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| Reviewed by Ed Krimen - August 2004 |
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Whether you decide to buy the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828, or take photos with another digital camera, be sure to share your digital photos with your own online photo album on Photobird.com. Your photo albums on Photobird.com are easy to make, easy to use, attractive, and fun!
If you're shopping online, consider buying the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 at B&H, the sponsor of this review on Photobird.com. B&H is celebrating over 30 years of quality, service, selection, and price.
Camera Introduction
If you're looking for a feature packed, high-resolution, 8 megapixel digital camera with a huge, high-quality lens that makes people say "darn, he really looks like he knows what he's doing," then the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 might just be the digital camera for you.
If you're looking for a digital camera that you can slide into your pocket or purse and take a few quick photos of your children, then this is definitely not the camera for you. Although the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 starts fairly quick and let's you take quick shots in automatic mode, you're not going to be able fit this thing in your pocket -- unless you have very big pockets.
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 is Sony's entry into the 8 megapixel digital camera arena. But what makes this digital camera more noteworthy than the fact that it has 8 megapixels, is its fantastic Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 7x optical zoom lens. This high quality lens packs a focal length from 28mm wide to 200mm telephoto, by simply turning the zoom ring around the lens, similar to zoom lenses on conventional 35mm SLR cameras.
To breakdown the name of the lens for you, "Carl Zeiss" is the registered trademark, "Vario-Sonnar" is the name of the zoom lens, and "T*" is a special reflection reduction coating that, according to Sony, suppresses lens flares, producing 82% less reflection than a conventional lens, resulting in natural, more vibrant photos. Had Sony not gone with an 8-megapixel sensor for this digital camera, I think this camera still would have been a hot contender because of the lens. One of the most important criteria in photo quality is the quality of the lens. The quality of the lens is typically what "makes" the camera and the photo. And that's definitely true in this case.
Notwithstanding, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 is feature packed, and that means a lot of buttons and dials. I think it has too many buttons, which makes the camera somewhat difficult to use. Even after several hours of using the camera, I found myself thinking, "Now, where was that button?" I expect you'll need a lot of experience with this camera to make it second nature for you. This might also be the case with most full-featured cameras like the Sony DSC-828; nevertheless, there's some good opportunities for improvements, and it appears that Sony has made steps in the right direction, as I'll explain in more detail below.
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 box includes the following items:
The 8 megapixel Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 digital camera -
On the left, Image 2 shows the top and front of the camera with the lens cap removed. Image 3 shows the top view, while Image 4 shows the right side with the flash up. Image 5 shows the left side of the camera, and the back of the camera with the LCD display on is shown in Image 6.
One InfoLithium battery -
One battery might be enough for a half day of shooting. But if you plan to do a full day of shooting and don't want to risk running out of juice, it would probably be a good idea to invest in a spare battery. The InfoLithium batteries provide a fairly good estimate for how much time you have until the battery runs out. The battery and the Memory Stick go in the door under the camera (as shown in Image 11).
AC Adapter / battery charger -
The AC adapter connects to the camera to charge the battery. The AC adapter can also power the camera, which is useful when transferring photos from the camera to your computer with the USB cable.
Shoulder strap -
Sony includes a nice, high-quality shoulder strap for the camera.
Lens cap with retaining strap -
A lens cap is included to protect the front of the lens when you are not using the camera. A retaining strap is also included to tether the lens cap to the camera so you don't lose the lens cap when you are not using it.
Lens hood -
The lens hood (shown attached to the lens in Image 8) attaches to the front of the lens and is used when you shoot in bright light to block unnecessary light from outside the frame of the photo.
USB cable -
The USB cable is used to connect the camera to your computer. Be sure your computer has a USB port so that you can transfer your photos to your computer.
A/V cable -
The A/V cable is used to connect your camera to standard RCA jacks so you can view your photos on your television.
CD-ROM
containing Pixela ImageMixer software and USB drivers - The USB drivers enable you to transfer photos to your Windows or Macintosh computer as if the camera was another hard drive or storage device. In other words, you don't need to use the included Pixela ImageMixer software to view photos on your computer, which is a good thing because the software isn't that good. If you need software for organizing your photos on your computer, there's plenty of better choices out there.
159-page printed manual -
While the manual offers very basic instructions and has a lot of fine print making it somewhat hard to read, some of the photographic hints and tips presented throughout the manual helped reinforce some photographic concepts that can be difficult to understand. You're not going to become a professional photographer from reading this manual, but if you've been reading other photographic books and articles to improve your skills (such as the how-to articles in the Photobird Learning Center), the photographic tips in this manual are explained in their own unique way that can be helpful in succinctly clarifying obscure concepts. Nevertheless, you're going to need the manual to figure out this digital camera. There's too many buttons and unique icons to figure everything out by trial and error.
Review criteria
The 7x zoom lens on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 stands out as one of the best features of this digital camera. It has a natural feel to be able to zoom in and out by turning the zoom ring around the lens. Comparatively, other digital cameras with zoom lenses require the user to press a rocker switch that must operate a motor, and the starting and stopping of the motor can introduce delays in getting the right shot.
The ability to tilt the Sony DSC-F828 body separately from the lens is definitely useful, especially when you are using a tripod. (See Image 12.) All digital cameras should have this or a similar feature.
