Sony MVCCD250 2MP CD Mavica Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

by Sony

Product Details

Product Manual [3.93mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 4 x 3.8 x 5.4 inches ; 1.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000066HUA
• Item model number: MVCCD250
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,135 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 7, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The unique feature of Sony's CD250 Mavica is a built-in mini-CD recorder, a clever solution that simultaneously provides affordable portable memory and long-term archival storage. The camera also features a 2-megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom lens, a jumbo 2.5-inch display, and a long-life rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

Optics and Resolution
The CD250's 2-megapixel sensor captures enough detail for sharp prints at sizes up to 8 by 10 inches. For the typical family photographer, 2 megapixels is a great balance between price and performance. If you want a camera with even more resolution, you'll need to step up to 3 or 4 megapixels--Sony's MVC-CD300 and MVC-CD400 are nearly identical to this model, but have higher resolution sensors.

A 3x optical zoom lens (39-117mm equivalent) helps you to capture exactly the picture you want, and an additional 2x digital zoom (6x total) further magnifies your image. Remember, however, that digital zoom tends to reduce the sharpness and detail of your image, so it's best used sparingly. In low-light situations (a particular weakness for many digital cameras), a focus-assist lamp sends out a small patterned beam to help the camera accurately determine distance.

To save space, there's no traditional optical viewfinder to look through. Instead, to compose your images or review shots you've already taken, the CD250 uses a big 2.5-inch color display. The advantage to using the LCD to frame your shots is that the screen lets you see exactly the picture you'll capture. The disadvantage is that you can't turn off the screen and just use the optical viewfinder to extend battery life. Fortunately, the included rechargeable battery holds a relatively good charge.

More Features
The engineers at Sony have gone out of their way to make it as easy as possible to share your images online. For example, the e-mail mode stores a lower-resolution version of your picture on the disc in a separate folder from the full-size version. This compact file lacks the detail of the original, but has a small file size, making it ideal for e-mail attachments. In addition, a video e-mail mode captures highly compressed, less detailed movie clips that are also small enough to easily e-mail. With the time, expertise, and the right software, owners of any digital camera can create these more compact files on their home computers, but Sony saves you this trouble.

More advanced photographers will appreciate manual focus, a 14-bit A/D processor that captures more gradations in color than most digital cameras, and an uncompressed TIFF mode for recording the highest-quality photos.

Power
The CD250 uses Sony's excellent InfoLithium battery system, which not only holds a respectable charge, but also displays on screen how many minutes of power remain. Both the battery and the charger are included. Because the battery is unique to specific Sony models and can be nearly impossible to find when on the road, we strongly recommend getting a spare if you're planning to take the camera on extended outings.

Movie Mode
In movie mode, the camera captures video clips with sound at resolutions up to 320 x 240 pixels. Unlike most digital cameras, the length of each video is limited only by the amount of memory left on the CD. The limited resolution of these clips guarantees that this feature won't replace your camcorder, but it's perfect for when you just want to capture a quick movie and e-mail it to a friend or relative.

Storage and Transfer
With a traditional digital camera, images are stored on memory cards, then transferred to your computer via a cable or card reader, and ultimately archived by recording on a CD-R or other high-capacity medium. Sony's CD Mavicas simplify this process by recording images directly to CD, using a 3-inch miniature CD recorder integrated into the back of the camera (hence the camera's rounded shape). These discs are substantially smaller than traditional 5-inch CDs, and only hold about one-fourth as much information (156 MB instead of 650 MB), but this is still enough space to store over 120 photos at the camera's highest-quality compressed mode. Each disc costs a couple of dollars. To transfer pictures to your computer, simply remove the disc from the camera and insert it into your computer's CD-ROM drive. Unlike images recorded on memory cards, pictures taken on a CD-R are permanently burned into the disc, instantly providing a digital "negative" for archiving your photos.

If you prefer to transfer your images in the traditional way, just use an erasable/re-recordable CD-RW disc and connect the camera to your computer with the included USB cable. After transferring the images, you can erase the CD-RW disc to ready it for another batch of photos.

Size
At 5.6 by 3.75 by 4 inches and 22 ounces, you won't slip this camera into your shirt pocket, but it's still one of the smallest disc-based models available. The CD250 fits nicely into most SLR camera carrying cases.

Contents and Recommended Accessories
The package includes the CD250 camera, NP-FM50 battery, AC-L10 cable for in-camera charging, six 3-inch CD-R discs, one 3-inch re-recordable CD-RW, shoulder strap, AV cable, USB cable, and software on CD.

