Sony Mavica? or ....? - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM

06/12/2004 11:11:44 AM · #1

My father-in-law is not technical. He is a musician on tour with the Skatalites. They are leaving again shortly for Europe (Germany, etc)...
His last experience with a camera was a disposable film camera.
He has asked for my advice on what kind of camera to buy that will give him stills (tourist type snaps of the area and people) and movie. He does not have a computer.
How are the Mavicas?
Anyone here have one like this?

Are there other recommendations besides an advantix type of film camera (therefore losing movie capability).. He doesn't want to spend more than say $300 to $500 Canadian.

Thanks!

Message edited by author 2004-06-12 11:16:39.

JC_Homola

Canon EOS-20D

06/12/2004 11:20:59 AM · #2

a sony mavica (the one that used floppies) was my very first digital. It is a wonderful entry level/tourist type camera. Not much to know. easy to use, and for what it is,, takes fine pictures.

Canon EF 135mm f/2.0L USM

06/12/2004 11:23:43 AM · #3

What about what to do with the images/movies when done? He doesn't have a computer. Would he just take the CD to a one-hour photo or something to print the pics after? What about the movies? Do they transfer, or do you just play it in your DVD player?

JC_Homola

Canon EOS-20D

06/12/2004 11:26:50 AM · #4

sorry, I don't know the answer to that question... I would assume you can take them to any of the kodak type kiosks as you mention. RE: the movies,, I think they are recorded as jpg,, aren't they.. I'm not sure those run on dvd's... sorry to not be more help.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

06/12/2004 11:41:46 AM · #5

actually you have been very helpful :)
Thanks!

jenesis

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

06/12/2004 12:32:58 PM · #6

I too started out with a Sony Mavica, and FD-83 to be exact. It also used floppies. I have to agree with everything JC said, it's very easy to use and so convenient with the floppies (though floppies can only hold so many pictures), you can use them on any computer that has a floppy drive, no special equipment needed. I think the Kodak picture machines use floppies as well. I still have it lying around but it doesn't get much use now that I've got my rebel. But it did take pretty good pictures considering it's only a .80 megapixel camera.

As for the newer ones, sorry but I don't know much about them. The older ones took short mpeg movies but I wouldn't know how they could be transferred to dvd.

Sorry couldn't be of more help. As far as the Sony durability, I'd say it's excellent! Hope you get some more helpful info. :-)

Message edited by author 2004-06-12 16:49:01.

StevePax

Canon PowerShot S50

06/12/2004 01:11:04 PM · #7

I had the Mavica CD400 until very recently. I loved it. The CD's made storage for a long trip very cheap. It takes .mpeg movies. As for the limit on the movie length, you are limited only by how much space you have left on your CD. You can take many, many minutes of movie on that thing. You can take the CD's to anywhere that prints pictures from CD's, or you can download them on your computer very easily - no USB cable required (though it is faster with the USB). Picture quality is great. Look at the following pictures I took with my CD400 (note that the CD400 was replaced with the CD500, which is an even better camera - My Dad has one, and loves it):

I love this camera.

weaverc

Sony Mavica CD500

06/12/2004 01:57:49 PM · #8

I have the Mavica CD500 and really love it. It has an automatic mode that is quite functional and also has a pretty wide range of manual controls as well. For the money I would buy the same camera again. As far as I know the cd could be finalized and played in most of the newer model DVD players.

Zoomdak

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

06/12/2004 02:22:47 PM · #9

I just upgraded from a Sony Digital Mavica FD-95. It was a great camera. All my shots that I have entered into challenges so far are from that camera. I loved the huge optical zoom (I think it was 10x), it did great with macro's. Image quality was very high, but no comparable to today's standards. I got it for 200 from a friend, great deal. I'd recommend seeing if you can find someone selling thier "old" camera, and buy it used instead of buying from the market.