Can you live with 0.3 Megapixels?
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Do you remember these? The Sony Mavica MVC series are some cameras released in the late 90's when digital media was still being standardized. At a time with memory cards could cost hundreds of dollars, Sony decided to make a series of consumer friendly cameras that used 3.5" floppy disks as memory. People already had these in their home, and their computers already had a way to read them. It was actually a really smart move. Later there were a few models released with mini CD disks before Sony moved onto their Sony Memory Stick and later the more common CF and SD cards.
These cameras are crazy fun to load with a floppy disk and photograph. But both of mine developed issues almost immediately after I purchased them. Even if they are in great working order, what you can do with the images if fairly limited. The low quality 0.3mp movie stills don't look good even on instagram. If you can get passed all that, and find them for cheap, and have nostalgia for floppy disks, then these might be the cameras for you.
Let me know what you think of these cameras! So fun!
USB Floppy disk reader I bought - amzn.to/3xFuy0y
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#sony #90s #photography
James: I was in college from 2000-2004, so this was prime-time for these cameras. I worked for the college newspaper and we had a full darkroom and a number of Nikon FM2n's... and the Sony Mavica got used for 99% of anything we did... given the rise in film these days, imagine the heresy of this... but it gave us instant photos that we loaded on our iMac G3's! It is legitimately laughable these days, but it was definitely "high-tech" feeling in its time... lol. Thank you for the video!
OMG! I can sooo relate to that! The convenience of instant digital images was almost revolutionary back in early 2000s. We used it for our local community magazine. You shoot a photo, instantly transfer it to your PowerBook G3 and right away you can use that image while editing your project in PageMaker 😛
I'm all for products that just work and make practical differences in speeding up or making easier your workflow. It was a really smart move by Sony. And good fun today, even though there's no practical benefit anymore! Thanks for sharing your personal connection with the cameras. That was cool to read about.
I used to is too back in the day. My mother’s work had one and I’d play with it. It was super exotic back in the day. Like “no don’t touch that!”
In late 90s I was dreaming about having one but could never afford to buy one then :) Until recently. Picked up this Mavica at the thrift store literally a month ago just for $15. Still works like a charm!
Awesome! A lot of my old camera purchases have been the same thing. Cameras I used to dream about owning, and now can no problem 😆
I still use floppy disks daily! Boeing 737/757s still use them to load Navigation Database S/W for the Flight Management Computers. They have to be updated every 30 days per FAA regs. We also load the S/W for all the Flight and Nav Displays using floppy disks as wll. You don't need a whole of computational power to make a Primary Flight Display show waypoints and a terrain/weather radar pattern with a Flight Director.
Those shots remind of old family home video!
That's wild! Thanks for sharing that tidbit. Had no idea they were still in use.
You beat me to the comment, floppy disk are still used on most transport category aircrafts built in the 1990s.
These were the first digital cameras I ever experienced and again in a University situation. I worked in technical support and we had a number of these for student loan. I thought they were dreadful and digital photography laughable but then my primary camera of the time was a Mamiya RB67.
Hard to compare with the RB67! I'm hearing from a lot of people that for projects requiring fast turnaround time and ease, where IQ could be sacrificed, these cameras really helped.
Yes they were mostly used by students and staff to create images for use in Power Point presentations and for various poster presentations.
My dad bought this camera when it came out. He gave it to me not long before he passed away. I doubt I’ll ever use it considering the quality but I’ll keep it just because it was his.
2:14 "not many buttons" *shows the back of the camera full of buttons and switches*
been using a mavica since the start of the year and overall these cameras are super duper cool!
Used a pair of them to do real estate photography for years. About as easy to use it gets and pretty much failure proof. I still have them and a pile of 31/2” discs. Mine are both earlier versions. Good cameras.
I've still got two working Mavica's. Great fun to use if you want that " low-fi " look 😋
Fantastic! I might go for another cheap one just to have one that will consistently work. Kinda bummed these two gave out in different ways. They're way fun to shoot.
I have the same Mavica FD5 camera. It still works with my usb Sony floppy disk reader. I also have the Sony Mavica FD90 with 1.6 Mega Pixels and 16x zoom and I also have the Sony MaviCap stills monitor (MVC-FDR3E Digital Still Image Capture Adaptor). Still use these cameras from time to time just for fun.
