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The top of the F828 is dominated by the (rather oversized) mode dial which is made from a solid piece of metal and feels like it wouldn't be out of place on a Leica. At the front is the tilted, larger shutter release button (personally I think it's a little too big and shiny). It's nice to see that Sony (since the days of 'indoor / outdoor') have now realize the importance of white balance control and have placed the WB button just behind the shutter release and next to the exposure compensation button. Note that when you turn the mode dial a pop-up display appears on the camera screen to indicate the currently selected mode (click here), this is very useful for changing mode without taking your eye from the electronic viewfinder.
I found two annoyances with the way the shutter release and auto review operate in the time immediately after taking a shot:
The second problem caught me out several times when I wanted to 'pump' a few shots of the same subject, I found I had to concentrate on introducing a delay to allow the camera to ready itself for the next shot. Not what I expected of a high-end prosumer camera.
Sony has improved the F828's controls so that you are (a) less likely to accidentally change a setting and (b) to make it easier to quickly change. You now must hold a feature button (such as white balance, exposure compensation etc.) and turn the new command dial (under your thumb, rear right corner of camera) to make a change. Once you press the button a small half-circle 'virtual dial' display appears on the left side of the camera screen (LCD or EVF), the center option (yellow color) is the currently selected setting, turn the command dial and this on-screen display rotates to indicate the newly selected setting (useful when using the EVF).
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| Changing white balance: hold white
balance button and turn command dial (Black background used for clarity) |
Changing exposure compensation:
hold exposure compensation button and turn command dial (Black background used for clarity) |
| WB | White Balance Hold button and turn command dial. • Auto • Daylight • Cloudy • Fluorescent • Incandescent • Flash • Manual • Manual Set |
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Exposure Compensation
Hold button and turn command dial. • -2.0 EV to +2.0 EV • 0.3 EV steps |
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Control Panel Backlight Press this button to activate the Control Panel LCD's green backlight, the backlight will stay on for approximately seven seconds. |
| MENU | Menu Displays or removes the current mode menu. The F828's menus are laid out similarly to previous Sony Cybershot's in that they are displayed as a bar of options along the bottom of the screen, however they have had a slight facelift (detailed later in this preview). |
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Four way controller
/ AF area mode The F828 has a joystick style of four way controller, I found this much easier to use than the normal four way pad or even four separate buttons. The joystick itself can be pressed in for OK / Set / Confirm action in menus. In shooting mode you can press the joystick in to change AF area mode (Multi-Pint, Center AF, Spot AF). In Spot AF mode you can move the AF area around the frame (using the four way controller) to an almost limitless set of positions. |
| AE LOCK | AE Lock / Erase In record mode this button is used to lock Automatic Exposure, when locked a green asterisk is shown in the bottom right corner of the camera screen to indicate the exposure is locked. Press again to unlock. This button doubles for erase in play mode. |
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Auto Exposure In this mode the camera automatically selects aperture and shutter speed based on the current metered exposure value and Auto ISO sensitivity. You can change Image size, Flash mode, Macro focus, Continuous mode and Nightshot mode. All other settings are 'locked out'. |
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| P | Program Auto Exposure In this mode the camera automatically selects aperture and shutter speed based on the current metered exposure value, exposure compensation and selected ISO sensitivity. All settings can be changed in Program AE mode including ISO, metering etc. Note that the F828's program AE mode is flexible, by this I mean you can turn the command dial to select alternate aperture and shutter speed combinations (indicated as P* on the LCD monitor). |
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| S | Shutter Priority
Exposure In this mode you select the shutter speed and the camera will calculate the correct aperture depending on metered exposure, exposure compensation and ISO sensitivity. Turn the command dial change shutter speed. Available shutter speeds:
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| A | Aperture Priority
Exposure In this mode you select the aperture and the camera will calculate the correct shutter speed depending on metered exposure, exposure compensation and ISO sensitivity. Turn the command dial change aperture. Available apertures:
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| M |
Manual Exposure |
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| SCN | Scene Program The F828 has four scene program modes:
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Play Enter play mode, displays the last image taken or the last image on the media card (detailed later in this review). |
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Movie Clip The F828 now supports various video modes (listed below) including the mighty impressive 640 x 480 @ 30 fps with audio (which is virtually NTSC progressive). In all movie record modes you can record video continuously until the storage media is full. One limitation is that you can only shoot 640 x 480, 30 fps to a Memory Stick Pro, not Compact Flash.
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| SET UP | Set Up Enters the camera's main setup menu (detailed later in this preview). |
