The included software will also let you copy files from your PC to the CD-R on the camera. Finalizing a CD-R when it is full is easy and straightforward. After the CD is finalized it's contents can be viewed in any computer that has a CD. 3" CD-R's are readily available from many sources and are priced very attractively. Buy them in bulk and you are really saving a lot of money over single CD-R purchases.

The image stabilization makes a noticeable differences in both the optical and zoom modes. Battery life is excellant. I get about 120 minutes of usage between charges.

All in all I really like this camera and will keep it. However, I will really be interested in Sony's next version of a CD-R camera. It should address some of the minor short comings of this one.

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.

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