Sony MVC-CD300Sony expands its CD-equipped camera line, adding erasability, buffer memory, a 3-megapixel CCD, and a more compact case!<<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure & FlashReview First Posted: 2/28/2001 |
Exposure
Exposure control on the CD300 is just as straightforward and uncomplicated as on the S75 model. A Mode dial on top of the camera lets you quickly select major camera operating modes, including full program, aperture priority, shutter priority, and full manual exposure modes. Additional control buttons on the back panel let you change basic exposure settings, such as metering options, exposure compensation, and AE Lock with a single button-push. Finally, a small Command wheel (on the right side of the camera back) simplifies exposure adjustment even more, by allowing you to change exposure compensation, manual focus, aperture, and shutter speed, simply by pressing in to highlight the function, and turning it to make adjustments.
Four main exposure modes offer varying levels of control: Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and Manual. In Program mode, the camera controls the basic exposure, but allows you to determine all other variables, such as ISO, white balance, and flash. Shutter Priority enables you to set the shutter speed from 1/1,000 to eight seconds, while the camera controls the lens aperture. Alternately, Aperture Priority mode allows you to set the lens aperture from f/2.1 to f/8.0 while the camera sets the appropriate shutter speed. In both Aperture and Shutter Priority modes, the shutter and aperture values will flash in the LCD panel (when the shutter button is pressed halfway) if the camera disagrees with the chosen settings. This gives you an opportunity to adjust the exposure without wasting a shot.
We were glad to see a Manual exposure mode included on the CD300, providing complete control over aperture settings, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and metering. In Manual mode, the camera reports the amount of under- or overexposure with an EV value in the LCD monitor, just above the aperture and shutter speed settings. If the camera disagrees with the shutter and aperture values, the EV value will flash in the LCD panel (when the shutter button is pressed halfway), allowing you to change the settings. In all three adjustable modes (Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual), the command wheel adjusts the aperture or shutter speed settings.
arrow on the LCD screen points to one adjustable setting, such as aperture, shutter, or exposure compensation. Pressing in on the wheel highlights that setting in yellow, allowing you to make adjustments by simply turning the wheel. Pressing on the wheel a second time removes the yellow highlight, so that you can move the yellow arrow to a new adjustable setting. Where we got into trouble with the Command wheel was apparently in pressing it too quickly in some modes, which resulted in a failure to recognize the actuation, and made it seem like nothing was happening. (It may be that there's a "debounce" delay on the pressure switch for the wheel, producing a "dead" interval after each actuation.) Whatever the case, once we started operating the control in a more deliberate manner, we had no further trouble. In Automatic exposure mode, the only adjustable setting you can access via the wheel is exposure compensation
In addition to the four main exposure modes, there are three preset Scene modes that adjust the camera for shooting in specific situations: Twilight, Landscape, and Portrait. 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 usually employs a slower shutter speed, a tripod is recommended to prevent blurring from camera movement. 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. Portrait mode uses a larger lens aperture setting to decrease the depth of field, keeping the subject in sharp focus, with the background slightly blurred.
For normal exposures, the CD300 uses an "averaged" 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 (controlled by 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.
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. White Balance (WB) can also be controlled in all exposure modes, with available settings of Auto, Indoors, Outdoors, and One-Push (manual setting). The "One-Push" white balance mode is the "manual" white balance option found on many higher-end digicams today. One-Push allows you to set the camera's white balance by pointing it at a white card and telling it to use that color as a reference. As with many other Sony cameras, the CD300 offers a Picture Effects menu, providing a little in-camera creativity. Settings like Solarize, Black & White, Sepia, and Negative Art can add interest to your images by altering color or reversing the highlights and shadows.
The CD300 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 any other image editing application. In these programs, you typically want to apply sharpening at the end of the manipulation process. 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.
FlashThe built-in, pop-up flash on the CD300 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.
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. We liked the fact that we 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 12 inches to 9.75 feet (0.3 to 3.0 meters).
An external flash sync socket is located on the left side of the camera, directly above the digital and video jack compartment. A "cold" shoe mount on top of the camera eliminates the need for a flash bracket. The only complaint we have here is that the external flash connection is only compatible with Sony's HVL-F1000 accessory flash, instead of the normal range of standard external flash units. This would be fine if an adapter were available to connect conventional strobes to the camera, but as far as we know, no such adapter exists, nor does Sony have plans to market one. While it's true that a third-party "dumb" flash unit would lose all the exposure-control benefits offered by Sony's own units, we suspect that many purchasers of the CD300 will already own a strobe unit as part of their film-based kit, and would like the option of using it with the CD300, even with restricted functionality.
Movie and Sound Recording
In any of the CD300'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 40 seconds of sound for each image by holding down the shutter button. By pressing and releasing the shutter button quickly, you can record for only five seconds.
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 (HQ) 320 pixels, or standard quality 320 x 240 and 160 x 112 pixels. Standard quality resolution sizes record movies in the MPEG EX format, which offers longer recording times. The MPEG EX mode on the CD300 doesn't offer the virtually unlimited recording time found on the S75 though, because the CD-RW drive write speed isn't as fast as Sony's Memory Stick flash media cards. Still, the recording times are longer than we're accustomed to seeing on competing cameras, with maximum durations of 60 seconds at 320 x 240-pixel resolution, or 360 seconds at 160 x 112 pixels. 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. The 320 HQ setting captures 16 frames per second, uses less image compression, and increases the audio sampling rate to 10 KHz. 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.
Clip Motion
This is a slick little feature that we really enjoy, which first appeared on the Sony DSC-P1, and now seems to be a pretty standard option on all the latest Sony models. The Clip Motion capture mode turns the CD300 into an animation camera, recording up to 10 frames of still images, which are combined into a single GIF file for animated playback. Frames can be captured at any time interval, with successive presses of the shutter button. When you've captured as many photos as you need, you just press the center of the Arrow rocker pad to tell the camera to finish the sequence. Available image sizes are Normal (160 x 120 pixels) and Mobile (80 x 72 pixels), and the number of actual captured frames may vary with image size and available CD space. (You have a maximum of 10, but could be constrained to fewer if your memory is very full.) Files are saved in GIF format, and are played back with (approximate) 0.5-second intervals between frames. Unlike Movie mode, flash is available with Clip Motion.
Special Record Modes
Like the S75, the CD300 gives you several recording format options for still images. Through the Record menu, you can select TIFF for uncompressed images, Text, Voice (mentioned above), E-mail, Exposure Bracketing, Burst 3, or Normal modes. E-mail mode records a smaller (320 x 240-pixel) image size that's small enough to be easily sent to friends and family by e-mail. The e-mail image is recorded in addition to the image size selected through the Record menu's Image Size option. (The TIFF option likewise records a maximum-resolution TIFF image in addition to a JPEG at whatever size and quality setting you've selected.) The Text mode records a black-and-white GIF file that is perfect for taking pictures of white boards, flip charts, or meeting notes. Burst 3 mode allows you to take a maximum of three frames in rapid succession, at 0.5 second intervals. Actual frame rates will vary with the image resolution and amount of information to be recorded. In Exposure Bracketing mode, the camera takes a series of three images at different exposure readings: one at the normal meter reading, and two more at different EV settings. The exposure variance between shots is set through the Setup menu, through the "Bracket Step" option, with settings of +/- 1.0, 0.7, and 0.3 EV.
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