Sony Mavica Camera

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Hey Troops........A while back, several of you said you were purchasing
Sony Mavicas to take "how-to-do-it" photos with your GMC's. Is any
feedback available at this time? I'm considering getting one and I'd like
to know about any comments you may have. I like the idea of the camera
using a standard floppy disc that can just be plunked into the computer.
The photo magazines said good things about them, but knowing what a picky
bunch of old farts you are, I'd appreciate your thoughts also.......Jim
Davis, 77 Coca Cola, Oregon Coast Where The Weather Seems To Be Clearing So
I Can Turn On The Bilge Pumps And Pump Out My Toy
 
Jim:

Two things I don't like about the Sony. First, depending on the resolution
selected, at high resolution a floppy has a very limited storage capability,
maybe two or three pictures. So check that out for yourself. Other brands
use a flash card or smart card, which come in 2, 4,8, and 16 meg sizes.

Second, it does not have an optical viewfinder that you sight thru to frame
your picture. You have to hold the camera out from your face to frame a
picture. Since all you have is an LCD screen to view your subject prior to
clicking the shutter, in bright light it easily washes out so that you can't
see what your aiming for.

I have a Ricoh RDC-4200 and a Kodak DC 260 to use. The Ricoh has a segement
of the camera containing the lens which rotates, about 270 degrees I
believe. The Kodak has an optical viewfinder.

Paul Bartz

- -----Original Message-----
From: Jim Davis
To: 'gmcmotorhome'
Sent: 2/4/99 8:55 PM
Subject: GMC: Sony Mavica Camera

Hey Troops........A while back, several of you said you were purchasing
Sony Mavicas to take "how-to-do-it" photos with your GMC's. Is any
feedback available at this time? I'm considering getting one and I'd
like
to know about any comments you may have. I like the idea of the camera
using a standard floppy disc that can just be plunked into the computer.

The photo magazines said good things about them, but knowing what a
picky
bunch of old farts you are, I'd appreciate your thoughts also.......Jim
Davis, 77 Coca Cola, Oregon Coast Where The Weather Seems To Be Clearing
So
I Can Turn On The Bilge Pumps And Pump Out My Toy
 
>Hey Troops........A while back, several of you said you were purchasing
>Sony Mavicas to take "how-to-do-it" photos with your GMC's. Is any
>feedback available at this time? I'm considering getting one and I'd like
>to know about any comments you may have. I like the idea of the camera
>using a standard floppy disc that can just be plunked into the computer.
>The photo magazines said good things about them, but knowing what a picky
>bunch of old farts you are, I'd appreciate your thoughts also.......Jim
>Davis, 77 Coca Cola, Oregon Coast Where The Weather Seems To Be Clearing So
>I Can Turn On The Bilge Pumps And Pump Out My Toy
>

Jim, the Mavica's take a little longer to store pictures on the disks so
you have to wait an extra second between shots. Probably no big deal most
of the time. All the other digitals use little memory cards that aren't
too expensive these days. We got a Kodak DC 260 for Christmas and are
really impressed with the quality and ease of use.

You can find out all you'll ever want to know about all brands of digital
camaras in Usenet News. Subscribe to rec.photo.digital with your news
client. There's lots of excellent discussion there.

Good Luck

bdub
'76 Palm Beach
In The Heart o Texas
www.web-access.net/~bmassey/
icq # 202333
 
Jim... et al

Consider possibility that a 120 MB 3.5 inch Super Disk may or may not
work. Does anyone know?
- --
Regards,
John 74 Glacier near Washington, DC.
 
>Jim... et al
>
>Consider possibility that a 120 MB 3.5 inch Super Disk may or may not
>work. Does anyone know?
>--
>Regards,
>John 74 Glacier near Washington, DC.
>

It would be great if it did! But it won't.

However, the new Mavica's floppy drive runs quite a bit faster than your
normal 3.5" drive. IIRC about 3 times faster. This helps a lot but it
still keeps you reloading floppies rather frequently.

bdub
'76 Palm Beach
In The Heart o Texas
www.web-access.net/~bmassey/
icq # 202333
 
Manny:

What picture resolution setting gives you that quantity?

