Sony Mavica MVC FD200

Author's product rating:   

Picture Quality	Excellent
Range & Quality of Features	Excellent
Ease of Use	Easy
Durability	Good
Overall Look & Design	Satisfactory
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Lots of features
Disadvantages:	A bit bulky

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This is my first review of anything remotely technical, apart from a tumble dryer, which doesn’t count, because all you do is chuck in the clothes and shut the door! So I apologise now, to all the dedicated reviewers of digital cameras, please bear with me and I will try my best.

What is it?
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The Sony Mavica FD200 is a 2.0-megapixel digital camera, which allows you to take photographs and record them onto a floppy disk or memory stick. This facility allows you to store endless photographs and are easily put onto your computer hard drive. They can then be sent via email, printed out or added to your desktop, among others.

The large LCD (liquid crystal display) screen allows you to look at the person or item that you are photographing in clear and concise detail. You can also look at this screen when you play back your photos.

The Mavica is also capable of recording 60 seconds of live pictures, but cannot record sound. Again, you are able to watch what you have recorded on the playback facility on the LCD screen.

It is really easy to take pictures, review then, and then load them onto your PC. You can then create files and view your photos when you want to. The camera includes a box of 10 floppy disks but you have to buy the memory stick as an extra.

The capacity of the camera lets you store only 10 pictures on the floppy, but it is so easy to add them to your PC using the supplied USB cable. I tend to fill up a couple of disks, then load them onto the computer, and then re-use the floppy for another set of pictures.

Different parts
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The camera is supplied with a lens cap and strap, along with a CD-ROM (see below) which is loaded onto your PC and allows you to look at the pictures and movies you have taken. You can also edit using this facility; although I don’t use it that much, as I load all pictures that I take directly onto the computer.

The camera also has a self-timer, which is really easy to use. I have had other cameras which have been extremely complicated to set. With the Mavica you line up the desired image you want to capture, then simply click the shutter button. The image is recorded in 10 seconds. This, however, also causes a slight disadvantage if you want to take photographs in quick succession.

The camera also comes with a port to add a tripod which is not supplied. This is located at the bottom of the camera, and is easily recognised. Also supplied is a charger and USB cable.

Located on the front of the camera is a zoom facility, which enables you to zoom in close on your subject, very similar to a camcorder. It is within easy reach and very simple to move backwards and forwards.

What special effects can it do?
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The camera has a facility which enables you to take colour, black and white and sepia pictures. This is an added bonus, and we have taken some lovely photographs in black and white, they are very clear and look authentic. Black and white film for a 35mm camera is very expensive, so with the Mavica you can have this option without any added expense.

Pixela ImageMixer
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This is the CD-ROM supplied with the camera. It allows you to view your pictures on your PC, and is very similar to other digital camera packages. It enables you to store your photos into specific albums and edit pictures.

Other options
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You can capture images specifically for email, text documents and uncompressed files (TIFF). You can also set the camera to record image sizes, which is handy when you are trying to upload photographs for Websites like Ciao!

You can also view your images on a TV screen; a cable is supplied which you connect to the video input on your TV. I haven’t tried this facility yet, as I am quite happy with the images which appear on my computer screen.

What is not included?
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Tripod, memory stick or carry case. All these are available to buy as extra. A catalogue is supplied with the camera.

Disadvantages
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I find the Mavica to be quite large and heavy, compared to normal non-digital cameras. As this is the first digital camera I have owned, I cannot compare its size to other similar models, but its size does not hinder the enjoyment of the camera itself.

Price and availability
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The Mavica retails at around £250, which seems quite expensive, although considering all of the facilities included in the package is not unreasonable.

You can currently buy the Mavica for £232.99 at www.cameras2u.com and other similar sites.

Conclusions
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I am very impressed with this camera, it takes clear and detailed pictures which are easy to store and delete if necessary. I haven’t produced any photographs and developed them onto special camera paper, but if I did, the clarity and definition would be excellent I'm sure, if the photo's I have taken are anything to go by.

Now for the really boring bits
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Most of this information means absolutely nothing to me, I know what the camera does and how it operates, so all the DXP’s, MEG’s and CCD's are way beyond my comprehension. However, I know that they are important to the consumer, as it allows you to weigh up the specifications of likewise cameras in the same price range. So here goes:

 2.0 effective megapixel Super HAD CCD
 3x optical zoom (6x precision digital zoom)
 2.5" 123K pixel LCD viewfinder with Solar Window and AccuPower meter
 Stores images on directly on 3½" floppy disks or Memory Stick
 4x Quick Access floppy disk drive
 USB terminal
 12-bit Digital Extended Processing (DXP)
 MEG Movie
 JPEG, TIFF, e-mail, text still image modes (using Memory Stick)
 High speed scan autofocus, 5 step manual focus with macro
 4 mode program auto-exposure with spot meter, 4 mode auto white balance
 Playback zoom, trim and resize functions
 File/Disk/Memory Stick copy functions allow easy in-camera copying of images
 3 mode intelligent flash with adjustable level and red-eye reduction
 Video out
 Clipmotion/e-mail/TIFF modes
 ISO setting

All of the specifications were copied from the specifications in the user manual (which is 99 pages long I may add!).

I have added a few photos of my kitten Bailey, one of which was taken in black and white, so that you can see the clarity – if you use a magnifying glass of course!

Thanks for reading. I welcome any tips from expert technological reviewers, and I hope that I haven’t done this camera an injustice, it really is pretty special.

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