Sony Reviews

After spending several weeks researching the digital camera market I finally settled on the Mavica CD 1000. The only problem was it was a whole lot more camera than I really needed. So what does Sony do? They bring out the CD-200. Problem solved. Still more camera than I really needed but boy, what a camera!! I've been using my new 200 for a little over a month now and am just as impressed and excited with it as I was on the first day. It has almost all of the features of the CD1000, even the ability to take short MPEG movies, without the extra weight and size. Image quaity, ease of use, features, flexibility.... it's got it all. Much smaller than the 1000, even my 7 year old son has no problem handling it. The viewfinder screen is sharp, clear, and easy to see in almost all lighting conditions. The only exception is very dark flash conditions and the built-in twilight light takes care of that.

As with the 1000, the CD storage makes digital photography effortless. Transfering pictures using your CDR-RW drive or the USB cable is a no-brainer. Sony's CD's are a little pricy but Memorex's Pocket CD's work just as well, and their capacity is a little bigger. While on vacation I was able to get 165 large image (1600x1200) shots at high resolution on a single CD. The 5-pack of Memorex CD's cost about $1.80 ea vs 6 rolls of film at $5-6 ea plus processing. Using this camera has actually saved me money in film and developing.

As with the 1000 there is a lag time between pressing the button and taking the photo. Pressing the button to Half-Shutter and waiting for your picture pretty much solves that. Excellent zoom, the manual says the image degrades the more zoom you use but I can't tell the difference. The picture quality is still excellent. Battery life is about 2-1/2 hours of shooting time. Carrying an extra battery will keep you shooting from dusk to dawn and then some. Sony has a camera that has taken point and shoot to point, shoot and print. It's that easy.

Contrary to what geekysteve from Arkansas says it is not necessary to finalize a disc before picking photos from it. Just pop it into your CD-RW drive and you can copy over one photo, all photos or whatever you choose. I still use this camera almost every day and it's still the best camera in its class.

This is the second digital camera I've owned. It takes great pictures and you can store a ton of them (I get ~300 at 1200x1600) on a cd. It takes great pictures in automatic mode but being able to kick it into full manual (shutter speed, focus, aperture) means you can get pictures in circumstances that the point and click mode would choke on.

The fact that you don't have to worry about uploading images off a memory card makes it the perfect camera for long trips. I took it and a couple cds to Thailand for two months and came back with a ton of great pictures. Best of all I didn't have to take a laptop or ration my picture taking. I also took it on a month long bike trip and it worked great. The long battery life and fast charge time are also strong features in it's favor. It's solidly constructed, a year and a half later it's still clicking away.

One reviewer was complaining about drivers. HE IS TOTALLY WRONG! It sounds like he didn't have a USB port, you don't ever have to take the cds out of the camera. The device is a USB CD/RW drive, you plug it in and it shows up as a cdrom drive. I've used it with Win2000 and 98 and it's fine. No [bad] program to use to get the photos off, you just drag a copy off the cd and onto your computer. With a little poking you can plug it into your computer and actually burn the cds (though they are the little ones).

As I said in the subject the problem with the camera is that it's just too big. The cd drive makes it a funny shape that's kind of a pain. Also the lack of an optical viewfinder [is sort of bad], it's a sacrifice to the cd drive. That said I'd buy this camera again in a minute.

This camera has my vote for one of the best cameras made by Sony, or for that matter anybody! The largest I enlarge my pictures is 8 x 10 and it's perfect for that! When you figure what is the size most people think of for a picture, its 8 x 10, what else! The control of this camera rivals 35mm, and then the camera is adaptable to various filter systems. Who could what anything else!...Julian Gang

I purchased my Memory Stick Pro Duo 256 for my Sony Clie SJ-25. It works great! It is super fast and has more than enough space. Just don't mistake it for a stick of gum! The best part was that it was the same price as older model Memory Sticks such as memory stick select, and Memory Stick Pro! For devices that do not take Memory Stick Duo, but take Memory Stick, a Memory Stick Duo adapter is included in the package. I would highly recommed this to anyone who is looking for a fast, lower cost Memory Stick.

This is a great way to store photos or mpeg movies. It is small enough and works great most of the time. I have a small problem
with it, it does not always read.. My camera says "no memory stick available" when in fact it is in my camera. not sure if it is a memory stick problem or a camera problem...although I will purchase again.

Just to clarify the previous negative review, yes this 256MB memory stick pro is not compatible with many older devices, but I think sony is doing a good job at addressing this .. they have a separate product, a 256MB memory stick with memory select, that is basically an old style memory stick with two switchable 128MB memory banks. I have several older mem stick devices and am happy that they are offering this product that allows 256MB for older devices. Search for "MSA128S2" for more info.

you people need to realize that this is a Memory Stick PRO, and not
just the ordinary kind. All memory stick pros won't work on your old cameras, so don't review this stick as bad just because you didn't notice that

I knew I wanted a solid case that would hold eight sticks, but didn't realize this was so heavy. Aluminum should be lightweight, right? Well, they made it thick to make it protective, but now it weighs more than a battery.

Given the postage each way, it's not worth it to me to return this one and get the other, but I probably should have gone with the other Sony model, made of durable but lightweight plastic.

This is a great Memory Stick case, which I use to tote memory sticks around for both my digitial camera, and movie camera.

It's thin, sits well in camera bag pockets. It's also not hard to remove the sticks, as they tilt up when the "bottom" is pressed.

This case is perfect for keeping your memory sticks organized, clean, and without electric shock. It holds 8 sticks, or 4 sticks and 1 PC adapter card for notebooks. It is light weight, fits easily into a camera case or bag, and is very strong (I crushed mine in a chair lift in Innsbruck, Austria)!

The rubber coating helps keep it safe from Water (though I don't know that it is considered officially "waterproof". I don't know what else to say except that it is the perfect companion for the digital photo enthusiast!!

keeping track of memory sticks is much easier with the holder. also protects the delicate contacts. chose the aluminum one for the cool factor only.

Just agreeing with another buyer,the aluminum case is very nice butheavy. I'm retiring & travelingsoon, so light is nice.

I knew I wanted a solid case that would hold eight sticks, but didn't realize the aluminum model was so heavy. Aluminum should be lightweight, right? Well, they made it thick to make it protective, but now it weighs more than a battery.

Given the postage each way, it's not worth it to me to return that one and get this durable but lighterweight plastic model - but I wish I had to begin with.