Customer Reviews

Sony MVCCD350 CD Mavica 3.2MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought the Sony Mavica MVC-350 camera to compliment my Nikon film cameras. I wanted a camera to build a website and to take photos of things that did not necessarily need to be printed out on photo paper. Most of the digital cameras I found were small and the controls tiny. Or they needed a memory stick with very limited photo storage space an then these memory sticks were expensive. Some cameras are so small you can barely hold them without fear of dropping them and this is not the case for the Sony. Also battery life was also a concern as my first digital camera ate AA batteries for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Floppy disks were ok, but again, photo capacity was not very large in the higher resolution modes. That's when I found the Sony MVC-CD350. It is a 3.2 megapixel camera with a 3x lens and built-in flash. It has a CD-R/RW drive in it for high capacity storage onto a 8 cm CD-R or 8 cm CD-RW disc. The MVC-CD350 uses a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery and it's life is about 130 minutes. It was exactly what I was looking for! The picture quality and the speed of the drive is very good.

After charging the battery (it comes with one and a charger) I dropped in a CD-RW and turned on the camera. No, I did not read the manual.... I was asked to initialize the CD-RW and after a few seconds I was snapping pictures. I also discovered, on my own and not by reading the manual, that it can take MPEG movies. I will never use this mode but I know it would be a handy feature for some folks.

After filling the disk with a few dozen pictures I finalized the disk (had to read the well laid out manual) and put then it into my computer. It was very simple. The MVC-CD350 also comes with a USB cable (version 2.0 compatible) and, after installing the software on my PC, I downloaded the pictures from the camera. There were about 50 MB (or so) of photos and the transfer process went rather quickly; I'll guess 3 minutes or less.

The controls for the camera are nice size, even for my fat fingers and the layout is fairly logical. The only thing I do not care for is the location of the power button. I think it's too close to the shutter release. A friend owns the same camera and she doesn't think it's a problem, so it has to be me.

The built-in flash does a pretty good job and it has the red-eye reduction mode. You can vary the light output from the flash to from "Low/Normal/High". I call it a "party flash." You can buy a better flash from Sony but, like any powerful flash, it's big. For a party or casual use, the built-in flash seems to work fine.

The display/viewfinder on the back is bright and quite large. It measures 2" wide and 1-1/2" high. The display is of high enough resolution so you can review all pictures you have taken.

Overall I like this camera. The CD drive and rechargeable battery are big selling factors for me. Also, since it is made by Sony I know parts and service are easy enough to find.

What would I improve? The lens. I wish you could change the lens out, like an SLR type camera. The lens is ok, but I would love it if Sony had a interchangeable lens system. Otherwise, no complaints from me!

I love this camera. I don't have to develop film anymore or find a computer to remove the pictures from my camera when I am on a trip. I just need to pop in a new cd and keep on snapping! This camera takes great pictures in all kinds of light--we have beautiful pictures of sunsets and the ocean on a bright sunny day and clear pictures of us around a campfire. I don't have the problem of waiting for the camera between pictures like I had with previous digital cameras. You can also film close to an hour of mpeg movies on one disc. The battery runs practically all day, too. The only drawback I found was it was a little heavy to lug around Disneyland all day. We solved this problem by rotating it among our family members, though (everyone got to take their own pictures then, too). If you are a novice at photography like I am, this camera is for you. It is easy to learn how to use features like the zoom and flash (even without the manual) and takes nearly foolproof pictures, although you still have to remember to keep your thumb out of the way! The cds are great for storage of pictures--no more boxes of pictures that can get ruined over time or big, bulky photo albums. To anyone considering this camera, I say throw away those old rolls of film and buy this camera!

After a couple of years of using a Mavica 73 for web shots and a Canon 35mm for vacation photos (the serious stuff), I decided to upgrade digitally for a much higher resolution with the 350.

After taking some test shots, I realized I could trust this camera with the vacation and family photos that required superior reproduction for prints. The resolution is terrific! This is coming from someone who made money with theatrical, model, and advertising photograpy and even had a photo published in the World Book article on theater.

This is actually a computer that takes pictures and movies, and is easy to operate if you limit your technical requirements. There is very little intuitive about using the buttons & controls through series of menus, so I brought copies of the most important instruction book pages along on our cruise, and did refer to them two or three times.

Just like with the 73, the results appear much better on the LCD screen than on the monitor, so most shots needed photoshop enhancing to increase bot brightness and contrast. Of course, the corner drug store photo processors will also increase brightness, but they ordinarily do not touch contrast.

Also, several shots needed -cyan for better color balance -- just like the early 73 Mavica.

