Got a chance to try out the DSC-F828 for about 10 minutes at the Sony show in Singapore yesterday and here are some of my first impressions:
BUILD:
as promised - space shuttle quality (though that is now questionable) - saw a dissected F828 and a lot of the insides are solid aluminium - Sadly, CF door, and battery door is cheap plastic - does'nt go well with all the other solid metal parts, though texture and colour are complimentary
FEEL:
still has a feel of F717/707, though bulkier - Grip is too deep for Asian hands, bulk, colour and design will enhance users self esteem and confidence
APPEARANCE:
semi-pro as promised, looks great. On the negative is the Flash housing which sits like a mating frog - almost an afterthought in the design, very bulky and the anti-climax is that the flash that pops out is puny though effective. I am sure there is more to its functions than just a flash housing. Plastic Cover for A/V out, power in, etc is proportionately oversized to the entire back of the camera
MENUS:
quite similar but enhanced from previous Sony models - can be a bit confusing initially, but like all cameras, can get used to easily. Deleting images was a joy with the trash can
VIEWFINDER and MAIN LCD:
V/F LCD Seemed a bit too bright for comfort - but could be a setting that someone had messed up. But both LCD qualities are top notch. I particularly didnt find the V/F LCD any larger or better than the 717/707
WORKING:
tried 2 different floor samples and was surprised that they behaved slightly different - maybe it was some setting that was different though I did a quick check and seemed like the shots I was taking was in JPEG FINE mode with 8M file size
Camera 1 - shot of the Professional model - had difficuly in locking the focus and images seemed to be over exposed - I tried negative EV setting and the sample shows that - Shutter Lag was none - Camera was ready always to take the next shot - Processing speed was also very fast - almost got convinced to place the order at S$ 1799 with free Cybershot metal case.
Camera 2 - 2 shots of the little girl with and without flash - Focussing was better, Shutter lag was none - but processing speed was evident - there is a blackout of LCD for about 1 or 1.5 sec before the camera is ready - so had to wait for next shot
Again this could be because I as using a standard 64MB MagicGate stick and not a PRO stick
Images generally seemed accurate in colour and White Balance.
Softness of images is evident - so either let the camera do it or let your image editor do it at yr level - gives you a choice
Some artefacting in images but this is normal due to insufficinet lighting and JPEG compression
I thought noise leve is very acceptable given the lighting conditions
All in all is a great upgrade to the 717/707 with extra Mega pixels
While I am tempted to buy at the MSRP of S$ 1799, with the free Professional case (very much like the professional metal cases for VX1000/2000 video cameras), which I feel is for people who take their cameras on overseas trips, I would rather wait and purchase at street prices which would be well below by S$ 200 and use the money to buy a pro stick. Unfortunately Sony Singapore marketing doesnt use this strategy.
I am sure there are still firmware adjustments that will be finetuned in the future and hopefully SONY allows these to be downloaded and flashed easily by the users of the camera,
I have uploaded the samples I took - these are untouched - JPEG FINE mode, 8M files - detailed info is in the EXIF data
http://gallery29086.fotopic.net/show_collection.php?id=74804
Enjoy
BUILD:
as promised - space shuttle quality (though that is now questionable) - saw a dissected F828 and a lot of the insides are solid aluminium - Sadly, CF door, and battery door is cheap plastic - does'nt go well with all the other solid metal parts, though texture and colour are complimentary
FEEL:
still has a feel of F717/707, though bulkier - Grip is too deep for Asian hands, bulk, colour and design will enhance users self esteem and confidence
APPEARANCE:
semi-pro as promised, looks great. On the negative is the Flash housing which sits like a mating frog - almost an afterthought in the design, very bulky and the anti-climax is that the flash that pops out is puny though effective. I am sure there is more to its functions than just a flash housing. Plastic Cover for A/V out, power in, etc is proportionately oversized to the entire back of the camera
MENUS:
quite similar but enhanced from previous Sony models - can be a bit confusing initially, but like all cameras, can get used to easily. Deleting images was a joy with the trash can
VIEWFINDER and MAIN LCD:
V/F LCD Seemed a bit too bright for comfort - but could be a setting that someone had messed up. But both LCD qualities are top notch. I particularly didnt find the V/F LCD any larger or better than the 717/707
WORKING:
tried 2 different floor samples and was surprised that they behaved slightly different - maybe it was some setting that was different though I did a quick check and seemed like the shots I was taking was in JPEG FINE mode with 8M file size
Camera 1 - shot of the Professional model - had difficuly in locking the focus and images seemed to be over exposed - I tried negative EV setting and the sample shows that - Shutter Lag was none - Camera was ready always to take the next shot - Processing speed was also very fast - almost got convinced to place the order at S$ 1799 with free Cybershot metal case.
Camera 2 - 2 shots of the little girl with and without flash - Focussing was better, Shutter lag was none - but processing speed was evident - there is a blackout of LCD for about 1 or 1.5 sec before the camera is ready - so had to wait for next shot
Again this could be because I as using a standard 64MB MagicGate stick and not a PRO stick
Images generally seemed accurate in colour and White Balance.
Softness of images is evident - so either let the camera do it or let your image editor do it at yr level - gives you a choice
Some artefacting in images but this is normal due to insufficinet lighting and JPEG compression
I thought noise leve is very acceptable given the lighting conditions
All in all is a great upgrade to the 717/707 with extra Mega pixels
While I am tempted to buy at the MSRP of S$ 1799, with the free Professional case (very much like the professional metal cases for VX1000/2000 video cameras), which I feel is for people who take their cameras on overseas trips, I would rather wait and purchase at street prices which would be well below by S$ 200 and use the money to buy a pro stick. Unfortunately Sony Singapore marketing doesnt use this strategy.
I am sure there are still firmware adjustments that will be finetuned in the future and hopefully SONY allows these to be downloaded and flashed easily by the users of the camera,
I have uploaded the samples I took - these are untouched - JPEG FINE mode, 8M files - detailed info is in the EXIF data
http://gallery29086.fotopic.net/show_collection.php?id=74804
Enjoy