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Sony MVC-CD250 Sony adds features, and brings the price down on a 2 megapixel CD Mavica! Select a topic Reference: Datasheet MVC-CD250 Photo Gallery! MVC-CD250 Sample Images --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Executive Overview 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure & Flash 7. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 8. Operation & User Interface 9. Camera Modes & Menus 10. Image Storage & Interface 11. Video, Power, Software 12. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments on MVC-CD250 Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure & Flash Review First Posted: 02/20/2002

Exposure
Exposure control on the CD250 is straightforward and uncomplicated, as the camera remains under automatic control most of the time. A Mode dial on top of the camera lets you quickly select major camera operating modes. Additional control buttons on the back panel let you change basic settings, such as optical zoom, flash mode, and access the Self-Timer with a single button-push.

In addition to the Automatic exposure mode, there are three preset Scene modes that adjust the camera for shooting in specific situations: Twilight, Twilight Portrait, and Landscape. Twilight mode adjusts the exposure to capture a bright subject in dark surroundings (neon lights would be a good example), without washing out the color. Because Twilight mode also permits much slower shutter speeds, a tripod is recommended to prevent blurring from camera movement. Twilight Portrait works along similar lines, but uses the flash with a slow-sync setting to capture a fully-illuminated subject in front of the darker background. Landscape mode uses a smaller aperture setting to keep both the background and foreground in sharp focus, allowing you to capture broad vistas of scenery.

For normal exposures, the CD250 uses an "averaging" metering system, meaning that the camera averages exposure readings throughout the image to determine the best overall exposure. For high-contrast subjects, a Spot Metering option (selected via a button on the back panel) takes the exposure reading from the very center of the frame. A center crosshair target appears on the LCD monitor (inside the focus brackets), to show the location of the spot exposure reading. For metering off-center subjects, you can take your reading of the subject you want metered, then use the AE Lock button on the back panel to lock the exposure reading. Once exposure is locked, you can recompose the image and release the shutter. Spot metering is very handy when dealing with difficult subjects, such as portrait shots with strong backlighting, or any subject that's substantially brighter or darker than the background.

Exposure compensation can be manually adjusted from -2 to +2 exposure equivalents (EV) in one-third-step increments, in all exposure modes except Manual. The camera's light sensitivity can be set through the Record menu to Auto, or 100, 200, or 400 ISO equivalents, increasing the camera's low-light shooting capabilities with higher ISO settings. For exposures longer than 1/2 second, the CD250 automatically employs a Noise Reduction system, to reduce the amount of image noise from long shutter times. In my testing, I found the CD250's noise reduction processing to be very effective at eliminating so-called "hot pixels" in long time exposures. (Do note though, that the CD250 takes twice as long to complete an exposure when the noise reduction system is active. This is because it actually takes two exposures, one of the subject, and one with the shutter closed, to measure the sensor noise so it can subtract it back out of the photo. Thus, at the maximum exposure time of 2 seconds, the camera will actually be tied up for 4 seconds for each exposure.)

The CD250 also offers a menu selection for adjusting image sharpening in-camera, providing a range of sharpness values from -2 to +2 in arbitrary units. The default value of zero is fine for most uses, but you might want to boost the sharpness a bit if your shots will be printed on a low-quality inkjet printer. On the other hand, the lowest sharpness setting may be useful for images that you plan to manipulate in Photoshop or other image editing applications. In these programs, you typically want to apply sharpening at the end of the manipulation process, to minimize artifacts while you're editing the image. Finally, a 10-second self-timer can be activated by pressing the down Arrow button on the back panel. Once the Shutter button has been fully depressed, the small LED lamp on the front of the camera counts down the seconds until the shutter is released (a green dot in the LCD monitor flashes as well). You can cancel the timer by pressing the down Arrow button again.

When you have images stored on the CD-R, the left arrow key on the Arrow rocker button (back panel) activates a quick review of the previously captured image, and offers a delete option for removing the image. Pressing the arrow key a second time returns you to the normal image display screen, as does pressing the Shutter button halfway.


Flash
The built-in, pop-up flash on the CD250 has three settings that are activated by pressing the Flash button on the Arrow rocker pad: Auto, Forced, and Suppressed. Auto puts the camera in charge of whether or not the flash fires, based on existing light levels. Forced Flash means that the flash always fires, regardless of light level, and Suppressed Flash prevents the flash from firing, regardless of light levels. The flash is released from its compartment once the Shutter button is halfway pressed in either Auto or Forced modes. A Red-Eye Reduction mode is activated through the Setup menu, and works with both Auto and Forced flash modes. Red-Eye Reduction fires a small pre-flash to reduce the occurrence of red-eye effect in people pictures. When shooting in Twilight Portrait mode, the camera times the flash with the slower shutter speed, so that subjects in the foreground are well lit, and the darker background shows more ambient light.

You can adjust the flash intensity to High, Normal, or Low through the Record menu. This option makes the flash more accommodating to varying light levels or different subjects. I liked the fact that I could adjust exposure for the flash and ambient lighting separately, a feature that makes it easier to achieve more balanced exposures. In Normal mode, flash range extends from 2.6 to 11.5 feet (0.8 to 3.5 meters).

Movie and Sound Recording
In any of the CD250's still capture modes, you can record short sound clips to accompany images. This option is available through the Record menu by selecting the Voice record mode. You can record up to 60 seconds of sound for each image by holding down the Shutter button. Pressing and releasing the Shutter button quickly gives a preset five second recording length.

The Movie mode is accessed on the Mode dial on top of the camera by selecting the film frame icon. You can record moving images with sound at either High Quality (HQX) 320 pixels, or standard quality 320 x 240 and 160 x 112 pixels. Standard quality resolution sizes record movies using Sony's MPEG EX technology, which offers longer recording times. Thanks to the CD400's efficient use of buffer memory and (I'm guessing here) a higher recording speed on its CD-R drive, the camera works more like a digital video camera, with very long video recording times. (Although video and audio quality won't be in the same league as a real camcorder: See below.) When I was shooting with the camera, I had an available 89 minutes of video recording time available with a newly-inserted CD in the lowest-quality recording mode. The time ticked down as I recorded still images and sound clips, but I was amazed that the recording time was limited only by CD capacity. At the 320 x 240 and 160 x 112 pixel settings, the MPEG EX format records at eight frames per second, with an audio sampling rate of 4 KHz. Maximum recording time with a blank CD is 89 minutes, 24 seconds in the 160x112 mode, or 31:16 in the standard 320x240 mode. The 320 HQX setting captures 16 frames per second, uses less image compression, and increases the audio sampling rate to 10 KHz. It also only has a recording time of five minutes, 52 seconds available though. Additionally, movies captured in the 320 HQ setting play back full screen in Playback mode, as opposed to the smaller display shown with the MPEG EX settings.

I have to say though, that the CD250 won't challenge high-quality conventional camcorders though. It's video resolution is lower than good-quality camcorders, even in HQX mode, and the audio quality really isn't in the same league at all. In quiet moments of the recording, I could easily hear the faint twittering of the CD drive as it recorded the data. - It seems that Sony's camcorder engineers still have some things to teach the still camera group about sonic isolation between drive mechanics and the camera's microphone.