Two of my Sony disks failed in the camera, and my friend, who bought a 350 because she like mine, also lost all her photos when her Sony disk failed in the camera. The Sony tech support guy said "It happens," and sent me a replacement for the first one. But after 30 days, no more replacements. I did buy three costly re-writeable disks at $6 each from Sony on line, one failed with only 12 photos taken, but it was too late to get a replacement from Sony. "Sorry."

Luckily, I came across some software that lets users miraculously recover otherwise "lost" files on CDs and DVDs, and I was able to save nearly all the shots from disks that, when examined with Windows Explorer, showed NO FILES! I recommend non-Sony disks that are five for six dollar at retail, and the first five that I used not only worked flawlessly, but held about 30 more photos than the Sony disks. It's because of the latent possibility of such devastating disk errors that I took one star off the rating.

Also, the file transfer software supplied with the camera does not display any text, so I have to rely on using a magnifying glass to read the tiny screen captures in the instruction manual.

Neither Sony nor the software publisher's tech support could help with this stupidity, and each referred me to the other.

Everyone needs this camera because it's brilliant. My husband and I just bought it, and yes it's very costly on the front end, but we will never have to buy another roll of film, or waste money on processing. We can take tons of pictures now and not even have to think about printing them until we are much more fincially stable. Just last night we went to a Halloween party and took 132 pictures (I kid you not) and it didn't cost us anymore money than if we had taken 2, not so with regular film cameras. You do have to buy the pocket disks but they are dirt cheap, 10 for $6.00 or so and each disk will hold about 145 high quality picutres. I recommend the Memorex cool colors pocket CD-Rs because they are colorfull and therefore easy to keep track of. We haven't had any "technical difficulties" as far as the battery goes or the disks. If you are considering buying a camera you should definitley get this one, even if you have to do a payment plan of some sort. It will end up saving you money in the long run.

I mastered this camera in ten minutues after I opened the box. The best part it uses the 3 inch CD-R and CD-RW's from Sony and so you don't need or worry about memory sticks etc. The CD-RW lets you take 80 images on 640 * 480 size which can be transfered either by playing the CD-R or CR-RW on a PC or transfering the images via USB datalink cable (I took me 2 minutes to transfer all images to the PC via datalink cable). I would recommend this camera to any one shopping for a 3 MP Digital Camera to seriously look into it.

I had no intention of getting this item since I already had a digital camera, but I was immediately drawn to buying one by the ability to use cheap CD-R and CD-RW media, and the unlimited movie mode (limited by media only). As of this writing, no other camera matches this series at the comparable price. Unless Sony releases a DVD-RW capable camera at similar cost, I expect that this camera will last me for some time!

Pros:

- CHEAP media - great for trips when you don't have a computer to offload pics, and you don't want to spend almost the price of your camera to get extra storage space. Since it's just normal CD's, you'll be able see the pics on pretty much any computer (make sure to do the "finalize" on the camera beforehand though).

- Video mode - get a cheap digital video device. It can store about 8 min per CD on high quality (640x460) mode and 1.5 hours on low-quality (160x160). (see related CON)

- Picture quality - blows my old Olympus digital camera away. Lots of options to configure and learn to make you feel like a wanna-be pro photographer.

- Pretty good reaction time - People worry about extra lag in burning each pic onto the CD, but I don't really notice it.

- Consistent battery - I had doubts about the proprietary battery, but it is BY FAR better than my old camera that used normal rechargeables. Each charge lasts about 2 hours and the indicator is pretty accurate down to the minute pretty much.

Cons:

- Larger physical size - This is probably THE biggest deterrent to getting this camera. You can't exactly keep it in your pocket to point and shoot at parties, or sneak shots without people noticing. So think about how you're going to use a digital camera, and if having a camera that fits in your palm is more important than the advantages of this camera, look elsewhere. To be fair, it's not that much bigger than my parent's non-digital camera.

- Resolution - 3.2 is not the highest resolution available at this price these days. however, it's DEFINITELY sufficient for my needs, and each pic takes up less storage space. heck, I'm not trying to print posters here!

- Video mode - Although it suffices to capture lots of things with accompanying sound, the camera has no lighting in video mode -- making night-time movies not so great. The captured videos also seems to come out darker than other digital cameras without lighting, though that may be helped by some post-processing. This camera is also awkward for capturing lengthy events at high quality (changing discs every 8 min isn't exactly ideal). Again, think about what's important to you. At similar prices, devices that advertise themselves as multifunction video and photo probably take better video, but much worse photos.

Warnings:

I bought 200 mb discs for this camera ignoring warnings that 156 mb ones work best. Well, I found sometimes I did have some issues with reading completely-full discs in the computer, but just used the handy USB cord to transfer instead. Out of about 10-15 discs of pictures and videos I've taken, I also had one occasion where the disc got corrupted. However, that happened when I was at critically low battery trying to take video on an almost-completed 200 mb disc.

