Customer Reviews

Sony MVCFD100 FD Mavica 1.2MP Digital Still Camera w/ 3x OPtical Zoom

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

 

 

This is a great camera, I give it 4 starts only beacuse [does not] include a diskette or a memory stick..
Overall the camera is very nice, the superfine resolution is great. But it eats floppys so get a 64 or 128 mb memory stick.
Also be sure to get another battery pack... No sound on the movies, but its not ment to be a camcorder. Included are lens cover, shoulder strap, video out cable, a/c adapter & charger & USB cable....

Well, thought it was time for me to get with the times so I finally got myself a digital camera. I've always wanted one, but just really never had the money for one. I was able to get my hands on the Sony MVC-FD100 Digital Camera a couple of weeks ago, and I can say that I am very pleased with it.

You don't have to be a computer wiz to know how to operate it, which is one of the best qualities. It is VERY easy to use and I seriously think that anyone can learn to use it in a matter of minutes. It's a little bigger than most cameras, but this is because it allows you to save pictures to a floppy disk (which means that you really never have to hook up the camera to your PC to view or share your pictures). You can also use memory sticks as well (they're expensive, but can hold lots of memory and is more convenient than switching floppies non-stop).

There's a lot of neat things you can do with the camera. You can zoom in and out with ease, change the effects to make your pictures look different, and you can make short MPEG videos (with no audio). All of these features are very easy to use and are easy to learn.

A main drawback to this digital camera is the price. It is rather costly, but I think it's worth it. If this seems to be out of your price range then you should look at some others. There are plenty of others that are less expensive.

All in all, I am very pleased with the Sony MVC-FD100 Digital Camera. It's easy to use and is very convenient. If you're looking for a high quality digital camera that can be operated by just about anyone, then I highly recommend that you check this one out.

There was a little piece of advice I always gave people upon choosing their first digital camera, that being: 1)Take the megapixel count you are interested in, and 2)Multiply it by 100 3)If you spend within 50 dollars of that, you have basically gotten a good deal. If you pay less, you are probably missing some fundamental feature (a zoom is often the first thing to go) and if you pay more, you are getting more than you probably wanted (some special lens made from a glass that NASA uses to make the microwaves on the shuttle or something like that). With the Mavica FD series, the extra 100 or 200 dollars is going to its method of storing pictures, on simple, inexpensive floppy disks.
If that still does not seem to justify the price, consider this: a floppy disk drive runs anywhere from 40 to 60 dollars, now take that drive and stick it on the back of a digital camera (thus making it self-powered).
And then there is the media itself: Smartmedia and CompactFlash cards are down in price (averaging less than a dollar per megabyte) and are available in sizes in the giga-range. That all seems fine and dandy, until you consider the phrase "don't put all your eggs in one basket." The cards are like any other data storage media, and thus prone to corruption and electromagnetic interference. So, because of a simple error in the camera (it is a computer like any other, and thus prone to all the same weaknesses), a whole 64+ megabytes of memories can be lost forever. And, to add insult to injury, that card was really expensive! Meanwhile, a box of 40+ floppy disks (at about 1.44MB per disc) costs a little less than 10 dollars. Now get out your calculators....Okay....PENCILS DOW--I MEAN, CALCULATORS DOWN!
Of course, the problem with floppy disks is that there are so many of them that lugging them around your vacation spot can be a complete pain. Fortunately, unlike the FD-75, you have the option of using Memory Sticks. In fact, if you take someone's picture on the MemStick, but want to give them one of the photos, simply insert a floppy disk and copy (just like in a computer) the picture to the floppy and give them that disk. Beats making them wait for a print.
Also, Sony's sensibility guided them toward making the FD Mavicas out of HandyCam parts, meaning that some of the accessories you got for/with your Handycam (if you have one)can be used with the mavica, namely the battery (that little crummy one that came with it that you have probably not used since you got that even better 8-hour one!) which is exactly the same as the battery that comes with the FD! So, out of the box, you have doubled the battery life of the camera. Also, the camera has a 37mm filter thread, which allows you to attach neat accessories like color filters and fisheye lenses.
Final word: a little pricey and not much for resolution, but for Handycam owners, it is a new lease on life for those old batteries!

I have purchased this particular camera due to its ability to record images to the floppy disk. I traveled across the country by bicycle and uploaded pictures from public libraries along the way, where computers would not allow to install software and have USB port, but always had available floppy drives. This worked very well!

