Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sony DSC-F828
1/80 sec @ f/2.8, with on camera flash
ISO 64
200mm

This is a great camera! I highly recommend it. You get Macro at any zoom setting (28-200). For shooting reptiles, the whole body swivels up, allowing low-to-the-ground shots through the viewfinder. At dusk, the F828 uses a laser holographic focus assist. At night, it uses an infrared focus assist. You can even shoot without flash, and use the IR focusing lamp to capture the image in infrared. The camera jumps the ISO to 1600, but you can override that. You can take movies of your scaley friends, too. 30fps VGA, with sound. It makes .MPG files that can be played directly on my Mintek portable DVD player. It takes BOTH Memory Stick Pro, AND Compact flash cards/Microdrives. I currently have a 256M Memory Stick Pro, and a 256M CF card in my Sony. It's FAT 32, so you herpers with deep pockets can use the new 12 Gig CF card. It's 8 Megapixel resolution, and makes 23.9M .TIF files, and about 3.2M jpegs.

The iguana, Iggi is ours. She is 3 1/2 years old.

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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~

At around $1000, it is in the approximate price range of the Digital Rebel and Nikon D70, both of which are true digital SLRs (and the expected price range of the minolta D7 which is due in October). For that kind of money, I think I would be more tempted by the tremendous flexibility of an SLR (interchangeable lenses, flashes and other accessories - the Minolta is going to have anti-shake technology in the camera body).

The sony is a very nice camera, but about $300 overpriced.

Of course, I wouldn't mind owning one instead of the little 2.1 MP Olympus I currently have.
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Chris Harrison

And the convience, too. The Sony is not a replacement to a true SLR. The DSLR is a good choice, but remember, all those lens cost EXTRA. The Sony has the convience of a zoom lens. 28-200mm is all most people need. At 8Mpixels, I can hit the digital zoom, and get a 4 Mpixel 400mm shot if I need more. The best feature I found on the Sony, is the amazing low light/no light ability. It is good for feild work where you can't bring in extra lighting, or don't want to distrub the herps. I don't know of any DSLRs that can shoot in infrared. It's built-in with the Sony.
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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~