Sony Digital Camera

[HardD99]

ok i didnt really see a section for this, and this is the only forum i frequent so feel free to move this thread mods....

I am planning on buying a digital camera on the 9th, i have always been big on sony so i have decided on the Sony DSC-F828 8MP model. but before i actually order it i wanted to hear from some of you guys that actually have the camera. i have read a few reviews, but they are all general descriptions and arent really what i am looking for... so have any of you seen this camera in person, played with it, have a friend with one? or are there any other cameras out there for same price that are alot better? any help would be appriciated, kind of a big purchase....


here is a link to newegg where i am gonna purchase it from: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=30-150-036&depa=7

 

[GeForceX]

It is indeed a big purchase. Just to inform you, you will hardly find a difference between any lower MP's such at least 5 and the camera's 8***. You can go for a lower priced camera. I have a Dimage 5 (5 mp) and I pretty much like it (except it sucks in dark lights). You can go for that for very much cheaper and still be satisfied with the quality. You can look up a similar 'round up review' on that 5 mp class. Almost all Sony cameras are high quality and quite easy to use as far as I know from my friend's professional career using Sony cameras for modeling and environment pictures. I would suggest you to go for it. But then again I have no experience with it.

Good luck.

*** Only when you use relative resolution size such as 1600 x 1200 and so on. If you use beyond that (3000x etc..), then 8 MP will be very much fittable for your needs.

-J.

P.S. Just what is your purpose for considering that camera?...

 

[darktiger]

I have the sony F717, and love it...I heard the F828 is heavy but awesome...

 

[GJSNeptune]

Don't even consider megapixels unless you're gonna take pictures with the camera's highest resolution. The smaller the resolution, the fewer MPs the camera will use; it's at least true for the Sony cameras I've experienced.

I could be tragically wrong though. My camera is a snapshot camera. I've never handled a high-end digital.

 

[Excavator]

I'm sure you've done a lot of research but just in case you missed this one: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscf828/

Check the forums there for other Sony camera owners.

edit: That is a cool camera. I've never seen the lens swivle on the body like that... will you use that much or would the LCD swinging out be better? The LCD on my Canon Pro 1 swings out and swivels.

Here is the summary for the Sony DSC-F828 from that review page:

Conclusion - Pros
Eight megapixel sensor delivers a clear resolution increase over five megapixel
New RGBE four color CCD delivers more pleasing color balance than DSC-F717 it replaces
Big and very fast seven times optical zoom lens which starts at a wide 28 mm
Excellent mechanically linked zoom ring
Fast operation, very fast startup, auto focus and short shutter release lag
Impressive file write performance (over 2 MB/sec with a good card)
Availability of image parameter adjustment, although not enough latitude
Focus-by-wire manual focus ring works quite well
Major camera controls on exterior of camera
Backlit status LCD
Superb movie recording capability, 640x480 @ 30 fps, but still not MPEG-4
Program AE has "program shift"
Histogram display in live view, record review and playback
RAW file format (although oversized and locks camera while writing)
RAW conversion software has plenty of flexibility but is slow to use
High resolution EVF (can switch to night framing in low light)
Range of accessories increasing
Advanced hot-shoe supports features of HVL-F32X flash unit
Fast camera to computer transfers thanks to USB 2.0
Excellent battery life

Conclusion - Cons
Strong visible chromatic aberrations in backlit or reflections in bright sunny conditions
Higher noise levels than the current crop of five megapixel digital cameras
Potential hue shift on overexposed greens
Visible sharpening 'white halo' around black lines
Barrel distortion at wide angle (although expected of such a wide angle DC lens)
Difficult to get good macro performance without barrel distortion
Annoying shutter release locking issue where you must wait before re-pressing
Would have been nice to have Adobe RGB color space option
Average buffer size, not used for RAW or TIFF images which lock the camera during write
No user settings / memories
No blinking highlights in histogram playback mode
Unrequired separate play mode, should have shooting priority full play mode via QV button
Very small photosite compromising image quality (marketing over quality)?

 

[Alias]

What? Nobody is bashing it yet? I had an F-707, and an F-717 loved both of them. If your not looking for DSLR, this is the camera for you.

 

[maw]

You might also want to take a look at the Konica Minolta Dimage A2. Not bashing the Sony, just giving you other options to consider.

The Sony was high on my list, it has a nice solid feel and the controls are awesome. The manual zoom is by far much better than electronic zooms. But i ended up getting the A2 because in addition to also having manual zoom, it also has an awesome EVF and Anti-Shake technology. Quality control was an issue with the early A2 models, but i don't think that's a concern anymore.

Also the A2 has a TON of features, BUT it's not for the timid. If left in it's default settings, it does no in-camera image processing, so many people complain about "soft" or flat images, not realizing that this is done intentionally because it assumes you will do the post-processing yourself.

 

[Mase]

word i heard was that the chromatic fringing is pretty bad on the 828,
meaning you should be good in some PS routines that will render this con a mute point.
I have the 717 and love it...
they are both very nice

 

[HardD99]

well the main reason i was picking this camera was because i wanted to go sony and that the most expensive one i could find, hehe, i really love the look of it, and i also like how you can use a memory stick or a compact flash card, i dunno if i really like the manual focus to be honest, i usualy like everything to be either or, i am not sure if it does, but i am hoping that it can either auto focus or do it manually. i really have no use for an lcd pop out thing, seems kinda useless to me. i will be using this camera at maximum quality, so i really dont want to get anything less than 8MP, i just want clear and crisp photos that i can crop if need be, if i take a picture at 4-5MP and want to crop off a bunch of crap then i cant crop as much as if i was using an 8MP. i actually just bought a 20.1" lcd just for this camera, cause i didnt think it would have been very good to tkae that big of pix and have to look at them on my 15" 1024x768 lcd.

oh yeah, i did buy a 717 about 6 months ago off of ebay, and i didnt like it at all, the screen was really dark and small and the whole thing felt kinda cheap to me, no offence to you guys with a 717, it might just have been cause it was used, i put it back on ebay the day i recieved it....

 

[HardD99]

oh yeah forgot to mention the main reason that i am even buying a camera, i am taking a trip to japan in may and i play on taking TONS of pictures there, plus a couple other smaller trips i am going on before then... reason i am buying now is because u gotta get used to the camera and see whats best, what format, size, etc, i dont want to buy it a week b4 i go and then dont know how to use it, hehe

 

[Excavator]

It has 3 different modes of auto focus: Single, Continuous, Monitor.

I wonder, can it write from the CF card to the memory stick?

As for the "lcd popout thing", I think it's a little more useful than the swivel lens the 828 has. 30degrees down and 70degrees up... not sure what I'd use that for.

If you did not like the 717's LCD the 828 has only 10,000pixels more and I don't kow how much difference that will make.
That is some incredible battery life it has though!

 

[emorphien]

If you're looking for an 8mp Point and shoot (granted the lower res usually give more useable images) then I'd say go with the Olympus, Canon or Minolta models. Sony has some of the worst noise and Nikon is not far behind. Check DPreview for the overall reviews, but between those I found the Olympus and Canon to be the nicest in use.

I don't generally care for the overall look of a lot of the sony cameras, but the 828 is generally ok. The RGBE sensor does not really add anything to the equation, but it makes for good marketing. The newer 8mp cameras have improved over it considerably however and I think would make for a wiser choice.

Then again the Digital Rebel for example will have vastly superior image quality. It all depends on what you need.

word i heard was that the chromatic fringing is pretty bad on the 828,
meaning you should be good in some PS routines that will render this con a mute point.
I have the 717 and love it...
they are both very nice

It's moot, not mute... and the chromatic abberations on the 828 are pretty severe compared to some of the other 8mp cameras. Photoshop wizardy can help but is not really ideal.

 

[Alias]

Does anyone here have an 828? I'm considering one. I love these cameras. The swivel lense rocks. I've never ran my battery down on one either. Thats probably because I never had enough media. The CF slot is the best part. COmpact Flash is dirt cheap right now. 1 GB cards are less than $100 now.

 

[Mase]

you do realize the 828 is a black version of the 717, even larger, and with a few more MP's...seems silly of you to want it, hating its nearly identical brother...
I would look at a different model, outside of Sony.
I have used both and see very little difference...