Wow! What a blast from the past. I shot thousands and thousands of photos on the zoom version back in the early to mid '90s. I was writing estimates on crashed cars in the collision repair industry. It was really a game changer in terms of uploading files to the insurance companies and lowering the cost of film and expediting the estimating process. I would bye. Huge boxes of floppies. I wasn't into photography back in them days but it really was a game changer. If you had one of these in your body shop. The insurance companies love them because all the files were automatically uploaded to their servers and I could get approval to start the repair process much faster.
Cutting edge! Really cool hearing your personal experience with them back in the day. Thanks for sharing that.
I bought one today because of your video, I only remembered it because I saw it on the floppy disk boxes that my father used at work and as a child it looked like something out of space... thanks for making happy my inner child!
Batteries can be bought on e-bay, and they also sell the 4-batteries charger units as well. I LOVE MY SONY Mavica MVC-FD-73 Camera!!! They are great on Paranormal Investigations! 🙂
I like the one's that use CD's as the recording format...cool.....
The mini DVD versions looked sleek but were odd to use. I can't remember the image quality.
I've looked at picking one of those up too someday. I like the little circle in the back. The body design looks pretty wild.
I remember seeing these in the electronics section (behind the glass) at Target around 1999-2000. I don't remember how much they cost, but they weren't cheap.
Awesome video! About 3 years ago when I started my never ending camera thrifting adventure, I would always see Sony Mavicas everywhere and dirt cheap. The only thing that stopped me from picking one up was the inability to test it out at the store. I read that the drives , capacitors could give up. I still enjoy seeing them and though it be something I would enjoy using...but end up on the shelf as a decoration. Those Lo-fi images are retro wonderful! I have not seen one in the wild for such a long time!
Yeah a lot more that can break on these cameras, so I'm with you on being weary about buying them without some sort of testing that they work first or return policy. Very fun though!
Recently bought a Sony Mavica FD200. The 2mp version and last of the floppy disk cameras. It also uses a Sony memory stick. Which is handy since a disk only fits 4 photos.
I hava an mbc FD7 (the expensive version of the cheaper one you have, basically the predecessor of the FD71)
It works flawlessly and it’s a lot of fun to use, especially with that 10x zoom ;)
This is super cool and reminds me of the Pentax ZX-50 I just bought. Another super cheap 90s camera. But this one is film with some digital stuff built in. I'm crazy excited to see how it turns out. I would love to hear your thoughts on those semi-digital film cameras, as I've started calling them!
I haven't reviewed any of the cheaper 90s film cameras, that would be fun to do sometime. There are so many that are so easily accessible and accept great lenses, so no reason they can't be awesome!
I recall using these at work late 1990's. As a hobby photographer I was the designated user of the Mavica. I loved using it!
Dude. Those glitched out pictures look super rad in their own right!
We had one in the Tech department at school we used much as you would use a camera now to take pictures of projects being made and print them out for the pupil's folders. It was kid of fun but crappy too.
Loading an sd or cf card is also a tactile experience
This was my first digital camera after shooting film for about 10 years. It was a novelty more than anything else especially to take the floppy disk and bring it straight to the computer and see your images on the screen. If I recall I had the one with the plastic door on the floppy Drive. I never used it seriously for taking photos though.
this is so cool. I just found fd200 and fd91. hope they come in good shape
My grandparents bought this camera(they still have it), it was so expensive and I was absolutely not allowed to touch it.
If they still have it, see if you're allowed to touch it now 😆
@@snappiness I wouldn’t touch it with a 10ft pole…
@@dragonaut4208 😂
I was in a metal band in the late 90's. The photos that went into the CD booklet were taken with a Sony Mavica floppy camera. Actually they look pretty good, can't tell they were VGA resolution 😁
That's so rad!
I used to use an old Mavica to shoot the photos for my work union newspaper back in 2007. This unlocked the memory of the floppy disk sounds taking forever to read on old computers 😅
I found one also in a thrift store and i bought it. It takes good pictures but the problem is that no computer has floppy drives these days!
chances are the 'fault' is just dirty/tarnished inter-board ribbon cable connectors. Just need cleaning with a fibreglass brush. Bear in mind these were £300-£500 cameras so not as cheap as you might think. I have a number of various Mavica models in everyday use. Later (& cheaper) models went beyond 2MP with floppy/menory stick options. The MV5 you show with the fixed focus lens was much earlier than the other on shown.