Paul Bartz

From: MTrovao [mailto:MTrovao]
Sent: Friday, February 05, 1999 12:30 PM
Subject: Re: GMC: Sony Mavica Camera

I too have a Sony Mavica like Gene Fisher. Bought from www.onsale.com on
sale. Paid $346.00 plus tax and shipping. Fits
20 or so pictures on each 3.5 disk.
 
Lanier...et al

> In the meantime I'm going to get a still-frame-capture gizmo that'll
> convert my VHS tapes to digital photos (such as "Snappy")
> I'm going to buy one today - $99.95 @ Circuit City to go with my new >
> Lanier

Seems like an interesting approach... do you or anyone know if there is
much loss of sharpness in the A/D conversion and whether the Snappy will
work directly from 8 mm tapes right out of a 8 mm video camera. Please
post your web site so I can look at JimiSue et al.

- --
Regards,
John 74 Glacier near Washington, DC.
 
>In a message dated 2/5/99 6:30:35 AM Central Standard Time, bmassey

>
> >Consider possibility that a 120 MB 3.5 inch Super Disk may or may not
> >work. Does anyone know?
> >--
> >Regards,
> >John 74 Glacier near Washington, DC.
> >
>
> It would be great if it did! But it won't.
> >>
>I think I'll wait 'til someone comes out with one that will use the 120 MB
>disk. In the meantime I'm going to get a still-frame-capture gizmo that'll
>convert my VHS tapes to digital photos (such as "Snappy") MOF, I'm going to
>buy one today - $99.95 @ Circuit City to go with my new super-duper 450 Mhz P2
>w/256 MB SDRam, 16MB video, etc which I hope to finish putting together today.
>Then I'll post pix of JimiSue, MayBellene, and MiniPerl.
>Lanier

WOW! forget the camara.....I'm slobber'n over that computer! :-)

Good Luck with it and be sure an let us know where we can see your GMC harem.
 
Different thoughts... I use a Nikon 900 camera. Wonderful and with the
32 MB disk, I get 195 pictures in the normal mode. Flash memory is easy
to put into my laptop as it fits any PC slot. Has 915 zoom positions and
does well in dark or light. Just my .02c worth.
Al Chernoff
77 eleganza II

> Jim... et al
>
> Consider possibility that a 120 MB 3.5 inch Super Disk may or may not
> work. Does anyone know?
> --
> Regards,
> John 74 Glacier near Washington, DC.
 
Al........What did you pay for the Nikon 900? Do you remember?......Jim Davis

- -----Original Message-----
From: mr.c [SMTP:mr.c]
Sent: Friday, February 05, 1999 9:02 PM
To: gmcmotorhome
Subject: Re: GMC: Sony Mavica Camera

Different thoughts... I use a Nikon 900 camera. Wonderful and with the
32 MB disk, I get 195 pictures in the normal mode. Flash memory is easy
to put into my laptop as it fits any PC slot. Has 915 zoom positions and
does well in dark or light. Just my .02c worth.
Al Chernoff
77 eleganza II

> Jim... et al
>
> Consider possibility that a 120 MB 3.5 inch Super Disk may or may not
> work. Does anyone know?
> --
> Regards,
> John 74 Glacier near Washington, DC.
 
>Al........What did you pay for the Nikon 900? Do you remember?......Jim Davis
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: mr.c [SMTP:mr.c]
>Sent: Friday, February 05, 1999 9:02 PM
>To: gmcmotorhome
>Subject: Re: GMC: Sony Mavica Camera
>
>Different thoughts... I use a Nikon 900 camera.

The prices I have seen on the Nikon CoolPix 900 camera $799.

Heres a review site.

http://www.image-acquire.com/camera/reviews/nikocp900.shtml

I started looking at the 900 after I saw some images posted to the
net, we have a digital camera at work and I,ve never been impressed
it, but after I saw the images from the 900, I started watching the
prices.

Heres the link to one of those images, they are at the bottom
of the page.

http://www.lonestardigital.com/coolpix900.htm

John Szalay
73 GMC PD
OMIFEI
 
There is a place in NY, called Abes of Maine, and tthe person I talked to was
Vince at 800-272-2237 ext 208. He got a friend of mine one for about $580 or
so. I paid more for mine. Call him and see what he can do if you are
interested.

