It's a great camera, but do you think the Mavica with the 10x zoom will ever be out in a higher resolution. Lots of great toys on this one, but I'm not impressed with the pic quality.

Your thoughts? Should I buy one now or wait a bit for a better quality camera in the next month or two?

-- Don Schaefer (dhscubs@aol.com), May 05, 1998

Answers

I guess this is the perpetual "buy now or wait" dilemma. In most cases, I tend to tell people to buy now, because there's *always* going to be something better around the corner, and at some point, you need to just get on with it. In this case, I'm probably more inclined toward the "wait" end of the spectrum though.

There's no question that images from 800K+ pixel sensors look a lot better than those from ~350K, and there are more and more "megapixel" models coming all the time. The Mavicas lag in this category.

For some reason, Sony is about the only mfr that's put the really long-ratio zooms on their digital cameras, and I think the flexible optics are a really valuable feature. OTOH, the Mavicas are definitely getting long in the tooth (despite being the overwhelmingly most popular cameras on the market right now). I have no specific knowledge of Sony's plans (and if I did, I wouldn't even feel free to speculate here), but it stands to reason they must have something new in the wings.

Meanwhile, other mfrs have lots in the pipe too (although no 10x zooms, at least that we've heard of), and the "FlashPath" floppy adapter for SmartMedia memory cards is now shipping (although only for the PC - Mac to follow in ~couple of months), removing some of the advantage of the built-in floppy of the Mavica. (Another thought: As you go to higher resolutions, the built-in floppy is more hassle, since fewer images fit on a disk.)

This has probably been more confusing than an actual help, but that's life...

One final note: Without naming names, there will be a fair bit of new-product activity around PC Expo in NYC the second week of June. If you can handle the wait, I'd definitely say its worth seeing what comes out then (and how prices on existing models are affected as a result) before you make the leap.

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), May 06, 1998.

Recent rumors on rec.photo.digital say the new Mavica will be substantilaly similar to the FD7 but will incorporate a progressive scan CCD (no more field or frame mode, which means you'll get double the information without the blurring at long focal lengths). The image size as well as the output format (floppy) will remain the same.

Will imaging resource be reviewing such a beast? Seems to be restricted to the 1024x768+ range at the moment.

-- Ben Jackson (ben@ben.com), June 17, 1998.

Regarding improved resolution on Sony Mavica newer models, I saw a comment by a Sony representative in the paper recently where it was stated that Sony was not planning on improving resolution anytime soon. They feel their Mavica's are selling well so will add a few bells and whistles but will not change the resolution. I think they are making a mistake. The Nikon CoolPix 900 looks like a real winner based on reviews and users comments.

-- Jim Winkler (gleghorn33@aol.com), July 22, 1998.

Just to add that I've tested the brand new MVC-FD81 and FD91 at Photokina'98 (Germany). Resolution (1024x768) give more sharp pictures now (but still low regarding KODAK DC260 or Oly 1400XL...) MVC-FD91's got an amazing 14x ZOOM (Tele 518mm equivalent !!) with digital image stabilization.

-- MAESEN Philip (maesen.p@fsagx.ac.be), September 25, 1998.