We started experimenting with digital camera's in 1997. Of all the brands we tried, we liked the Sony Mavica best. So that's what we bought. In fact, between our companies we bought THREE FD7's! Many of the pictures you see on this site were shot with that camera.

But the FD7 was NOT perfect. Our FD7 review goes into the details, but in general the problems were just that the camera was not "mature" yet.

In the summer of 1999 we tried the new FD91. THIS CAMERA IS GREAT! Almost ALL of the complaints we had with the FD7 have been addressed. We bought an FD91 and now we're happy campers!

Click here for a sample pictures we took with our FD91.
SONY FD91: REPORT on FEATURES
The two features that sold us on the Sony cameras in general were:

1. They have a built in diskette drive
2. The rechargable battery is good for almost 3 hours.

The new FD91 kepd some of the original features, dropped some others and added some new ones. Here are some features we really like:

• The built-in diskette is the key feature!
  
  From the beginning, the built in diskette was the real selling point! All the other cameras we tried could hold a limited number of images. When the memory was full you had to download to a computer. At least some cameras offer memory modules but most are expensive.
  
  When we go into the field with our Sony, we take a pocket full of diskettes and just shoot at will. The camera will store from 1 to 50 images or movies or sound clips on a single, standard diskette. How many images you get depends on the type of image you selected and the resolution.
  
  The camera has the usual view and delete functions, but it can also format a diskette. The thing that surprized us was that you can use the camera to copy ANY type of standard diskette. You put the diskette into the camera, load all the contents to memory, put in a new diskette and dump the contents back out. You can shoot a diskette in the field then make a copy for your friend!
  
  
• The battery has a long run time.
  
  There are three different rechargable batteries for the Sony cameras. They're compatible between camera models. The run times are from about 1 hour to over 3 hours.
  
  The Sony batteries, named "InfoLITHIUM" have a built in microprocessor for monitoring charge state. You get a small graphic in the fiewfinder (or LCD) showing the charge remaining in minutes and as a bar graph. NICE!
  
  At $40 to $60 the batteries are a bit expensive. But they should last for a long time. We carry two batteries which gives about 3 hours of continuous shooting or all day in a more typical use.
  
  The FD91 adds an ability to run from wall current with a special, dual purpose adaptor/charger. There's one for AC use in the house and one for DC that will plug into a car cigar lighter. But the last time we looked these were $150 EACH and that seems way over priced to us. We'll pass on that one.
  
  
• The FD91 has an optical viewfinder as well as the LCD panel.
  
  This is the most important feature of the camera! The FD7 only had an LCD panel. Outdoors, in sun, you just could NOT see the image on that panel. You had to shoot blind.
  
  The optical viewfinder is actually a tiny LCD screen inside the camera. For all of us "old guys" who can't see up close any more, the viewfinder can be focused. WONDERFUL!
  
  The optical viewfinder preforms a secondary function by allowing you to steady the camera against your face. The FD7 only had the LCD panel and you'd hold the camera at arms length. Pressing the button would shake things!
  
  
• The viewfinder has a rubber HOOD!
  
  This may sound like a little thing, but it's NOT. I've tried a number of digital cameras which have viewfinders but do not have a rubber hood around them. It's been my experience that you must get your eye almost in contact with these view finders if you're to see the entire image.
  
  The rubber hood allows you to press the camera right up to you face. It, block out extra light, allows you to steady the camera, and is comfortable to use.
  
  When trying a camera, be sure to put your eyeball up to the viewfinder and try the thing. You may be surprized at how difficult some finders are.
  
  
• The LCD screen has more functionality.
  
  The LCD panel on the FD7 was permanently fixed to the back of the camera. The LCD on the FD91 is movable. You can tilt it up for special viewing situation.
  
  You can also flip the LCD panel up to vertical. Because it hinges from the top, when you flip it up it becomes visible from the FRONT of the camera.
  
  What's truly cool is that when you do that, the image is electronically flipped as well. Now you can take a self portrait and know that your hair is combed and that you got that piece of lettuce out of your teeth!
  
  
• It takes short movies, with sound.
  
  This is just plain fun! You can take a short movie clip along with sound. Since it's captured immediately to diskette, you can e-mail it or put it on your web site immediately.
  
  
• There are numerous picture size and quality options
  
  The FD7 has a "standard" and "fine" image resolution. the FD91 adds quite a few other options.
  • Quality can be standard or fine
  • Size can be 640x480 or 1024x768
  • There's an "e-mail" format that adds a folder on the disk for lower quality images which duplicate the regular image.
  • You can elect to record a single, uncompressed bitmap (.BMP) image on a diskette for maximum resolution.
  
  
  
• White balance can be set four ways.
  
  This solves a lot of problems with color. With the FD7 we had problems with very bright natural subjects like flowers and fall leaves.
  
  The white balance control seems to solve that. You can select from three pre-programmed white balance modes as well as an auto-balance.
  
  But you can also have the camera sample a specific lighting source through a translucent, white lens cap and calculate the white balance. We shot some bright fall leaves and, by using the white balance, got a very faithful color representation. Click here for a sample.
  
  
• There's a spot meter mode.
  
  This is great for the serious photographer. It's just like a high-end single lens reflex camera. Spot meter mode gives you a little box in the center of the viewfinder. Find the light and focus point you want then press the button part way, recompose and finish the shot... perfect!
  
  
• The manual focus works as you'd expect.
  
  The FD7 has a manual focus of sorts. But it was awkward mainly because of the LCD panel.
  
  The FD91 has a real focus ring on the front of the lens. It moves smoothly so you can use one finger to focus. And we use it frequently for closeup work. We hold the left hand on the front of the lens. One finger is on the zoom control and another is on the lens ring. We can zoom and focus at the same time.
  
  
• It takes great closeups.
  
  The FD7 did a good job of closeups too. But the manual focus on the FD91 lets it work far better. You can put the lens half an inch from your subject and get a great shot. Provided you can get your light source around the lens, you'll get a great shot!
  
  We took the shot at right using a bare light bulb and manual focusing.
  
  
• the telephoto is amazing.
  
  Even the FD7 had good zoom capability. But the FD91 seems to be better yet. The FD7 did most of it's miracles with electronics. The FD91 has the electronics but also has optical zoom lens elements which are much better.
  
  
• The sound effects are cool!
  
  When you take your first picture with the FD91 you'll hear the pleasing "slap-flap" sound of a single lens reflex camera. But guess what? It's fake!
  
  Yep, the sound is produced electronically. You can turn the sound off and the camera is silent except for the mechanical "whirr / grind" of the diskette motor.
  
  
• It's still easy to use.
  
  This is important! This camera has lots of features and could be complex to use. But for most people you can just set it on auto-everything and enjoy.
  
  For the serious photograher the features are there when you want them.
  
  
• AND WHAT-YOU-SEE-IS-WHAT-YOU-GET ! ! ! !
  
  Thank you, thank you, thank you!
  
  The thing we hated about the MD7 was that, much of the time, what you saw on the LCD was NOT what you'd see on the computer. The LCD was like a "night vision" scope and showed everything. Too often the picture on the computer would be almost black.
  
  The FD91 gets it right! What you see is, indeed, what you'll get on the computer. This has been a real improvement.
  
  One other nice little feature is that when you hold the sutter button after taking the picture, the image freezes. That gives you immediate feedback of what you just shot. If someone's eyes blinked you KNOW that and can shoot another frame. GREAT TOUCH!
  
  

BUGS ? ? ?
Up to this point I've talked about the GOOD features of the camera. Actually, if you want to hear the sales pitch, you should visit the Sony web site.

If you're like me, what you'd REALLY like to hear from another user are the things that we DON'T like.

Well. . . we really have very few complaints. (And we're not shy about saying so when we do find problems.)

Here are the complaints and suggestions that we've compiled to date:

• The auto focus is too slow!
  
  If there's ONE THING we do NOT like, it's the slow speed of the auto focus. The camera refuses to trip the shutter while it's focusing. If someone is walking toward you, the camera is continually focusing and just will NOT shoot. It's very frustrating. I'm surprized that the shutter button on my camera has not been pushed entirely into the body because the human nature is to just push harder when nothing is happening!
  
  I do have a manual solution for this problem. I'll pre-focus on the area that I want to shoot, then switch to manual focus. In this mode the camera will shoot when the button is pressed, but it may be hard to manually catch the focus.
  
  
• The manual focus ring is not entirely natural feeling.
  
  Although I really do like the manual focusing ring, I find that it's not as natural feeling as one would expect. There's not stops at the end of the travel. You can spin the ring forever, even after it has reached the end of the focus range.
  
  The manual focus ring is a bit too thin as well. You can spin it with a fingertip, but you can't really get a grip on the thing. That makes it hard to focus fast on a moving target.
  
  The focus doesn't seen to "stick" either. The impression is that the auto focus overrides just a bit even when in manual mode. That doesn't make sense, but I find that it's hard to keep something in focus when moving the camera. It's worse if you zoom after focusing.
  
  
• The steady shot button is in a bad place.
  
  The camera has a GREAT steady shot mode. It electronically stabalizes the image. There are very few times when you do NOT want to use this feature.
  
  The problem is that the steady shot switch is right next to the auto focus switch and they feel the same. There's been too many times when I've caught myself taking pictures with steady shot turned OFF by accident. I caught the switch when going from auto to manual focus.
  
  Of course there is a nice big indicator in the view finder that tells you that when "steady shot" is turned ON. The problem is that you don't miss it when it's not there.
  
  The "steady shot" switch should be moved to a less accessible location.
  
  
• We'd like to see a simulated motor drive:
  
  We'd like to be able to shoot faster. As it is, you must wait after each shot for the image to be written to diskette. It's quick (faster then the FD7), but it could be quicker.
  
  Since the camera has enough memory to store a full diskette, it seems that it could also store images as shot and write them to diskette in the background. Or, better yet, store the images and then write them on command by the photographer.
  
  
• We miss the special modes found on the FD7. That camera had black & white, sepia tone, pastel and negative modes.
  
  Of course you can apply all of these effects to any image with photo editing software. But it was nice to see them on the camera at the time the picture was being taken.
  
  Being "old" photographers, we really like black and white and used that, and the sepia tone, mode on our FD7 a lot. Seeing the B&W image in the view finder was a tremendous tool! In the "old days" of film, the viewfinder was color and you didn't see B&W until you got into the darkroom. Seeing B&W at the shoot was fantastic!

For more information send e-mail to the Peddler.

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