Reviews
Sony
Cyber-shot F88
Interesting concept, flawed execution
When
I first saw pictures and specs of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F88
I felt it had all the makings of a winner. The F88 combines much
of the technology and features of one of Sony's recent home runs,
the incredible Cyber-shot T1, with the rotating lens design that
I've liked ever since Nikon used it in its early Coolpix digital
cameras.
Interestingly,
when I actually got a chance to review the F88, it wasn't what
I expected. In fact, it turned out to be one of those cameras
that I can't take into my hands without finding fault with it.
Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I think I simply don't
like some of the design choices Sony made. The F88 has been getting
a lot of praise, so for once I will present the minority position
and all the reasons why I felt let down by the F88.
It's
not that the F88 is a totally lackluster design by any means.
In fact, it is a very high quality camera with many good sides,
and it may be perfect for lots of people. I am not one of them.
What
we have here is an ultra-compact 5.1 megapixel digital camera
that measures about four by two inches and is about an inch thick.
What sets it apart from most other digicams is a rotating lens
assembly that lets you take pictures from above or below an object.
That comes in handy when you want to shoot something above the
heads of a crowd, or when you want to shoot from hip level so
as to not attract a lot of attention. And a rotating lens assembly
is also great for taking silly self-portraits.
I
really do like the rotating lens concept. Sony even used the same
ingenious zoom mechanism pioneered in the T1. It fits a full 3X
optical zoom into a very small lens assembly so that the lens
never motors out. This rotating marvel of miniaturization constitutes
the upper part of the camera. Rotating also turns the camera on
and off, and here Sony made a big error. The camera turns off
when you twist the lens assembly down about 30 degrees. Imagine
you're about to take a once in a lifetime overhead shot and....
the F88 turns itself off without warning. It just turns off. That
is just plain stupid.
A
second disappointment is the F88's LCD. Though the camera is a
bit larger than the T1, the rotating lens design leaves much less
space for the LCD. I loved the T1's terrific 2.5-inch display
for its large size and perfect outdoor viewability and was dismayed
to find a much smaller 1.8-inch LCD in the F88. That's a big difference.
The smaller display also seems to use a standard transmissive
display which is much less sunlight readable. And for some strange
reason, this LCD has an extremely narrow vertical viewing angle,
exactly what you don't want in a camera you're going to hold above
or below you. All this means that you have to rely on the small
real-image optical viewfinder, which doesn't show any of the information
you see on a LCD, and that also lacks a diopter adjustment to
boot.
I
also felt the F88 doesn't exude nearly the elegance and quality
as the T1. That camera feels like an expensive high precision
instrument in every respect whereas the F88's body has an unfortunate
mix of four different surface treatments, and though it is made
in Japan it sure doesn't feel like it.
Problems
continue with controls. The zoom rocker is located too low and
there's an array of Braille-style bumps right above the rocker
and in 
the
spot where you expect the zoom to be. So you never know if you
touch the zoom or those bumps. The icons and writing on the darkish
mode dial are difficult to read, and it's never quite clear which
function is selected. The rest of the manual controls÷a few push
buttons and the by now almost standard five-way control disc÷are
okay. Things go downhill again with onscreen menus that use a
liberal mix of icons and writing. They are hard to see indoors
and become hopelessly illegible outdoors.
These
glitches take attention away from the good technology inside the
F88. Its 10 elements-13 groups Carl Zeiss Vario-Tessar 38-114mm
equivalent zoom lens is capable of above average picture quality.
Like in the T1, you can use either the standard 2X ãPrecisionä
digital zoom or a 4X ãSmart Zoomä that zooms into an area instead
of simply enlarging part of the picture. An AF illuminator helps
in taking pictures in poor lighting, and I've always liked Sony's
Info-Lithium battery technology that tells you how much longer
you can shoot. Though the F88 is basically a point & shoot there
is some manual control for more advanced users. There are ten
scene modes, a VGA movie mode with sound that records until the
Memory Stick or Memory Stick Pro is full. You can print directly
to a PictBridge enabled printer, and there is a reasonably fast
burst mode, and other goodies, as you'd expect in a $400 camera
from Sony.
In
my opinion, Sony didn't think this one through. As a result, the
DSC-F88 is considerably less than the sum of its parts, and the
more expensive DSC-T1 is a much better buy.
öKirk
Linsky
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