Richarrd, UK
Our Chief Pilot on the Bud One Airship had one of these. I remember at the time thinking what a great time for photography and how it couldn’t possibly get any better. I’ve never been so happy to be so wrong.
😂 That's a good lesson learned 👍
0.3 megapixel later became the standard of many mobile phones in the early 2000s
My first digital camera was and I still have a FD-88, I cost me just shy of $800 and this guy still works
My main camera that I use today is a Mamiya RB67 Pro SD
I got a few of these in recently. Fun to play with. I generally sell these for $13 bucks plus shipping. Yes a bargain for some nostalgic conversation pieces.
I think so! It's fun you get to play with cameras like this as part of your job.
Do you happen to still sell them? I’m interested in buying one?
I have the FD200 and it can take 2MP pictures and can also use Sony's Memory Stick. That extra resolution makes a surprising difference since the images are actually usable lol. It can also shoot super low res video which is neat.
Nice throwback! I was in high school in the late 90's and the school had a couple of these, not sure what exact model. Very convenient to transfer the files via the floppy drive, since this was before USB was common. Other was serials, parallell ports etc. and specialty software.
That focus on user experience was so smart by Sony. It's not always about the best specs, it can just be about what has a great workflow.
Did anyone ever make a camera with a zip drive? Was that a possibility?
I remember working for a web company in the late 90s and they got one of theses. I think it cost about £700! so them may have looked cheap but they were not cheap to buy.
Got a FD75 mavica for 2$ at a thrift store, bought a new battery and floppies and it still works like a champ, deffinitly feels like it fits between my digital canon cameras and my film based Canon Rebel Ti / Polaroid Impulse AF and has been lots of fun
Awesome find!! Glad it's working for you!
Another excellent video, I'm continuing to add to my Sony vintage Digital camera collection, currently sourcing the DSC V1 (I only select near mint, including as many accessories I can find), this video has inspired me to look at the Mavica, I already have an external floppy disc read/write drive and at least 30 floppy discs of various types, yeh, I never get rid of anything, thanks again for a great video.
Great! There are several mavicas in the series and some interesting looking ones at that. The experience of hearing the image write to the floppy disk in camera is priceless!
this is wary intristing sony camera I like that
if it had a clean a/v output that first camera would be amazing for video art
Roughly 1000 dollars in 1994 US$ money if I remember correctly - first pix shot in and around the just built all new 1994 Australian new broadcast center where I worked a total marvel at the time - now well retired (75) and here we are back with vinyl and all things 90s again wot fun. Love your show Dr Russ Naughton PhD Melbourne Australia
Thanks for sharing that tidbit! And thanks for watching :)
I remember these floppy disc camera released back in 1995 or 1996. It was first attempt Sony tapping into digital photography market. Of course back then it was a very very new market
I almost bought as my first digital camera a Sony that saved pictures on mini CDs.
I had one in 2002 and I realized then how terrible the picture quality was, but it was still fun to use. I did, however, realize that no one would be using floppy discs for anything very soon after I got it. Anyone know how much they were when they came out?
This was my first digital camera! By the time I upgraded to a point and shoot, my dad was the only one who had a computer with a floppy disc drive so I could get the files off the discs.
I have an FD85 1.3 MP that uses a floppy disk as well and its quite the step up, IMO.. with the ability to Zoom 6x, record movie clips, it has a backlit LCD OR even cooler... you can turn the backlit off and use the power of the sun (via a prism) to light your screen.... so you NEVER have to worry about the sun washing out the view on your screen. Lots of effect options and really a fun camera with definitely better IQ.
Woah! Maybe I'll upgrade then 😄 I mean, I already bought the floppy reader so I'm in too deep as is. In looking that one up I also saw that they made a floppy disk adapter that you could put memory sticks in for an upgrade. Way cool!
@@snappiness correct on the adapter..... but in my research for this camera, I heard from a few people how the "Memory Stick" and the adapter combined was more expensive than the camera I picked up on Ebay, plus the compatibility wasn't 100%. But it is a fun camera.... obviously.... with a 1.3 mp.... it isn't breaking any levels of amazing. But it is fun to play with. Plus, with the ability to use it outdoors with the LCD backlit off..... battery life is ...... well, WOW. As you said too.... those sounds the floppy makes..... love it! Great videos. I actually picked up the Ricoh GXR cause of you! Its my everyday travel camera.