The camera showed amazing performance in representing the colors in its pictures. Focus was always good, images were clear and beautiful. Macro mode worked extremely well. Camera is reliable and battery life is superb.
With 1.3 Mega Pixels, images are perfect for computer use or make print outs of standard size.

Shutter delay makes it difficult to shot moving objects unless you are used to guessing the right moment. Sensitivity in dark conditions was very low, on automatic mode at least. I don't know if adjusting white balance or exposure compensation would improve the sensitivity. I always found automatically taken pictures to be of best quality.
If there is a need to use the MAJOR feature of the Sony MVC FD 100 function - floppy drive, then this is the excellent choice.
FD 200 that replaced 100 in 2003 offers 2.0 Mega Pixels Matrix with identical features.

Here are few sample pictures taken with this camera:

http://www.angelfire.com/linux/mikhail4/travel8/flower_after_rain_macro.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/linux/mikhail4/travel8/sunset_on_trans_canada.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/linux/mikhail5/travel11/nice_mushroom.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/pont331/clouds_ahead.jpg

All in all, this camera provided exceptional service and I recommend it to anyone that needs to use its ability to save images on floppy disks.

I bought my Mavica as my first digital camera and have never been disappointed with it. It has travelled everywhere with me and has taken many awesome pictures. It was very easy to learn to use and the manual for it is well written and understandable.
I'm just now getting around to getting a memory stick for it so that I can record my photos as TIFFs. I suspect that after I use that, I will love it even more.
I have learned everything that I know about digital photography with my Mavica by my side. I learned how to set white balance, ISO speed, and spot metering easily and quickly. I would love to have a camera with a bigger resolution and a smaller size, but my Mavica takes such beautiful pictures that I'm not going to replace it.
I use it mostly to take pictures of my daughter and her classmates. The individual pictures taken indoors in UV light with a flash are amazing. In fact, after her class Christmas party (2003) they were so good that I printed them onto photo fabric and made the teacher a scarf with pictures of the children.
I love this camera and have been VERY happy with it. I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

I work in a bodyshop, i.e. a collision repair and paint facility. We take pictures of every car that goes through our shop from the estimate, drop off, during the work and upon completion. Basically we are always taking picutures. With the camera we've had for years the biggest problem was taking the pictures and then transferring them to computer. The FD Mavica solves that problem.

Originally the idea was if we could save to a floppy disk then we could easily transfer them to the computer without a card reader. Upon getting the camera the crew and I fell in love with this camera. A day after getting the camera we had a white Ford Probe come in with front bumper damage. Deep scratches on a white bumper. White upon white. In other words a major pain to get a decent shot of. But with the MVC-FD100 we bumped it up to the maximum pixel count, changed the settings to outdoors and shot the picture. Came out beautifully. Great detail.

With the MVC-FD100 we take all the needed shots of the vehicle and save it to one disk and then place the disk in the file with the rest of the paperwork. No need to transfer via a card reader to the hard drive and label each photo. When additional shots are required we simple pull the disk and put it back into the camera.

The other functions of this camera make it perfect for anyone who takes a lot of pictures. It's great for business and personal use. I highly recommend this camera to anyone needing a camera. Use standard 3.5 floppy disks or memory sticks. Transfer between the media if necessary. It's a camera that will prove itself for years to come.

I everyone, I'm a seller at one of the famous auction sites. While the overall features were improved, the most important one was REMOVED! I mean manual focus ring... I have to work with small items and need to focus on paricular part of the object i'm shooting. THIS CAMERA FOCUSES ON WHAT IT WANTS TO! The pictures are totally out of focus where you want, but perfectly fine where the camera "sees" them. I hope it is not too confusing. My advice? Get yourself either FD-83 or Sony 707 Digital Camera.

I don't know if three is an accurate rating but almost all of my indoor pictures are dark. I have to be three feet or less to get a good picture. Are all cameras like this?

Otherwise I am completely satisfied with the camera LJM

This camera is a great value with it's features. I first purchased a digital camera that required you to download the pictures from memory. I like being able to take pictures on floppy and go. It is easy to use and plenty of accessories are available to make it even better...I would recommend this camera to all levels of users.

My school has 2 of these camera's and I use them quite often for school dance pictures and field trips. This is an easy to use camera. I am going on a trip this week and i am going to be purchising this camera... It's worth it!