Everything you need to get started is included in the box, but we recommend these accessories to make the most of your camera: a carrying case, additional 3-inch CD-R or CD-RW discs, and a second battery (especially if you're taking the camera on extended trips). Compatible accessories for this camera are listed near the top of this page. --Shane Burnett

Pros:

• Integrated CD recorder provides inexpensive storage and image archiving
• Big 2.5-inch screen makes it easy to preview and review photos
• E-mail modes make it easy to share your photos electronically

Cons:

• No traditional optical viewfinder
• CD drive makes the camera bigger and heavier than cameras using memory cards

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally A Digital Solution That Works On All Levels, August 20, 2002

By 

Richard R. Carlton (Ada, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony MVCCD250 2MP CD Mavica Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I am a professional radiographer and photographer (25 years now) and I used both the CD400, CD300, as
well as a Nikon Coolpix for this year's field research season x-raying mummies in Peru. This means the cameras
were pushed hard.....blowing sand, huge contrast ranges, high resolution radiographs needed, fast manual
control of radical light conditions, etc.....essentially most of the tough conditions and imaging requirements you
can imagine. Here's what I found:

The Sony Mavica CD300 beat them all. It's not the most expensive or the best resolution but we all thought it
did the best job.

Mavica CD400: best resolution but extremely slow recording time made it impossible to work with most of the
time....the CD300 often got 3-4 shots while the 400 was recording one.

Mavica CD300: not the best resolution, but now that I've done some prints for publication from it's highest res
setting I will not be buying any more 400s....just not a significant enough difference, plus it's not as heavy or
bulky.

Nikon Coolpix: not in the running by comparison with the Sonys....although it is more lightweight....we are
buying mini CDs for 33 cents each in bulk... and getting 140-180 high res images per CD.....they are so easy to
format, initialize, and copy on any CD burner that I can't believe we even considered using memory stiks, or
USB downloads.

The best features are common to both the Sony Mavica CD300 and 400 series though.....manual control of the
images, excellent close up abilities, decent wide angle (which can be enhanced with add-on lenses if necessary),
and both rapid video and automatic functions with night focusing for flash, etc., etc.

Finally! There is a great digital camera.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ideal camera for quick on-site viewing., August 10, 2002

By 

Kyle Slayzar (Bismarck, ND) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony MVCCD250 2MP CD Mavica Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This is one of my more favorite cameras. I personally have the MVC-CD300 however this camera has nothing to laugh about.

It's 2MP resolution makes it ideal for both printing on glossy of matte finishings, granted it does have a little graininess here and there however most digital cameras do until it reaches anything past 4MP. It is also ideal for internet usage, the pictures it saves are not to big for a dial-up user to download if you send them an e-mail with picture attachments taken by this camera.

It's 3x optical zoom lens is standerd for most digital cameras and I was never fond of digital zoom since it really is not a zoom anyway.

Naturely I love the cd option the best. Even though the cd size is half of that of a regular cd, it will still fit in ANY computer cd tray so you don't have to worry about compatibility. The only compatibility you have to worry about is if your computer can support both video and jpeg files alike.

The cds are very cost effective. A 156mb cd can cost anywhere between [amt] and [amt]. This may seem a lot for a cd however when you consider the fact that a compact flash, smart media or SD card with a 128mb card can cost between [amt] and [amt], it really seems like a deal, and the CD-RWs naturaly are reusable.

It also has the movie taking feature which I love entirely. My Dad recorded my entire High School graduation ceremony with one cd. Granted the resolution was not top notch but when you consider the fact that you can record over an hour of footage non-stop and potentialy burn it onto a DVD (depending on what burner you have) the possibilities with this camera are endless.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Camera, August 23, 2002

By 

Elaine N. White (Wiesbaden, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sony MVCCD250 2MP CD Mavica Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This is my first digital camera and I am glad I waited. I am just an average guy who had always used a basic 35mm for vacation & family photos and, while I had considered digital cameras for quite some time - I was not quite convinced and was somewhat confused by the variety of cameras and storage media. This camera changed my mind and convinced me that "digital" is the way to go.
While the Sony CD-250 is not the top of the line in terms of ghee-whiz features, for a non-technical person I have found it to be just superb. The CD's (CD-R & CD-RW) are durable and have more than ample storage, the camera is easy to use, it produces great shots, has a solid feel (same size as a typical 35mm camera) and has a good battery life. Downloading and attaching photos to e-mail or posting to the Sony photo site is quite easy. In short, I am very pleased.
In my opinion, for the casual camera user who has been considering a digital camera, take a look at the the Sony CD series of cameras - I think you will be pleased.