Absolute Detail!!! (Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828)

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Product:	Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828
Date:	20/03/04 (373 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Quality Picture

Disadvantages: cost

Before you buy this camera you should ask yourself one question. Is compositional freedom important to me? if the answer is no then get this camera. If it's yes then don't because of the following reasons.

First of all if you look past sony advertising.. the only thing F828 lens shares with a true 200mm is the angle of view. It does NOT have the same DOF as a true 200mm lens..(you think just because u got an apperture of 2.0 that u will make portraits with beautiful bokeh?? think again.. you will not! A 50mm lens gives u good background blurr only at very close focus at which the features of ur subject will be distorted.

It does NOT compress perspective like a true 200mm lens. Which mean u cannot stack those hills.. You cannot push ur subject closer to those gorgeous mountains. You cannot compress a crowded traffic filled scene and make it seem dramatic. At best it will do normal perspective where nothing is dramatic.

It does NOT have the same magnification as a true 200mm lens! And if those good marketing folks were replaced by engineers there would no such thing as 'digital zoom'. Advice: if a salesman tells you "this has a 5X digital Zoom" .. please please please prove you are not stupid by laughing in his face!

Additionally at the wide end.. it's a 7mm lens.. come on?? you don't expect distortion? go to www.dpreview.com and see for yourself!

Normal people call it 'Rule of thumb', engineers call it the 'The Bayer Imperitive'. Smaller the pixel size higher the noise. Pixels don't get any smaller than in the SONY. Nevermind that magic fourth color, the sensor produces unacceptable noise at all ISO's above 200. source: www.dpreview.com

What about the purple fringing?? I hope Carl Ziess bought sony dinner first! Don't belive me? go see www.dpreview.com. Before u commit to settling for the chromatic aberations resulting in the purple fringes, keep in
mind that there is no filter in the world that will cure this completely because filters can only mask problems they can't alter lense geometry.

If you are serious about photography and money is tight.. get an entry level DSLR from canon or Nikon.

Conclusion:

If I were to make a sony F828 out of my EOS 300D I would have to do the following: perminently superglue a fast 50 lens to the camera. (then slow it down because they are usually f1.8). Take a shot and crop the edges away in photoshop till I get about a 200mm field of view.(offcourse the sony does the exact same thing except the crop is much higher res because it is done by the senor that is way smaller than the image made but the lens). If my explaination is unclear then consier this.. take a 35mm film plate, take a pair of sissors and clip away the edges and make the film area about 25% of it's original size. Then make the film 4 times more dense. Then give the film a name like 'miracle film' that makes any lens 4 times more powerful. Then ask your self one question.. Will I buy this film if it were sold to me?

Sony lens is 7-51mm.. sony marketing says 35-200mm (35mm equallent) Please see past the marketing.. demand to know the facts. Ask then to define equallent.

Lastly, it uses an EVF: let's try an experiment.. I'll come to ur house and replace all the mirrors with tiny TV screens. It's a great idea becaue u can then see urself even in the dark. If you think you will like that.. they you will like the EVF idea too.. come on damnit! it's a 1000$ camera.

If you are an SLR user and are thinking about buying a sony F828.. your decision is simple.. don't. If u are a newbee and this is ur first camera.. then buy it.. it's got killer features and u will make beautiful pictures never knowing what ur missing.
got more question? don't agree?

Summary: