Camey (Sony Mavica MVC-FD83)

Member Name:

Product:	Sony Mavica MVC-FD83
Date:	24/05/01 (82 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: [Below]

Disadvantages: [Below]

Everything's digital nowadays, so should your camera be any excepetion? Yes and no. While the Mavica FD83 does many things right, it drops the ball certain key areas. It is a jack of all trades, but a master of none.

The Sony Digital Mavica FD83 is the middle child of the Mavica family. It's nestled quite nicely in terms of features and price between the lower model FD73 and higher models FD88 and FD91. For starters, it must be mentioned that the one outstanding quality of this camera (and the entire Mavica line) is its medium for storing photographs. Sony eschewed traditional forms of storage, such as flash cards and internal memory and even it's own memory stick in favor of removable 3.5" floppy disks. Yes folks, the floppy disk is not dead yet. It's been given new wind in the FD83. To sweeten the deal, Sony has seen it fit to include a 4X floppy drive, for quick image transfers. Although the drive increases the camera's size considerably, it's worth it. No more dragging cables behind the computer, just pop the disk in the drive, and you're ready to go.

The resolution of the camera, however, leaves something to be desired. Through interpolation, the progressive CCD is able to capture a 1216x912 image. Interpolation however, can add unwanted artifacts, so for the more discerning user, the camera can also capture images at 1024x768 and 640x480. At the highest quality, expect about 6-10 images per disk. The picture can even be manipulated on the camera. The on camera editing options include negative art, sepia, black and white, and solarize. The available resolutions are decent for 4x6 printouts, and more than adequate for web publishing, but at the $700 asking price, more is expected. Generally speaking with the Mavica line, you'll be paying for the convenience of the floppy drive.

The LCD display replaces the traditional viewfinder, and serves it's purpose quite well, except in direct sunlight.
The ability to view your pictures directly on the camera with no delay is a definite plus, and Sony has even thoughtfully included a video-out port on the camera for viewing on a television set.

What separates this camera from the gamut of cameras in its class (aside from the inclusion of a floppy drive) is the MPEG movie mode. This camera is capable of taking movies with sound at resolutions of 320x240 and 160x112, with up to a minute of video per disk. This thoughtful feature is fun for sure, but lacks the resolution for any practical use.

Other features of the camera include a 6x zoom (3x optical, 3x digital), built-in flash, email mode for smaller file sizes, and the ability to record sound files. The only included software is Arcsoft Photo Studio. One Sony Info-Lithium batter is included (NP-F330), but it must be mentioned that battery life with the included battery is quite pathetic, only reaching about 45-60 minutes in real world usage. To get any real usage out of the FD83, invest in Sony's higher powered battery (NP-F550), which gives you a little over 2 hours of time for a mere $60. It may take four hours to charge, but it will be worth it when you want to take the camera on an extended vacation.

Bottom line, this camera has some intriguing features and would more than suffice for web, newspaper, and light photography work. Anything beyond that however, and the limitations of the camera become painfully apparent. If the price of this camera were $500 dollars as opposed the $700 it is now the FD83 would be heartily recommended without reservation. As it stands, however, the tradeoff in resolution for the convenience of the disk drive is not a wise one for anybody other than amateur photographers. For the price, pay for the higher resolution and deal with the wires.

Summary: