Sony MVC-FD92Sony adds a Memory Stick slot to a popular 1.3/1.6 megapixel (interpolated) design, for increased storage and improved image quality!<<Optics :(Previous) | (Next): Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests>> Page 6:Exposure & FlashReview First Posted: 4/16/2001 |
Exposure
Exposure control on the FD92 is relatively straightforward, with a familiar user interface design used on many of the Sony Mavica and Cyber-Shot models. The camera features mainly automatic exposure control, with a handful of special exposure modes for specific shooting situations. Exposure modes are accessed by pressing the Program button on the back panel, which cycles through the Automatic Exposure, Twilight, Twilight Plus, Landscape, Portrait, and Spot Metering modes. The camera controls both shutter speed and aperture in all exposure modes, and does not report these settings on the LCD display. (While many consumers won't really be concerned about this, we often like to know what exposure the camera has selected.)
Landscape and Panfocus modes control the camera's focus, with Landscape setting the focus at infinity for faraway subjects and Panfocus allowing quicker focus times for fast-moving subjects. The Twilight modes simply adjust the aperture and shutter speed for dark settings like night skylines and fireworks. Normal Twilight mode sets the exposure system to somewhat underexpose the image, so bright lights, sunsets, and neon signs won't wash out, but instead retain their full color. Twilight Plus makes less exposure adjustment, but boosts light sensitivity for taking pictures under even darker conditions. Spot Metering mode takes the exposure values from the very center of the composition, as opposed to averaging values from the entire image, which is useful for high-contrast subjects, where you'd rather have the exposure set for a specific highlight or dark area. When spot metering is enabled, a target crosshair appears in the center of the LCD display to help line up the shot.
Camera operation is relatively smooth, as you just point and shoot most of the time, leaving the exposure decisions to the camera. Halfway pressing the shutter button sets focus and exposure, with a small, green spot at the top of the LCD that blinks as the focus is adjusted, and glows steadily when the camera is ready to take the picture. While a few of the camera functions are controlled by individual control buttons on the back panel, most features require the LCD menu system. We always like to see the least amount of reliance on the LCD monitor as possible, but given the lack of an optical viewfinder on the FD92, the LCD monitor is our only choice. Regardless, we found the LCD menu system's setup to be very navigable, even though it requires a fair amount of button pushing to perform certain tasks.
Although there is no adjustable AE/AF Lock function on the camera, you can change the auto exposure area by simply moving the camera. Basically, you place the area you want to base the exposure on in the center of the field of view, halfway press the shutter button to set the exposure and focus, then reposition the subject into the desired composition while continuing to hold down the shutter button. Once you've framed the picture, just fully press the shutter button to capture your photo. Exposure compensation is adjustable from -2 to +2 exposure equivalents (EV) in one-third-step increments, through the Record menu. White balance is adjusted using the same process, with options for Automatic, Indoor, Outdoor, and Hold (which recalls the previous white balance setting used).
A 10-second self-timer mode is accessible through the Record menu and is available in all photography modes. Once in this mode, a half press of the shutter button sets focus and exposure, and a full press triggers the self-timer countdown. The timer will count down from 10 seconds by flashing a small LED on the front of the camera, which accelerates at two seconds.
Sony has also included its Picture Effects menu, which allows you to record images in sepia or black-and-white monotones, as well as apply creative filters such as Negative Art and Solarize. These effects appear "live" in Record mode, meaning that the LCD monitor previews the effect. A Date/Time function enables you to record the capture date and time over the image, and a Sharpness feature adjusts the overall image sharpness in levels from -2 to +2.
FlashThe FD92 is equipped with a built-in flash that Sony rates as effective from 11.9 inches to 8.3 feet (0.3-2.5m). In our testing, we found the FD92's flash remained powerful as far as 15 feet from the target, though intensity was somewhat dimmed. The flash was the brightest between eight and 13 feet, and we rated it as effective to about 10 feet, based on our testing.
A flash button on the back panel of the camera cycles through Automatic, Red-Eye Reduction, Forced, and Suppressed flash modes. An icon displays on the LCD monitor to identify each mode, except for Auto, which has no icon. Auto puts the camera in charge of whether or not the flash fires, based on existing light levels. Red-Eye Reduction fires a small pre-flash to reduce the occurrence of red-eye effect in people shots. Forced Flash means that the flash always fires, regardless of light level, and Suppressed Flash prevents the flash from firing, regardless of light level.
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.
An external flash sync connection, located on the lens side of the camera (labeled "ACC"), accommodates Sony's external flash unit, the HVL-F1000. We would have liked to see a mounting shoe on top of the camera. As it is now, you'll need to either handhold the flash or purchase a bracket to mount the flash to the camera.
Movie Mode
The Movie mode allows you to record both moving images and sound. You can record as long as 60 seconds at the 160 x 112-pixel size and as long as 15 seconds at 320 x 240 pixels. Within these timeframes, the camera records both image and sound as long as you hold down the Shutter button. The amount of recording time available appears on the LCD monitor, and may be less than 60 or 15 seconds, depending on the amount of storage space available on the floppy disk or Memory Stick. If you just press the shutter button momentarily, the camera records for 5, 10, or 15 seconds, as determined by the Record Time Set, adjustable within the Record menu. Movies are recorded as MPEG files, providing the same amount of exposure control as with still images (with the exception of flash). You can also use the optical zoom, which is a good way to introduce interesting, cinematic effects.
Clip Motion
Clip Motion is a feature we've enjoyed on other Sony digicams, since its introduction on the DSC-P1. The Clip Motion capture mode turns the FD92 into an animation camera, recording as many as 10 frames of still images (depending on resolution), which are then combined into a single GIF file for animated playback. Frames can be captured at any 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), which records a maximum 10-image sequence, and Mobile (80 x 72 pixels), which records a maximum of two images. Of course, the number of actual captured frames may vary based on available Memory Stick or floppy disk 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, the flash is available with Clip Motion.
Special Recording Modes
The MVC-FD92 features five Record modes for still images: Normal, E-Mail, Voice, Text, and TIFF modes. The E-mail option records a 320 x 240-pixel JPEG file for easy e-mail transmission, in addition to a full-resolution file, at whatever image size you've selected in the menu system. This lets you capture full-resolution images, as well as a smaller version that you can just drop into an e-mail to share with others. In TIFF mode, the FD92 records one uncompressed image at 1,280 x 960 or 1,280 (3:2) pixel resolution, in addition to a JPEG image at the size and quality settings already established in the File submenu. The Voice option allows you to record a sound byte to accompany a still image, for as long as 40 seconds. (As with Movie mode, a quick press of the shutter button in Voice mode records for only five seconds.) Finally, the Text mode records a black-and-white GIF-formatted image file, perfect for recording meeting notes or white boards. The Text (GIF) format records a high-resolution black-and-white image with a great deal of compression (that is, the resulting images take up very little memory), but the penalty paid is the very long processing time required to reduce the full-color image capture to the black-and-white GIF format.
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