Well 0.3 is extreme but later models like the fd95 with 2(!) megapixel can take pretty nice photos
I used one for work when I was working for the local council. I loved it :)
I loved this video! I would totally try one of those cameras 📷
They're super fun! I recommend it if you ever get the chance!
I bought one back in the day for $500 USD. We've come a long way for sure 🙂
Having a 10x optical zoom was the reason I bought one back then.
I have one of those in my collection.
Ooooo you have an FD75 too? Gee, we _do_ have a camera in common. Happy snapping! (Addition) Sony did still use a CCD sensor however your unit may have a defective sensor cable as my FD75 is working perfectly.
I have the mini cd version right now and i wish i had discs for it
They are readily available on eBay; both the CD-R and CD-RW mini cds.
The pictures mine takes have more life in them than anything any 2010s or so HD/4k/8k/77k whatever camera ever could.
I had he one that took the mini disk it is the later model than the camera tha takes the floppy disk. I will have to see if still have it someplace put away.
Cool! Yeah go look for it. They're fun to use.
You have such a calming voice!
Hi Ive finally found a Sony Mavica FD 91, it has a movable lcd screen and a longer lens barrel ,
the Picture Effects are worth using , the most 90s is the Solarise then the Neg Art
I didn't picture effects on mine, but I'll dig again. I think someone said they came on later models
@@snappiness Hi the FD 73 you have does have a picture effect button under the flash button, the later Mavicas have the effects incorporated in the menu set up ,most of the camcorders have the same effects too
I considered grabbing my parents old Mavica the other day! I'll have to go pick it up. Huge tangent, but instant cameras are crazy popular and for good reason. I think you should give them a try. The ones that shoot the Instax Wide film are my favorite, just because of how large the resulting photo is.
Thanks for the tip! I know nothing about instant cameras and have never shot one before. That would be a fun break from the ordinary :) And yes you should totally -steal- borrow that Mavica and give it a go for fun and good times :)
Please do a video with the cd mavica 400
Those are gigantic! Nice Video.
Just the right size for a 3.5" floppy 💾 😀 the form factor is pretty cool though. If it wasn't for the media, it would've been a lot like my much smaller Sony's.
Floppy disk reader? You mean a floppy disk drive?
You keep a camera on your shelf sans lens or body cap? Crazy.
Yeah, I should put my body cap on :P I just forget to when I'm swapping lenses between cameras so much.
Super cool! Usually when I’m watching photography videos and I get to the sample photos section, I go in and make sure my video resolution is turned up. This time I was thinking, would it be in the right spirit to turn the video resolution down?!?
Interesting you made the comparison with instant film, I know when I was a kid my parents were like, we can go with an instant camera or a digital camera, which one do you want? As somebody who nowadays has way too many cameras, obviously I wanted both, but I asked for the Polaroid and missed out on that particular moment of quirky old digi cams. I guess my point is how early digital and late instant film provide that same excitement of seeing your picture right away, that fun factor, and the sort of conversation starter thing.
By the way, I think you can use the little round pie chart next to the frame counter to tell how full the memory is getting. The pie gets filled up and so you sort of get a rough idea of how much space you have left.
Ah, that would make sense then! I wasn't quite sure what that was. The good news about reliving quirky digicams nowadays is that you don't have to pay $1,000 for one xD
Hi,
Do u know if I can use the Sony MSAC-FD2M Memory Stick Floppy Disk Adapter for the fd73?
Thinking about getting the fd7. Is there a 3d printed lens mount and would it be worth it?
I have the FD88 and the FD5
I, also, got a Digital Mavica in a bid lot with other cameras. Mine is an FD83. It came with a handful of floppies and a couple of good batteries. It is a bit of fun, but also really sucks. But then I can say the same thing about my SX70.
That's a pretty good summary of the camera 😆
Hahaha "and here are some of the beautiful images taken with them".
So beautiful :)
Challenge: Take a mosaic that you stitch together into a decent pic.
The Mavica is the modern-day Polaroid. Not the best camera, not the sharpest, but memorable.
They made a floppy to sonys proprietary memory card adapter.
That's what I just read about thanks to another's comment!! Pretty wild. It's like the SmartMedia floppy adapters Olympus I believe made.
