I never had a "real" camera like a good mirror
reflex to take pictures. I always had this done by more
experienced and better equiped friends. Partly I did take the
photos myself after having been told what to do.
When I came up with this homepage project I soon realized that
the way I would have to go to get pictures into the computer (take
color slides, have made color prints from the slides, scann in
the color prints) would be to much hazzle and to much time
consumption. So I decided to buy a digital camera as they had
been popping up on the market the last two years in abundance.
After a long time of thinking about it I finaly decided for the
Sony Mavica MVC-FD7 and bought it just right before the Tucson
show 1998 (of course in the USA, as it was cheaper there as in
Germany.
Okay there are cheaper cameras on the market and there are
cameras with a much higher resolution. They main reason I bought
the Mavica was the feature that I can store the images on a
regular floppy disk and I am not forced to unload the camera by
connecting it to a computer and sucking the picks on the harddisk.
Do you want to carry a lap top if you are walking over a show or
if you are at a 4 week field trip in the middle of nowhere ?
Other cameras try to overcome this draw back by offering
additional exchangeable memory cards, but this cards have a hefty
price tag compared to the price of a floppy !
The only thing I bought for my camera was a second rechargable
battery back (not cheap either !). The other reason I bought the
Mavica is the that you can get as close as 1 cm to your object
and if you are not as close you can also use your 10 time optical
zoom. What I would probably wish would be a macro converter lense
to get the 10 time zoom magnification real close. You could even
shot micromounts !
I ordered now some additional lenses anbd will see how the will
work.
What are the draw backs of the Mavica ?
Yes, the built in flash is messy and should used with care.
Definetely not for macro shots ! Yes the resolution is only 640
by 480 pixels (if you want to have nice printouts you probably
want twice this resolution). Of course if I prepare pics for the
web or eMail I usualy reduce them anyway by 50% of their size to
save time and space.
I am still learning the little tricks how to get the maximum out
of this neat machine but I never took as much pictures as before
and its a lot of fun to edit them for future use on the computer.
No more waiting until the "film is full" running to the
store get it developed and have made printouts. No more running a
second time to the store to get it back and pay the bill (which
ads up with the time!).
I can send my digital pics arround the globe via eMail or copy
them without quality loss on every floppy disk CD-R etc. and give
them to others.
The future is digital it has just begone !
Wulfenite, San Fransico Mine, Mexico
This a picture in full resolution of 640 x 480. The specimen is
from my collection, bought in Denver 1997.
 A little piece of rock containing a small vug with some orange red comancheite. |
 The vug in close up. |
This is an example of the macro capacities of the Mavica in combination with some special macro lenses. To give you an idea of the dimensions, the black plastic box is 41 x 35 mm. |
 |
This is an extreme close up with the "microscope"
lense. You see the bright orange red crystals of
comancheite one of the rarest minerals in the world only
found so far in Terlingua, Texas. This specimen was found in August 1997. Comancheite can be considered as the "Blue Mauritius" of minerals as very few samples have been found so far, which are mostly in collections of universities and not in private hands. |
What will be the next camera I will buy ?
What I am dreaming about is a mirror reflex type camera (so you
can use all this nice ojectives produced and available in
abundance) with a high resolution (should be mimimum 1280 x 960
pixel).
There should be an output for video and digital connection to the
computer. The little LCD-Monitor is messy if you are outside in
sunlight and if you try to focus manual.
As storage media I would probably see a minidisc. A regular
minidisc sold now for about US-$ 5.00 retail holds about 150 MB
of data which is about 100 floppys (for US-$ 0.50 each). There is
already a camera on the market (in Japan) with this feature. The
memory cards are just to expensive.
| Want to see an animation made with the MAVICA-FD7 ? | ||
 |
CLICK HERE ! WARNING ! 1.1 MB file size WARNING ! |
|
Samples of MPEG-videos
shot with my new MAVICA FD 91 ?
(with a 640 x 480 MPEG !)
CLICK HERE
!
My pictures and video
clips I shot in Yalta May 1999 ?
(very good looking girls !)
CLICK
HERE !
MAVICA Picture wins
first prize in a photo contest !
CLICK HERE !
A site for MAVICA users from MAVICA users featuring a very busy message board etc. !
The MAVICA magazine on the net !
The MAVICA ressource page !
UNDER FURTHER CONSTRUCTION !
Nothing is perfect ! Please excuse my sometimes wacky English.
If you have found misspellings or grammatical errors or a failure
in my web design like broken links etc. or if you just want to
give some comments please send me an eMail.
Also if you want me to ad some links to related websites please
do no hesitate to inform me !