- 0.8 megapixel sensor creates 1024 x 768 images for prints at sizes up to 4 x 6
- 14x optical zoom lens with autofocus
- Images are stored on floppy disks
- Compatible with Macs or PCs with floppy drives
- Uses included NP-F330 InfoLithium battery; mPEG movie mode stores up to 60 seconds of video and audio on a single floppy
Product Description
0.8 megapixel sensor creates 1024 x 768 images for prints at sizes up to 4 x 6. 14x optical zoom lens with autofocus. Images are stored on floppy disks. Compatible with Macs or PCs with floppy drives. Uses included NP-F330 InfoLithium battery; mPEG movie mode stores up to 60 seconds of video and audio on a single floppy
Sony MVC-FD91 Mavica 0.8MP Digital Camera with 14x Optical Zoom
I have had mine since September of 1999 and it is fantastic! The best feature is the floppy disk storage media. You’re out of town, no laptop mega-drive and out of storage? Buy a $5 box of disks and shoot for another month!
I bought an extra battery for mine which is real handy when traveling. The battery life is real good – several hours of continuous shooting and viewing, even with the lower life battery supplied with the camera. These batteries also interchange with Sony video cameras, so you can get double duty out of them if you own a video camera also.
I have used the camera to take pictures to email to family & friends, Fox & Friends, post on auction sites, send to publications and even just to print out on photo paper. I used the camera on a tripod to take pictures of kids on Santa’s lap this past Christmas, printing them on photo paper with an ink jet printer – a terrific success! The quality was not quite 35mm SLR, but it was a whole lot better and faster than a cheap 35mm.
I am now experimenting with the mpeg video mode for our local track team, many events are completed in less than the 1 minute limit in extended mode. We may post these to the students web sites eventually.
All my old 52mm lense accessories fit this camera. The filters, effects lenses & etc. add to the creativity you can unleash with this camera. The ability to instantly check your work by viewing on the screen is impossible with 35mm. Many years ago I considered becoming a professional photographer and back then you had to do a test shot with a Polaroid to check lighting, composition and so on. I believe this camera will take the place of Polaroids in all applications. Don’t throw out the old Nikon 35 yet though, for true quality work, you still need film.
This camera also has a whole disk or single frame copy feature that is really nice if you want to give copies of your pictures away in the field. You can also delete unwanted frames to free disk space in the camera. The controls and menus for all these functions are intuitive and straight forward to use.
Exposure control is also easily accomplished with a series of programable features. The shutter speed, apeture, flash and white balance can all be set manually if you don’t want to use the automatic mode, which really is adequate for most situations. You will want to read the book first, but once you have the basics down, it is just infinite experimentation from there. You can’t make a mistake – just reset and try again – you’re not wasting expensive film!
I would recommend getting a wide angle accessory lense; if you are taking pictures of large subjects in tight quarters, (no, I’m not talking about Santa Claus!), sometimes you can’t backup far enough. An extra battery, as mentioned above, is also essential if you plan to use it traveling or on all day assignments.
Rating: 5 / 5
I run a small newspaper. The FD91 has become so indispensable that I now own 2. I can lend one out to an experienced emulsion photographer and, when necessary, teach him/her the essentials of how to use it in 5-6 minutes. These flexible features make it perfect for my situation: The 14:1 zoom means less cropping, and therefore higher resolution in the final cropped photo; the swivel LCD means it’s easy to shoot from a higher angle (like over heads of a crowd or from a low angle, or even around a corner; floppy-disk media means film is essentially unlimited, or limited only to roughly 8x the number of disks I’m willing to carry, and they’re cheap so “film cost” is never a problem. Finally, of course, in a newspaper operation there are the digital camera advantages of immediate availability, unlimited no-cost shooting because there are no one-time film or processing costs. As to resolution, the 1024×768 size means that a landscape shot can be printed as wide as 12 inches in an 85-line screen without apparent loss of resolution. (But because this camera is so oustanding, I’ve now purchased a third Mavica, the FD95, for its resolution, which is 2.5x the FD91′s.) The cost equation on the FD91 is outstanding, because although the purchase price is high, the advantage of no film cost soon makes it the cheapest possible photo solution for anybody who shoots a lot of pictures.
Rating: 4 / 5
This camera is TOPS for home use. The pros might find a few things lacking, such as the limited flash intensity and inability to add an external flash. The ONLY other draw back I have found it the length of time it takes to save a pic. It takes approximately 3-4 seconds for the pic to save, so rapid fire shooting is out. But, with the floppy drive, and ultimately endless storage capacity (how many disks can you carry?) makes this a tolerable drawback. It is not in the megal pixel range, but in the 1024×768 fine mode, I have found that the resolution is very good. NOTHING beats the zoom on this thing. 14x zoom! A toy that I will NEVER get tired of using and playing with!
Rating: 5 / 5
I have had this camera for six months and still find it to be the best digitial camera available for the price. (Amazing in the computer world) Others have cameras with more pixels, more storage, etc., but no one has matched the lens. a 14x (38mm-510mm) optical zoom is unmatched. Combine that with the floppy storage (no easier method for transporting to multiple computers) and the multiple viewfinders (LCD screen and eyepiece) and you have an unbeatable combination. The resolution is more than acceptable for anything but professional use (and even for professional use online) and I bet hardly anyone uses anything other than JPEG mode anyway. A real winner! PS mine got stolen last night and I am ordering another even after checking out all the newer models!
Rating: 5 / 5
A GREAT CAMERA. AMAZING HOW MANY THINGS THIS LITTLE BABY CAN DO.FLOPPY DISC STORAGE IS BY FAR THE BEST AND EASIEST WAY TO TAKE PHOTOS. A GREAT FEATURE IS THE ABILITY TO COPY A FLOPPY RIGHT INSIDE THE CAMERA TO GIVE TO SOMEONE THAT WOULD LIKE YOUR PICTURES. THE ONLY SHORTCOMING OF THIS CAMEA IS THAT THE RESOLUTION IS NOT UP TO 35MM FILM. BUT THE CONVIENCE FAR OUTWEIGHTS THE CONS.
Rating: 5 / 5