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On the rear of the camera under a sprung door are the AV Out and DC-IN connectors. The sprung door is a nice touch, I'm glad to see the back of those rubber grommet doors. On the right side of the lens barrel you'll find another sprung door behind which lurks the USB 2.0 connector. Note that the F717 can be connected to either USB 2.0 or 1.1 without any compatibility issues.
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In a step up from the F707 the F717 now has a hot shoe which supports Sony's HVL-F1000 flash unit with a direct synch connection as well as other third party flash units. The ACC connector can be used to trigger an HVL-F1000 off-camera and is also used for wired remote control RM-DR1 or the remote control included on Sony's VCT-D480RM tripod. |
To use a flash on the hot shoe you have to enable it via the setup menu. Once enabled the camera operates differently in manual exposure mode, it no longer alters the live view to represent the selected exposure but instead knows that a flash shot is about to be taken and keeps the live view at a consistent viewing level. We had no problems using the F717 with either Nikon's SB-50DX or our studio strobe systems (via a Nikon PC Sync terminal adapter). Camera was set to manual exposure mode.
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The F707's flash unit is electro-mechanically operated. It will automatically pop-up from the lens barrel either when required (Auto Flash mode) or when selected (Forced Flash mode). I would liked to have seen an option to pop the flash up upon pressing the flash button and disable it by closing the flash (as seen on the Nikon Coolpix 5700). The flash has a rated range of of 0.5 - 5 m (1.6 - 16.4 ft). |
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Sony has chosen to keep the excellent 5x optical zoom lens of the F707. This is probably one of the new cameras biggest assets. The super fast F2.0 - F2.4 lens is made from quality glass and coating designed by Carl Zeiss. Its speed (large maximum aperture even at telephoto), silent focus and zoom operation, neutral colour and sharp resolution performance are second to none at this level. |
There are three LED windows dotted around the lens rim, the two at the top provide IR light for the NightShot and NightFraming features (they glow a very slight red colour when switched on). The third on the right side in this picture is the laser output for Hologram AF (below).
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The F717 keeps the F707's unique laser pattern 'Hologram AF Assist'. A weave pattern is produced by a small laser mounted beside the lens (see above). This pattern is used to assist the contrast detect AF system to lock AF in low light situations. The pattern appears for approximately one second, in our tests of the F707 we found it worked best on large subjects which are covered by the entire pattern. |
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Probably one of the best positioned tripod mounts of any digital camera. The F717's tripod mount is located on the base of the lens barrel and is surrounded by four rubber feet. Its location means that you get the ultimate stability (clamping the lens) while still being able to rotate the rear body up or down when the camera is on the tripod. |
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Supplied in the box are:
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| Wide angle lens adapter VCL-HGD0758 (x0.7) |
Telephoto lens adapter VCL-HGD1758 (x1.7) |
Wide angle lens adapter: VCL-MHG07A (x0.7) |
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| Rotating 58mm lens hood: LSF-H58 |
Leather case: LCS-FX |
Leather case: LCJ-FHA |
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| External Flash: HVL-F1000 (8 m range) |
Wired remote: RM-DR1 (on/off, zoom, shutter release) |
Tripod / Remote control: VCT-D480RM (on/off, zoom, shutter release) |
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| Memory Sticks: MSA-8A/16A/32A/64A/128A |
USB Memory Stick Reader: MSAC-US1 |
PC Card Adapter for Memory Stick: MSAC-PC2 |
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| Floppy Disk Adapter for Memory
Stick: MSAC-FD1B/2M |
Extra Batteries: NP-FM50 |
Dual external batt charger: AC-SQ950 |
Also available:
* Availability of accessories may vary by region.
