Sony MVC-CD200 Mavica 2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

After spending several weeks researching the digital camera market I finally settled on the Mavica CD 1000. The only problem was it was a whole lot more camera than I really needed. So what does Sony do? They bring out the CD-200. Problem solved. Still more camera than I really needed but boy, what a camera!! I've been using my new 200 for a little over a month now and am just as impressed and excited with it as I was on the first day. It has almost all of the features of the CD1000, even the ability to take short MPEG movies, without the extra weight and size. Image quaity, ease of use, features, flexibility.... it's got it all. Much smaller than the 1000, even my 7 year old son has no problem handling it. The viewfinder screen is sharp, clear, and easy to see in almost all lighting conditions. The only exception is very dark flash conditions and the built-in twilight light takes care of that.

As with the 1000, the CD storage makes digital photography effortless. Transfering pictures using your CDR-RW drive or the USB cable is a no-brainer. Sony's CD's are a little pricy but Memorex's Pocket CD's work just as well, and their capacity is a little bigger. While on vacation I was able to get 165 large image (1600x1200) shots at high resolution on a single CD. The 5-pack of Memorex CD's cost about $1.80 ea vs 6 rolls of film at $5-6 ea plus processing. Using this camera has actually saved me money in film and developing.

As with the 1000 there is a lag time between pressing the button and taking the photo. Pressing the button to Half-Shutter and waiting for your picture pretty much solves that. Excellent zoom, the manual says the image degrades the more zoom you use but I can't tell the difference. The picture quality is still excellent. Battery life is about 2-1/2 hours of shooting time. Carrying an extra battery will keep you shooting from dusk to dawn and then some. Sony has a camera that has taken point and shoot to point, shoot and print. It's that easy.

Contrary to what geekysteve from Arkansas says it is not necessary to finalize a disc before picking photos from it. Just pop it into your CD-RW drive and you can copy over one photo, all photos or whatever you choose. I still use this camera almost every day and it's still the best camera in its class.

I have never written a review, and always wondered what kind of person would take the time to write. Here I am taking the time to write because this camera is the BEST camera I have ever owned -bar none. Loaded with the features you need to take great shot -its worth taking a few minutes to read the manual. This camera takes the best pictures ever. I selected the camera for the cd writing capability and have not been disappointed. You can pop the cd's in any computer anywhere for instant access; or just throw the cd's in a drawer for a rainy day. Last point: i was concerned about 2 megapixels, but have found the image quality to be more than ample. I cant say enough good things about this camera!

Buy Sony MVC-CD200 Mavica 2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom Now

I researched digital cameras for six months before buying the Sony MVC-CD200. The CD is what sold me on this one. I didn't want to have to deal with USB connections and special software just to view my pictures. I was also worried that whatever digital camera I bought might become quickly outdated. I don't think that's going to happen with the Sony CD cameras. This is an absolutely incredible camera for both serious and casual photographers. I'm an artist and had wanted to be able to take daily pictures of my work in progress, as well as reference photos. For me, this is the ultimate. The 2.1 megapixels provide photos that are actually superior in many ways to the ones I've taken with my film cameras. For instance, I can see thickness of paint, brush strokes and a full range of color in my paintings. I haven't even bothered to install the software that Sony provides with the camera. All I do is finalize the CD, pop it into the CD-ROM and pull up the pictures either through Microsoft Publisher 2000 or Quark Express. One disc easily stores 70 pictures shot at maximum file size of 1600-1200. I don't think I'd really want more than that on one disc because it makes looking through all of them faster. I print them on an HP Deskjet 1220C using their premium photo paper. I've been amazed at the results I've been able to get indoors with no flash. For instance, I took one of the light from a single lamp in a room on an overcast morning. Gorgeous. The camera is very easy to use. I would recommend going through the manual at some length to take full advantage of all it can do. I really think the Sony CD cameras represent a breakthrough in digital photography for a wide range of people.

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I simply cannot say enough good things about this camera.

I got it for a three-week trip to Europe (took 700+ photos without a hitch, you can't say that about other digital image storage devices) and now I find that I am taking it everywhere!

I did not find the problems one previous reviewer had with vibration during "finalization" of the cd's. I finalized on a train, and worried about the vibration of the moving vehicle, but did not have any problems at all. Maybe Kitty should be kept out of the room during the process (which takes only a couple of minutes!)

I have enjoyed all aspects of this camera in the past three months that I have had it. The ease-of-use, the relative cheap expense of the storage device (I forgot a CD on a recent junket and just bopped into a local office store to purchase a disc for about $3) and the optical quality of the camera makes this a great investment for someone who wants a good, solid camera to accompany you across town or around the world.

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Okay so the price IS a bit steep, but there are plausible reasons and results. First the 2.2 meg resolution will give you a SHARPER photo that will allow you much better results and allow for much more versility in enlarging and editing. second (and this is a point that I have had one Hell of a time tracking down what is possibly the best reason, I wanted a "format" that would allow for the sharpest image to be easily transfered to my PC. now the Mavica FD series using the floppy disk was where I started, but the resolution wasn't very good,then I moved on towards memory sticks and the like, but that necessitates the use of USB 's etc. where there are the usual complications and time downloading, a slight loss(?) of image sharpness and so on. Now this camera uses a 3-inch miniCD which supposedly (as it turns out) you merely stick into you CD-ROM tray and download directlyinto your PC!!! My piece of cake. The only improvement that I can see would be the next higher model with its 3.3 meg resolution, but I simply don't need THAT much for [that much money]. (oh, make sure you get the starter bag/kit!!! And make sure you get at least another 3 disks for whatever!!!)