Full review of Sony MVC-FD97 posted!
By
Dave Etchells
(Friday, February 9, 2001 - 17:53 EST)
Trick questions: What's the best feature of Mavica digicams? - They store their images on standard floppy disks. What's the worst feature of Mavicas? - They store their images on standard floppy disks. ;-) The big news in the Mavica camp is that Sony's added "Memory Stick Direct" slots to two new models. We tested one. It really IS big news!
 For those of you wondering where Sony's Mavica line would be going, as file sizes continue to grow and floppy space doesn't, here's the answer: The 2.1 megapixel Sony MVC-FD97 sports Not only the trademark floppy disk drive, but a Memory stick slot as well! You can record photos to either the floppy or Memory Stick, and copy files back and forth between the two in any direction. When shooting to the Memory Stick, the image compression is greatly reduced, meaning all those nasty JPEG artifacts go away. (There's an Uncompressed TIFF option available too.) Other specs and general camera operation are very similar to the FD95 we reviewed last year, which it will replace. Other good news? At the same time they added the Memory Stick and other features, they've dropped the price by $100, to $899. (Coming to stores in March.) With the Memory Stick interface, the MVC-FD97 really vaults the Mavica line into a true general-purpose digicam, since excessive image compression is no longer an issue. What's more, the new pricing actually makes the FD97 a value leader in the "2 Megapixel or Greater Digicams with 10x Zoom Lenses" category: This is not only one of the most versatile digicams in that arena (thanks to the continued presence of the floppy), but it's now the cheapest! (At least until the competition reacts and drops their prices.) Even if other mfrs bring prices down to match, the Mavica will still have the advantage of the floppy drive to facilitate sharing images with non-digicam-equipped friends and coworkers. Very slick! Check it out!
Source:
Imaging Resource Full Review of MVC-FD97
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