Bottom Line:

After I got this camera, I found that I didn't want to let go of my old (smaller) digital camera because I still liked the small size for some things. That's probably the only reason I wouldn't recommend this camera to anyone and everyone. It's funny to me that even with digital cameras, people still find themselves having to think about whether to take a picture or not since they don't have so much storage space, or haven't unloaded old pictures, or are not sure how much battery they have left. This camera solves these problems. I wouldn't want to go on a vacation with any other camera.

When this camera works, it takes sweet pictures. It probably takes sweet pictures when it ISN'T working, but I'll never know. It has a habit -- I say "habit" because this has happened to more than 80% of the photos (around 500) that I have shot in the first two weeks I've had the thing -- of something happening so that the photos are unrecoverable from a disc. This level of unreliability is something I simply cannot fathom.

In looking around help forums and other user reviews on the Web, I find that the problem is far from unusual. The problem seems worse when one uses generic (i.e., non-Sony) mini-discs. And just try finding Sony mini-discs at any of your local big-boxes. It seems to me (we are in the Denver area, not exactly miles from nowhere) that the only place these things can be purchased is on the Web.

This camera was to be a replacement for my Mavica 88, a great little camera that never burped or blurbled on floppies in four years of pretty heavy use. That camera took about any floppy tossed into it, which made things very simple. By contrast, the MVC-350 is beyond persnickety about its discs and its discs are apparently impossible to procure, except on the Web.

I tried to work with Sony's service department, which seems to be offshore. It was clear that the person with whom I was speaking understood only about half of what I was saying: maybe less. There seemed to be a number of scripts available, none of which fit the problem I described. At this point, because I bought this as a new camera through an eBay vendor, I am becoming resigned to the idea of having lost over $300. If you have to try this camera, the odds appear to be relatively good because this problem appears to affect only 15% of users. So go ahead; if it works for you, you'll be very pleased. But for heaven's sake, buy from Amazon, where you will be able to return it if it does not work for you.

In five years or so of writing Amazon reviews, I have given one star on exactly one other occasion, for a very silly book. Even with kitchen equipment I have not liked, there has usually been at least one redeeming feature. In this case, the camera's unreliability is so antithetical to the very purpose of a camera that there is simply nothing good for me to say. This camera has, in effect, stolen my work and I am not very happy about that.

A camera's job is not only to take, but most importantly to facilitate making pictures. When it is impossible to process the picture taken, it is impossible to make the picture. For this reason, I can only recommend looking at this camera with great caution and, if possible, finding an acceptable alternative.

A truly magnificent product. The mini-CD format is robust and so convenient - no longer any need to download pictures to the computer en masse - just view and select them one by one to e-mail, print or modify - they are safely stored on the CD, which fits in the DVD or CD-Rom drive of any computer that I have yet met.
The camera is easy to use and captures superb images either singly or in bursts and it will even take sound movies!
There was no problem with using SONY 200Mb Mavica miniCD's a available for mere pence. Easy to use and store away as one fills them up - there is a noticable tendency for one to take many more pictures with so much storage available.
The camera is robust and light and easy to use both outdoors and inside it gives superd quality images. The battery seems to last, on average for about 240 images but one can always carry a spare. It has performed well in subzero and warm sunlight outdoors with never a glitch.
This is a camera which embodies everything that I need, I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone as a valuable general purpose camera for both work and pleasure.

I am a professional radiographer and photographer (25 years now) and I used both the Sony CD500, CD400, CD350, CD300, as well as a Nikon Coolpix for field research 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 CD500 & 300 beat them all. It's not the most expensive or the best resolution but we all thought it did the best job.

Mavica CD500: best of all....resolution, reasonable recording time, great image control for exposure, close-ups, better controls, pretty much everything

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 CD350: not enough manual control for us, but usually got great images on automatic....some problems with exposure range for close-ups though

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!

I've had this camera for about a yr now. And like any digital camera it has it's pro's and cons. First off at 3.2 megapixals it's at where any digital camera sould start at for megapixals. The more the more you can crop your photo's with out loosing picture quaility. But that comes with a price tag. More megapixals means more memory consumption. 3x optical zoom is great but could be better. But that's where most digital cameras are at. The veiw finder is only a lcd screen.. it's great untill u have to take pictures in sunny areas. Very easy to use. This camera uses cd's to store images which means 210mb. at somewhere 50 cents a disk. But the downside to that is it takes abit longer to store an image then it would a memory card. Lot's of extra features like movie mode and burst. The battery last along time and is a snap to charge. Battery is also compataply with most sony movie cameras. A plus for some. final verdict. Want a digtal camera to take great pictures with out croping to much, and worried about the high price of memory cards.. this camera is for you.