Review: New Sony digital camera bulky but convenient

The Sony MVC-CD1000 is the first digital camera to record images on a CD

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By Jack Poorman
CNN.com Reviewer

(CNN) -- It was with great interest that I explored the Sony MVC-CD1000, the first digital still camera to record on its own built-in CDR. That's right -- you record directly to a CD inside the camera. The concept is the same as the floppy disk technology used in other Mavica cameras: Take the picture and instantly look at your shots, this time with more than 100 times the storage capacity. No tedious uploading pictures to your PC, and sharing is easy since the CDR plays in just about any CD-ROM or CDR/RW drive on a PC or Mac.

When it comes to new technology, users want simplicity. They do not need owners manuals that read like "stand on your head and lift your left leg to turn the unit off."

And using the CDR technology is wonderfully simple -- you "initialize" each CDR before use, which only takes a few minutes, and when you are finished you just "finalize" your CD. Never fear: You can finalize more than once. You just initialize the CDR again and keep using it until full. One trick: Be sure not to jostle the unit while it is recording your picture to CD or it can make the disc unusable.

The MVC-CD1000 borrows many of its functions and interface from Sony's MiniDV camera line. The unit also has many features that are becoming standard in digital cameras, like letting users zoom in on pictures in the LCD screen after they're taken, which compensates for the small viewing area. Also, there's the three-mode flash with red eye reduction and flash level adjust, and Sony's SteadyShot -- though I am not convinced this is needed in still photography.

Smart features include a great power-saving feature unique to this Mavica -- an "auto-on" feature for the LCD color viewfinder that only comes on when you look into it. Smart. As with most of Sony's digital cameras and MiniDV recorders, the new Mavica uses InfoLithium technology that lets you know exactly when the battery is going to die, which adds a certain urgency in the user that can be hysterical to watch.

The biggest bonus that sets the new Mavica apart from other cameras and goes a long way towards making digital pictures more accessible is "E-mail Mode." E-mail Mode allows a user to record two images at once from the same snap at a disk space reduction of only about 12 percent. This means the user can take pictures in high-resolution mode and also send a quick e-mail of each shot to friends and co-workers. The time and tedium this can save a documentation project or a trip to dinner with friends is a godsend. This feature is not to be taken lightly because in practice high-megapixel pictures are hefty files. After an event, I find myself without enough spare time to upload or convert images in a size small enough to distribute quickly. With E-mail Mode you get "one to keep and one to share." Give Sony three gold stars for this one.

But there is a downside. In the world of small and portable digital cameras like the Olympus C-3030, the Sony MVC-CD1000 is bulky. Not heavy, (only 35 ounces) but this big boy is hard to stick in your pocket, and it's pretty obtrusive to wear around your neck as you tour around the French countryside. It looks like something used by a sideline photographer or Space Shuttle astronaut.

Still, the Mavica is amazing for its technological feat of wonder. In just 15 years, CDs have gone from being manufactured by people in space suits in white rooms to a camera that can make CDRs on the fly. I haven't played with this camera enough to know its failure rate (the CD I burned worked flawlessly). But if someone would have told me in 1992 that a CDR would be in a portable camera and make reliable "multi-session" recordings, I would have sent them a lifetime pass to the Mad Hatter's nutty tea cup ride.

The 8-cm CDR holds about 160 shots at high-resolution, and 1,800 in low-resolution mode (640x480). You can also record MPEG1 video for up to 60 seconds. Besides CDR, you can also view your pictures directly through your TV or attach the unit via USB port and view the Mavica as a spare disk drive.

All told, the Sony MVC-CD1000 is a great technological innovation with a trade off since you get cheap storage and great convenience with the downside of a bulky camera. Perhaps it's like a lot of toys -- it's not who dies with the most but who has the biggest?

Jack Poorman is executive producer for CNN Inflight, a Turner Private Networks program featured on Delta Air Lines flights.

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Sony
  • MVC-CD1000

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