Al
77 Eleganza II

> Al........What did you pay for the Nikon 900? Do you remember?......Jim Davis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mr.c [SMTP:mr.c]
> Sent: Friday, February 05, 1999 9:02 PM
> To: gmcmotorhome
> Subject: Re: GMC: Sony Mavica Camera
>
> Different thoughts... I use a Nikon 900 camera. Wonderful and with the
> 32 MB disk, I get 195 pictures in the normal mode. Flash memory is easy
> to put into my laptop as it fits any PC slot. Has 915 zoom positions and
> does well in dark or light. Just my .02c worth.
> Al Chernoff
> 77 eleganza II
>

>
> > Jim... et al
> >
> > Consider possibility that a 120 MB 3.5 inch Super Disk may or may not
> > work. Does anyone know?
> > --
> > Regards,
> > John 74 Glacier near Washington, DC.
 
I think you can do better on the price. I hope you will call Abes of Maine or
others. The new one is the Nikon 900s. It has been updated. I have to tell you
something interesting. When I had a recent problem with my Nikon, it stops
working with batteries. So I sent Nikon a fax Sunday night, and at 7:45 monday
morning they called. They told me they had problems with regular batteries.
Suggested I try NIMH batteries. Bought a charger and four batteries for $35 and
the system works great. The fact that a few hours after I faxed them they called
to help me was impressive. So was the news that they were working on an upgrade
to mine that would be amost the same as the 900s. I really like that kind of
support
Al Chernoff
77 Eleganza II

> >Al........What did you pay for the Nikon 900? Do you remember?......Jim Davis
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: mr.c [SMTP:mr.c]
> >Sent: Friday, February 05, 1999 9:02 PM
> >To: gmcmotorhome
> >Subject: Re: GMC: Sony Mavica Camera
> >
> >Different thoughts... I use a Nikon 900 camera.
>
> The prices I have seen on the Nikon CoolPix 900 camera $799.
>
> Heres a review site.
>
> http://www.image-acquire.com/camera/reviews/nikocp900.shtml
>
> I started looking at the 900 after I saw some images posted to the
> net, we have a digital camera at work and I,ve never been impressed
> it, but after I saw the images from the 900, I started watching the
> prices.
>
> Heres the link to one of those images, they are at the bottom
> of the page.
>
> http://www.lonestardigital.com/coolpix900.htm
>
> John Szalay
> 73 GMC PD
> OMIFEI
 
I have a videotape production company & work with a professional
photographer of 40 years. He uses the Kodak DC260 because of the high
resolution. You can make an 11x14 print that looks as good as one made from
film. I purchased one of these cameras after seeing the quality of his work.
The camera uses a Compact Flash memory card. A 30 meg. card holds
approximately 25 high resolution pictures depending on the content of the
picture. Pictures with a lot of detail require more memory, thus fewer pixs
recorded on the card. High resolution/high detail pixs also take more time
to record to the card, resulting in several seconds of "down time" while
this occurs (no pix can be taken during this time). The price of a 30 meg
card (smaller & larger are available) ranges from $95 to $160 depending on
the source

Digital cameras love to "eat" batteries. The best type is Nickel/Hy-dride. A
pack of 4 AA Kodak batteries w/charger is approx. $40.00. The Kodak
batteries require a 3 hour charge, some other brands require 14 hours.

If you upload your pixs to your computer using a serial port connection, you
will die waiting for the process to complete. Using a USB port cuts the time
by 75%, maybe more. A good way to upload is to purchase a Sandisk Imagemate
card reader. It is available in a parallel or USB configuration. Again, the
USB is much faster. This also saves wear & tear on the camera. The parallel
model sells for $50, the USB for $80.

Another alternative is the Iomega CLIK. This device enables you to download
your Compact Flash card to a proprietary disk in the field. If you take many
pixs, this is the most economical way. The unit lists for $249 (can be
purchased for $205) w/one disk, battery & charger, & desktop station. Disks
are $10 in quantity.

If you don't need the resolution of the DC260, there are many less expensive
models available. The DC260 lists for $999. Most dealers sell it for $899.
It can be had for $689. If you are going to publish only to the net, buy the
cheapest model you can find.

