Sony Mavica FD-7

Sony MVC-FD7
Manufacturer	Sony Corporation
Series	Digital Mavica
Storage Media	3.5" Floppy Disk (1.44 MB)
Max. Resolution	640 x 480 Pixels
Battery	InfoLITHIUM L-Series (NP-F330 / NP-F550)

The MVC-FD7 is the higher spec of two cameras in the first generation of Sony's Digital Mavica series, along with the MVC-FD5.

Specifications & Recording Modes

This generation of Mavica has fewer controls than later models; two quality options (STANDARD and FINE) and a "FIELD/FRAME" setting. The image sensor of the FD7 is taken from a camcorder, and it records in "fields" rather than the entire image at once. A field for the FD7 is an interpolated half of a full frame 640x480 image (640x240), and setting this option to FIELD will take this half-height field and stretch it vertically to fill the full final resolution. Setting it to FRAME will take 2 fields and interlace them to make a full height full resolution image, but this comes at the cost of "ghosting" effects on moving subjects.

Hardware & Optics

The MVC-FD7 is comparable to the FD5, with more features and better optics. Zoom is enabled via an integral periscope which does not stick out of the front.

• Focus: Offers both autofocus and manual focusing via a switch toggle and focus ring on the left of the camera body, with automatic macro focusing down to about 1/2 inch or 1 cm away.
• Zoom: Optical zoom controlled by a T/W lever on the back of the body.
• Automatic Exposure: there is very little manual control over the exposure, only the ability to set ±1.5 EV.
• Flash: Integrated flash.