Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 Test

[Photo-John]

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 is Sony's current top-of-the-line digital still camera. The first thing you notice about it is the camera's build and design. The camera feels awesome. It's heavy (but not too heavy), solid, has a manual zoom ring, and the controls are pretty much all placed intuitively. I used the manual very little as most functions and controls were pretty obvious and simple to use.



This is the first of the current batch of 8 megapixel compact digital cameras. They're all using the same Sony sensor, except that Sony has used a unique, 4-color filter on the CCD in the 828. The special filter adds the color "emerald" which Sony claims makes images from the 828 closer to what the human eye actually sees. And if you look at the studio samples, you'll notice that the color does appear very pleasing and natural.

I can't talk about this camera without talking about the other 8 megapixel cameras that were announced at PMA this year. Canon, Nikon, Konica Minolta, and Olympus all showed new 8 megapixel digital compacts that use the Sony sensor, sans the 4-color filter. Since they're all using the same sensor, it's going to be very interesting to see which camera comes out ahead. The Sony wins hands-down as far as build and feel go. The DSC-F828 is a brick. It feels like a real professional piece of photo gear and it's easy and intuitive to use.

Other notable things about the 828 were the speed, the display, and the battery-life. The display shows a lot of data and has a very interesting way of showing controls like shutter-speed and aperture. But the most interesting display feature is the live histogram. The live histogram is wonderful. It's a much better way to evaluate exposure and it should be a feature in all cameras. It's that good.

Below are thumbnails of test images taken at all ISO settings, in the studio. Click the thumbnail to go to that gallery page and view the full-sized JPEG file. Metering was done with the spot meter and a Kodak gray card placed directly in front of the display.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 Test Images
	ISO 64 Sample >> ISO 100 Sample >> ISO 200 Sample >> ISO 400 Sample >> ISO 800 Sample >> Sony DSC-F828 Sample Gallery >>
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