I don't know how many such cameras Sony produced, I got one long time ago with a special feature, it got a 'sun screen', with a transparent top on the LCD for backlight, so the screen is very clear even under bright sun. The other thing innovative was the Lithium battery management system that can tell battery time reminding, I used the camera mainly for eBay, while back in the days PC still got floppy drive ha |
Cool! And you're right the battery life indicator is really nice to have.
哈哈哈～ 趣味的數位Lo-fi.這種相機我也有，我有一台FD7.
🤣 🤣 🤣 Interesting digital Lo-fi. I have this camera too.Mine is FD7.
Fun cameras!
I think you will find that the Sony Mavica FD-73 is at least 1280 x 960 which is 1.2 MP which is more than most monitors at the time. Your MVC-FD5 was .38MP. You may have also had the more expensive one switched to .38MP which is 640 x 480. My MVC-FD200 is 2.0 mega pixels the pictures are good. I can send you some if you wish? I have three all of which have been reliable.
Both are definitely 0.3 megapixels - I am looking online and I think the fd88 was the first over 1mp? Maybe? Anyway the fd200 looks quite nice. 2mp is a nice jump up. I have also looked at the much larger body ones like the fd95 which just look too fun, if maybe quite a bit larger. Cool to find someone else shooting with them still!
@@snappiness The quality of the photos from the FD200 is superb and I use the ProDuo floppy adapter to increase the storage capacity. Shame about your screen. Keep up the good work. Loving the content!
They are bad, but much better than i was expecting. neat.
The images definitely look like frame grabs from an old video. Blown out highlights, jaggies, haloes everywhere and artifacts galore. Kinda creepy. Hard to believe people traded Kodachrome for this.
haha! Seriously! I think these cameras drew more skepticism than converts, but those who wanted to connivence and could sacrifice some quality, these were the ticket.
@@snappiness I was a late digital adopter because early cameras seemed too expensive and IQ was too low, compared to film. Digital point and shoot cameras were close to the price of fully spec'ed professional DSLRs in some cases, without any of their build or image quality. For applications that required few aesthetic virtues and lots of convenience, lo-res digital cameras filled a niche, I agree.
how do you get the data out of the floppy disk?
There's a link in the description to the USB floppy disk reader I bought. Works like a charm. :)
But what about that Nikon Coolpix 8400 back there?
Haven't made a video on it yet, but I mean to! I've reviewed it's peers, the Canon PowerShot Pro1 and Sony F828, both use the same fantastic 8mp sensor.
@@snappiness Oh I've definitely watched those already. I used to lust after these 8mpx advanced compacts when they came out, buying photography magazines that featured comparisons of those 3 and the Olympus c8080. Back in the day before I ever remember reading people care so much about things like sensor size. I was just always a Nikon shooter, bought and still have the d70s when it came out, so the 8400 still tickles my fancy these days.
@@ledheavy26 do you have the 8400 then? The c8080 was on my list as well to do .. someday...
The FD73 you show is actually the absolute bottom dollar model in it's range, you should look into something like an FD88 or FD91 sometime
For future reference, I don't know if you fixed it by now because this video is a year old, but my left ear is yelling at me. Great video otherwise!
This was the first digital camera I owned. It sucked. I lived in the desert at the time, and it died within a couple of months. SONY wouldn't replace it. I never bought another sony. Canon or Pentax for me.
That's terrible! I hate when new things break and companies just turn the other way.
This camera is not digital. It is electronic but analogic.
Mixed media tool☺️🤌
I'm out on this one :-d
I got the fd73 from a thrift store for $10
UPDATE: gat a new battery for it and ccd works fine, just need floppy disks
I like to consider them large format digital cameras because the memory card is so much larger than those tiny little SD cards all this new garbage uses.
Haha, I like that! :D They are quite chunky cameras, too
This camera should be moved to the crappiness channel. 8^)
haha, someone should make a crappiness channel and tag me ;)
You haven't lived until you've loaded film incorrectly and wasted money...
I've done that only once. Never again! It was my first time loading a non-auto winding SLR, and I just didn't put the lead in far enough I guess :(
The presenter is really showing his young age. No, putting a floppy disc in the drive is not like loading film.
😂🤣😅 640 x 480
What more could you ask for? ;)
@@snappiness 1080p :) RAW video all I need.