Good luck!

>>Hey Troops........A while back, several of you said you were purchasing
>>Sony Mavicas to take "how-to-do-it" photos with your GMC's. Is any
>>feedback available at this time? I'm considering getting one and I'd like
>>to know about any comments you may have. I like the idea of the camera
>>using a standard floppy disc that can just be plunked into the computer.
>>The photo magazines said good things about them, but knowing what a picky
>>bunch of old farts you are, I'd appreciate your thoughts also.......Jim
>
>Jim, the Mavica's take a little longer to store pictures on the disks so
>you have to wait an extra second between shots. Probably no big deal most
>of the time. All the other digitals use little memory cards that aren't
>too expensive these days. We got a Kodak DC 260 for Christmas and are
>really impressed with the quality and ease of use.
>
 
I have a videotape production company & work with a professional
photographer of 40 years. He uses the Kodak DC260 because of the high
resolution. You can make an 11x14 print that looks as good as one made from
film. I purchased one of these cameras after seeing the quality of his work.
The camera uses a Compact Flash memory card. A 30 meg. card holds
approximately 25 high resolution pictures depending on the content of the
picture. Pictures with a lot of detail require more memory, thus fewer pixs
recorded on the card. High resolution/high detail pixs also take more time
to record to the card, resulting in several seconds of "down time" while
this occurs (no pix can be taken during this time). The price of a 30 meg
card (smaller & larger are available) ranges from $95 to $160 depending on
the source

Digital cameras love to "eat" batteries. The best type is Nickel/Hy-dride. A
pack of 4 AA Kodak batteries w/charger is approx. $40.00. The Kodak
batteries require a 3 hour charge, some other brands require 14 hours.

If you upload your pixs to your computer using a serial port connection, you
will die waiting for the process to complete. Using a USB port cuts the time
by 75%, maybe more. A good way to upload is to purchase a Sandisk Imagemate
card reader. It is available in a parallel or USB configuration. Again, the
USB is much faster. This also saves wear & tear on the camera. The parallel
model sells for $50, the USB for $80.

Another alternative is the Iomega CLIK. This device enables you to download
your Compact Flash card to a proprietary disk in the field. If you take many
pixs, this is the most economical way. The unit lists for $249 (can be
purchased for $205) w/one disk, battery & charger, & desktop station. Disks
are $10 in quantity.

I purchased a Mavica a year ago & returned it because I was unhappy with the
resolution. The current model has increased resolution, & is quite
satisfactory for snapshots. If you are like some of us freaks, you won't be
satisfied unless you have "the very best", a DC260 or similar megapixel
camera.

The DC260 lists for $999. Most dealers sell it for $899.
It can be had for $689. If you are going to publish only to the net, buy the
cheapest model you can find.

Time for a "commercial": I have a Kodak DC25 digital camera that I am
selling for the paltry sum of $100 (original cost: $400). Fine for snapshots
or publishing to the web.

Good luck!

>>Hey Troops........A while back, several of you said you were purchasing
>>Sony Mavicas to take "how-to-do-it" photos with your GMC's. Is any
>>feedback available at this time? I'm considering getting one and I'd like
>>to know about any comments you may have. I like the idea of the camera
>>using a standard floppy disc that can just be plunked into the computer.
>>The photo magazines said good things about them, but knowing what a picky
>>bunch of old farts you are, I'd appreciate your thoughts also.......Jim
>
>Jim, the Mavica's take a little longer to store pictures on the disks so
>you have to wait an extra second between shots. Probably no big deal most
>of the time. All the other digitals use little memory cards that aren't
>too expensive these days. We got a Kodak DC 260 for Christmas and are
>really impressed with the quality and ease of use.
>

>>Hey Troops........A while back, several of you said you were purchasing
>>Sony Mavicas to take "how-to-do-it" photos with your GMC's. Is any
>>feedback available at this time? I'm considering getting one and I'd like
>>to know about any comments you may have. I like the idea of the camera
>>using a standard floppy disc that can just be plunked into the computer.
>>The photo magazines said good things about them, but knowing what a picky
>>bunch of old farts you are, I'd appreciate your thoughts also.......Jim
 
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