 

[maw]

well the main reason i was picking this camera was because i wanted to go sony and that the most expensive one i could find, hehe, i really love the look of it, and i also like how you can use a memory stick or a compact flash card, i dunno if i really like the manual focus to be honest, i usualy like everything to be either or, i am not sure if it does, but i am hoping that it can either auto focus or do it manually. i really have no use for an lcd pop out thing, seems kinda useless to me. i will be using this camera at maximum quality, so i really dont want to get anything less than 8MP, i just want clear and crisp photos that i can crop if need be, if i take a picture at 4-5MP and want to crop off a bunch of crap then i cant crop as much as if i was using an 8MP. i actually just bought a 20.1" lcd just for this camera, cause i didnt think it would have been very good to tkae that big of pix and have to look at them on my 15" 1024x768 lcd.

oh yeah, i did buy a 717 about 6 months ago off of ebay, and i didnt like it at all, the screen was really dark and small and the whole thing felt kinda cheap to me, no offence to you guys with a 717, it might just have been cause it was used, i put it back on ebay the day i recieved it....

i'm thinking you don't really know much about digicams.
- You "want to go Sony", why? you mentioned in the same thread that you hated the Sony 717, which isn't that different from the 828. Please tell me you're not getting it solely because you "love the look of it", that's some really shallow thinking.

- 8MP does NOT guarantee crisp, clear photos, and anyone who has done this for a while knows it's extremely rare when you'd ever need to crop more than a little off the sides of any photo. 8Mp is mostly a marketing ploy.

- and why in the world would you buy a 20 inch LCD for this camera? are you going to be viewing the images at 100% all the time? If so, you're always going to be disappointed in the on-screen image, because the pixels will be much bigger than what you'll see in a real-life print. It's just as easy to view an image at 50% in the image editor of choice.

 

[HorsePunchKid]

i'm thinking you don't really know much about digicams.
- You "want to go Sony", why? you mentioned in the same thread that you hated the Sony 717, which isn't that different from the 828. Please tell me you're not getting it solely because you "love the look of it", that's some really shallow thinking.

I was about to say something along those lines, only I would hopefully not come across so condescendingly.

- 8MP does NOT guarantee crisp, clear photos, and anyone who has done this for a while knows it's extremely rare when you'd ever need to crop more than a little off the sides of any photo. 8Mp is mostly a marketing ploy.

Touting such high pixel count is often a marketing ploy in lower-end cameras. However, I don't think the DSC-F828 qualifies as a lower-end camera at nearly $1000. Price aside, it has some pretty serious optics. Zeiss may not be the pillar of ridiculously high-quality German engineering it once was, but they still make some awfully nice lenses. There is a great review on Luminous Landscape that goes into some useful detail without resorting to the sort of generalizations you've made.

- and why in the world would you buy a 20 inch LCD for this camera? are you going to be viewing the images at 100% all the time? If so, you're always going to be disappointed in the on-screen image, because the pixels will be much bigger than what you'll see in a real-life print. It's just as easy to view an image at 50% in the image editor of choice.

I have a 20" 1600x1200 Dell UltraSharp that I use on a daily basis for manipulation of high-resolution photos (6 to 12 MP). I wouldn't trade it for anything. I do spend most of my time at 50%, but for serious print prep and finishing, being able to see a large area at 100% is priceless. Anyway, a lot of this comes down to personal preference, so it seems rather silly to jump on someone about their choice. I'm sure HardD99 has uses for the LCD other than just looking at photos.

 

[emorphien]

Touting such high pixel count is often a marketing ploy in lower-end cameras. However, I don't think the DSC-F828 qualifies as a lower-end camera at nearly $1000. Price aside, it has some pretty serious optics. Zeiss may not be the pillar of ridiculously high-quality German engineering it once was, but they still make some awfully nice lenses. There is a great review on Luminous Landscape that goes into some useful detail without resorting to the sort of generalizations you've made.

But whether he realizes it or not, the generalizations he's made do actually apply to the 828 more than they should given its price. It is not the best performing 8mp P&S but it is probably the most expensive.