Reviews
Sony
CyberShot F828
The perfect accessory for your CliŽ...
Well,
okay; the CyberShot will put a somewhat larger dent into your
checkbook than any CliŽ ever will, but those photography nuts
who love Sony style, engineering and cachet might find it hard
to resist this marvelous new digital camera from one of Japan's
finest.
The F828 makes it clear that Sony wanted to prove something here:
digital cameras don't have to look like your father's film camera.
And as long as the design of new millennium cameras hadn't solidified
yet, Sony was going to put its stamp on it.
Sony's always been that way: innovate, try new things. In 1999,
the company came up with the somewhat oddly styled lens-centric
F505, and that was just the beginning of Sony's style-fest. And
it worked. Sony cameras are everywhere and Sony is consistently
in the top tier of the digital camera sales charts. Most Sony
digicams are from their svelte and compact model lines, but when
it comes to showing off the latest innovations and concepts the
F-Series gets them first. Just like the top-of-the-line CliŽs,
F-Series cameras are chock-full of everything the Sony engineers
can think up, with each new model more outrageous than the one
before.
But just like some of those Swiss Army knife CliŽs make you wonder
if people really want and need all those features, the same question
pops up as you contemplate the F828. The answer, of course, is
negative, but that doesn't mean anything. These big Sonys are
not designed for the general public that prefers the handy little
point & shoots. The F828, on the other hand, is for enthusiasts
who always crave the latest features and as many as possible,
and make it a cool-looking avant-garde design while you're at
it.
If you're the kind of person who buys a feature-laden CliŽ over
a simpler Palm and you're in the market for a nice prosumer camera,
chances are the F828 will appeal to you. However, there are some
caveats.
First of all, the F828 is rather large and you need both hands
to use it. One under the massive Zeiss Vario-Sonnar lens and the
other holding the camera body itself. This doesn't necessarily
mean you'll need a tripod to shoot pictures, just that you won't
want to carry it around in your hands all day long. as it is front
heavy and thus prone to shake. So try one out to get a feel for
its size and weight before you rip out your credit card and order
one online.
Those
impressed by specs will love the F828. It's the first true 8-megapixel
consumer camera though by the time you read this there may be
others from some of the big players. 8-megapixel means you can
do 8x10-inch prints at a full 300 dots per inch. If you like zoom
lenses, the F828 will thrill you with its excellent Carl Zeiss
7X lens with a range that's the equivalent of 28mm-200mm in a
35mm camera. If you want to go even further (and have the means
to pay for it) Sony has a number of screw-on tele and wide extenders.
Fast shooters will love the very quick 1.5-second startup time
to first shot, the impressive throughput of over two megabits
per second, and the nearly non-existing shutter lag. This is something
we take for granted in high end cameras, but it's the first time
Sony ever truly ascended into those lofty ranks. One minor complaint:
Once you start setting up for a picture but then decide not to
take it, the shutter doesn't seem to get the message. It's as
if it won't reset itself unless you take that shot. No big deal
and you get used to it, but I felt it was annoying. It's another
one of those things you need to try for yourself and decide if
it's a dealbreaker or not. If there is a downside to Sony's penchant
for loading up on features, it's that it can be quite confusing
to figure out how to use them all. Here Sony did a very good job,
much better than on older F-Series models. The big zoom, for example,
isn't motorized and operated by some tiny buttons. You just take
it in your hands and turn it yourself, like the way it used to
be. Same for other basic controls: almost everything is controlled
by handy buttons, switches or thumbwheels. This is one camera
where you don't have to wade through on-screen menus for basic
operations. Which means you can shoot faster and generally take
better pictures.
While Sony PDA gear at times tends to be a bit delicate, the F828
feels like it's built to military specifications. Its lens shell
is made of magnesium and all body panels are thick and solid.
Everything is finished in a black paint with an industrial feel
to it. No need to baby this camera. It can take a beating like
some of the professional models out there, within reason, of course.
One thing I'd recommend is a clear glass lens filter. The F828's
lens has a special coating for better contrast and distortion
reduction, and you don't want to scratch that.
This
being a Sony, you'd expect to be stuck with Memory Stick. Not
a bad thing, but what if you already have a collection of Compact
Flash cards? Good news: the F828 supports both. Other good-news
items: a high-density electronic viewfinder that works well enough
to replace the standard optical type, and a large pop-up flash.
As a (consumer camera) pioneer in this ultra-high megapixel range,
Sony ran into a couple of problems. Macro shots tend to get annoyingly
distorted along the edges, more so than I consider acceptable.
The extremely dense CCD imager produces a bit more chromatic aberration
and random noise than your average 5-megapixel camera from one
of the top vendors. You can, of course, always fix those problems
in Photoshop or your image manipulation tool of choice, but you
shouldn't have to. And if you are into image correction, the F828
does not support the standard Adobe RGB color space.
In many respects the Sony Cybershot F828 is like the taste of
sushi or the looks of the Chevy SSR roadster/pickup truck- you
either love it or you don't; no one feels ambivalent about them.
Likewise, the new Sony F-Series digital camera is not for everyone.
You have to find out for yourself.
-Edison Carter
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