Sony 828 Camera

Does anyone have any comments on the Sony 828 camera? I have several

concerns about this camera.

 

1. Color fringing at some focal lengths. Some of the test images I

reviewed are very bad relative to this issue. I don't know if this

is a lens issue, sensor issue, or software issue.

 

2.Noise at ISO 100 and above. It appears to me that noise is worst

in the Sony at equivalent ISO speed that other cameras. Sony has an

ISO 64 setting that has lower noise, but this takes more light to

make the picture. If Sony had to decrease the sensor size to get 8

megapixels, I understand why the noise is higher.

 

3. Memory in the camera is not adequate to support shooting multiple

images in the RAW mode. Have to wait until the image is written to

the memory card.

If you go the Sony forum at www.dpreview.com you will find considerable wailing and knashing of teeth concerning your points 1 and 2. If you go to www.luminous-landscape.com or www.Steves-digicams.com you will see that they find the 828 not substantially worse in this area than other cameras in this class and in general rather like the camera. As for your point 3, you will find general agreement that RAW mode has been badly implemented on the 828 for a number of reasons some of which you point out. If you are interested in alternatives I have been quite happy with my Minolta A1 so far.

I'm one of those select few [ :-) and no, I'm not on Sony's payroll] who could actually handle a DSC-F828. It's a fine, fast tool, and I'm with Michael Reichmann wrt noise and chromatic aberration (a direct link to his review is <a href="http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/sony828.shtml">here</a>). Compared to other "serious" digicams, it shines in these areas. Plus, it feels <i>very</i> solid.<p>And yes, it takes ages to write a full 8 MP picture onto the card. If you dial it down to 5 MP, you have the second-fastest 5 MP camera on the market (#1 is the Olympus E-1).<p>And yes, the lack of constant shooting priority is annoying on occasion. Otoh I've come to review pictures only during breaks of the 'action' anyway, even with the constantly ready Canons. You can live with that.<p>The tripod interface seems to come from one of Sony's ENG cameras. Well, the 828 needs a fully grown tripod, too.<p>And this metal body, the manual zoom, and the best focus-by-wire ring I've ever met...the latter one feels as if it were manual. <i>Drooling onto keyboard.</i>

I just wanted to voice my opinion. I had looked at the Canon DSLR, but after having several quality problems with Canon SLRs, I decided not to get burned again. A bought a Sony DSC-70 3.3 MP a couple years ago and have had exceptional luck with it. I upgraded to the Sony 828 in late December when they had been released and have had absolutely none of the problems with color fringing. I think many negative comments by people have been based on their preference to one brand of camera over another.

 

I have no regrets on the Sony, and even if I did it has a 30 day return for any reason. I am not saying you should go for this camera, but just take the opinions of the many Canon SLR owners with a grain of salt.

 

As for memory...The sony memory stick pro is the way to go, but I am using a 1 Gig Sandisk Ultra II (60x). To me the amount of storage was more important than the speed (to a point of course). The 1 Gig stick was overkill. The Ultra II is a pretty fast CF card.

The Sony 828 is too little and too late, IMHO. For the money they're asking for that camera you can almost buy a Canon 300D with its basic zoom lens - and you'll have the ability to buy more and better lenses to make that tool significantly more versatile than the 828. Now, if you could buy the 828 for ~$450 or so, it might be worth considering.

Congrats to Joshua LeDuke on his card choice, I'm planning on going the same route when I get the camera. Especially because of the major price difference in the same size card made by Sony, the SanDisk Ultra II is the way to go. In response to Michael Flaherty's comment on the price, I don't see how they could sell it at any other price. Consider it's specs: 8.0 mp, 7x optical zoom, all metal body, all the same manual controls as the Canon Digital Rebel. As well it does way more than the Digital Rebel can at the same price. One other point is that if you are actually comfortable with the camera and you know what you are doing, you can crank out even 8.0 mp shots blazingly fast considering that this is a digital camera that we are talking about

I had the Sony F717 and also the 10D. I liked the Sony very much, even though the 10D has a bit better image quality due to its CMOS sensor. Your decision will depend on how large print sizes you are aiming for (for webdisplay it won't matter at all), and whether you want one camera that does it all, or whether you intend to build a full system with several lenses and accessories. Also, handling is very important, I myself just LOVE the swivel screen. Being able to shoot from the hip or by holding the camera above crowds and still see what is going on can be very useful in many situations!

3. There isn't a flash memory in the world that would write raw instantly. I use Lexar CF Pro 80x and it still takes 8+ seconds.