Sony DSC F707 Cybershot

Review Date
March 13, 2003

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 2 votes

Reviewed by
dkheger , Intermediate , from Collinsville, OK, USA

Price Paid
$850.00 at Video Revolution

Summary
Great Camera. I moved up from one of the First Canon A5's that I bought a few years ago. Hopefully this one will last for a few years. What to say about this camera. Great picture quality. 5 MP allows me to shoot almost anything and have it printed out almost any size I want. The detail is excellent and the Zeiss lens is very sharp.
The night shot mode if very nice. I ahve used it a few times and the results have been very good. Everything shows up, if with a green tint. The built-in infra-red LEDs also do a good job illuminating the area in total darkness.
This camera is also very easy to use if you leave it in full automatic mode. It also has a lot of adjustability if you want to use it in manual mode and set the aperature and shutter speed manually. The only thing that I don't like about the camera is that the zoom buttons seems reversed to me. A minor complaint, but that's all I can think of.
The major advantage of this camera is the incredible battery life! It just keeps on going......
I guess that's what you get when you use a movie camera battery in a digital still camera. Don't worry about carrying extra batteries, you won't need them.

Strengths
5 MP quality
Battery life
ease of use
manual control if you want it.
solid feeling

Weaknesses
Proprietary memory stick
128 MB memory stick is biggest you can get
bulky
heavier than other cameras

Customer Service
N/A

Review Date
December 20, 2002

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 2 votes

Reviewed by
jmanso , Casual , from Portugal

Price Paid
$0.00 at Portugal

Summary
I'm moving from a F505 and it has nothing to do with it, except some looks. The lack of a viewfinder made me move to the F707, wich is great along with the hologram focusing and nightframing. The nightshot, although not used so oftem, is still very interesting. Keep some money to buy memorysticks.

Strengths
Picture quality.
Resolution.
Hologram focusing.
Nightframing.
Superb EFV and screen, framing 98% of picture.

Weaknesses
Red tones are over-saturated.
Limit shutter speed at 1/1000s.
Hot shoe only compatible with HVL-1000.

Similar Products Used
Sony DSC-F505.

Review Date
December 15, 2002

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Reviewed by
Scott Riel , Intermediate , from Bloomington ,MN, USA

Price Paid
$850.00 at Online

Summary
When I first started looking towards buting a digital camera I looked for a few things I would use it for. I really like shooting low-light photography and needed a manual option for a camera. The Sony F707 allows you to leave the shutter open for up to 30 seconds and control the aperature. Works great for anyone who shoots Iridium flares, lightning or general low light situations.

Weaknesses
When you do a 30 second exposure it takes 30 seconds to render the image. Sony F505 had max of 8 second exposure and rendering of the image took under 2 seconds so I don't know what happened there but I guess for the better.

Similar Products Used
Sony F505

Customer Service
n/a

Review Date
November 9, 2002

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
3.00 of 5, 2 votes

Reviewed by
Ryan Yuhas , Professional , from Dalals, TX, USA

Price Paid
$785.00 at Best Buy

Summary
Excellent camera with a few annoying limitations. Image is phenominal for the price. Quite easily exceeds 100ISO 35mm. Image produced looks like a slow 35mm slide film, or better. Outstanding color, enough pixel density to produce 12x18 enlargements (and larger) that retain stunning clarity.

The image produced, where not appropriate for some professional applications, works great for many of the more mundane professional uses. Have successfully used for weddings and had nothing but raves (good ones) from customers. Having a good digital image, even in a jpeg, allows you to move it into Photoshop, convert to TIFF, and do some neat stuff. I'm told the image loses something when you do this, but I have yet to see it with the naked eye.

The flash situation is just a drag. Onboard flash works pretty well as a fill flash. If you can take good fill flash shots with a 35mm, you'll be able to make it work well here. BUT, lack of flash synch capabilty for backlighting really makes it difficult to take portraits. You will have to rely on strategically placed static lighting. It does handle artificial lighting of this kind well, but isn't the most controlled way to build a portrait.

Strengths
Great color and image density.

Weaknesses
Limited file formats, no remote flash capability that I'm aware of.

Similar Products Used
NA

Customer Service
NA

Review Date
November 5, 2002

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
2.00 of 5, 3 votes

Reviewed by
JAMSPhoto , Professional

Price Paid
$0.00

Summary
Fun camera to use. Features allow users from novice to pro to excel with the camera. Very natural color production, logical controls. Great underwater housings coming online too...

Strengths
Lens is quality (Kick off the digital zoom and enjoy!)
Great in low light.
Fun to use.

Weaknesses
Manual focus less than ideal...
Lousy for fast action if you like to see what your shooting after the first shot.

Customer Service
After 90 days you are on your own. The 1 year parts warranty is only covered under SONY's one price service which means you will spend $148.00 for the smallest of camera ills. Also, you have to spend $148.00 under the "parts warranty" to get anything replaced on the camera. At 6 months usage I have found stress cracks on the camera lens housing around two screws that are slowly but surely increasing in size away from the screws. Camera works fine but do I really want cracks in the housing? I had previously been a vocal fan and sold two friends on the camera...now not such a vocal fan. I have never had such lousy service with my Nikons...