The fact that the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 digital camera takes both Sony Memory Stick memory cards and CompactFlash memory cards is a definite plus. (You can see the CompactFlash door open in Image 10.) I'm sure Sony realized that professional photographers who would be interested in this camera might already have invested in a lot of CompactFlash memory cards. But also consider that at about 3 megabytes per image, you're going to need some massive storage capabilities or else you're going to be swapping a lot of Memory Sticks. These days, massive storage means 1-, 2- and 4-gigabyte CompactFlash Microdrives, which the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 accepts.
Sony has packed a lot of features in the Cyber-shot DSC-F828. With so many features, the problem becomes how to easily access those features -- or, at least the most used ones.
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 is a great camera, and I'm going to miss using it. But it's not what one would call easy to use. It's rather difficult, in fact. At least at the start. Sure, powering on the camera with the frame-advance-like lever is cool, and switching between the various camera modes, such as Automatic, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual, Playback, Set up, is very similar to other digital cameras, but that's where the ease of use pretty much ends.
There's a collection of buttons on the left side of the camera, along the barrel of the lens, and another set of buttons next to the shutter release button. There's more buttons elsewhere, but I found myself jumping between these two sets of buttons often, trying to find what I was looking for. "Is it over here? Nope. Let's try over there. Yeah, I think that's it."
I'm the one people call when they need their VCR programmed, so I consider myself a very capable, technically savvy person (I'll avoid the term "geek"), and yet I was too often lost by the number of buttons on this camera. Not only that, but when I'm taking photos and I wanted to change the metering type, change the exposure value, or review the last photo, my fingers didn't naturally go to the right buttons.
Of course, now that I'm writing this review and thinking more about the design of the camera, the placement of the buttons does seem to make more sense. But in practice, it really wasn't working for me. And people shouldn't need to write a digital camera review and think hard about how a camera is designed in order to operate it efficiently. On the other hand, giving Sony and its Cyber-shot DSC-F828 the benefit of the doubt, perhaps one just needs to spend a lot of time with the camera to get accustomed to where its buttons are.
I'll give Sony one thing though: the command dial, where your right thumb goes, is a great way to modify the f-stop and other functions, such as exposure and white balance. I'd actually like to see the command dial used more for other functions -- especially to help remove a lot of the buttons around the camera.
I'd also like to suggest that, in the on-screen menus, when changing the metering mode for example, the camera should display a brief name of the mode that is being selected, such as "spot", "center-weighted", and "multi-pattern". Understanding which mode is being selected is nearly impossible unless you have the manual with you or you are already very familiar with the icons and symbols displayed. It's hard to tell what a square with a dot in the middle is, compared with a square with a dot and 4 triangles. I'm sure Sony wants to attract less experienced photographers to their cameras, and this would be a very helpful feature. In fact, I'm sure experienced photographers would even want to be able to turn off this brief display of the mode name, so it should be a user-configurable option in the Set Up menu.
At 5 5/16 inches by 3 9/16 inches by 6 3/16 inches (134.4 x 91.1 x 156.7mm), the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 isn't going to fit in your pocket. It's a huge camera, at least by digital camera standards. (See how it compares with the dollar bill in Image 9.) You're also going to want to keep the DSC-F828 in its own well-padded camera bag, which can be bulky.
The DSC-F828 does feel good in the hands, and you can see in the photos on the left where your hands should go naturally. Some of the buttons may be hard to press if you have big fingers, so be sure to test drive the camera before you buy to make sure you're comfortable with it.
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 is remarkably solid and well-built. (And it should be for the price you pay for it.) There's not a flimsy item on the camera, including the little rubber door that covers the AC adapter port and USB port. Honestly, I'm at a loss for words. If there was a standard for solid construction for handheld devices, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 would be the standard to strive for.
Sony did its job right in designing the styling of this camera. The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 has "professional" written all over it. And when you add the lens hood, watch out! You might as well rope off the area with yellow "Caution - Photographer Working" tape.
All joking aside, you wouldn't buy this camera for the way it looks (or maybe you would!), but it definitely is a great-looking, handsome camera. If you want to get noticed, then this might be the camera for you. Just be sure you know who you're attracting first. Men seem to be especially attracted to this camera. Common quotes include "Cool camera!" and "Are we in your way?" -- as they stare directly into the lens.
The power on time for the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 isn't too bad. (I love that retro frame-advance-lever power switch!) But shot-to-shot speed definitely needs some improvement. To its credit, the camera is writing about 3 megabytes for each frame, so there's a lot of data being written. But when you're "in the zone" trying to get a lot of shots off, it's frustrating having to wait for the camera to finish its business. Due to the camera's ease-of-use issues, hunting-and-pecking for the correct button can also slow you down.
The InfoLithium battery on the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 lasted longer than I expected. I was able to do a couple of two-hour shoots on a single charge. What's really nice about the InfoLithium battery is that it estimates how much charge is remaining, so you really don't need to guess. If you're going to be shooting all day, I'd definitely invest in a second, backup battery.
"Noise" in the photo is a common complaint with 8-megapixel cameras like the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828. You might be able to see some noise in the bricks in the photo of Andi (Image 13), if you look at the 3.3-megabyte photo at original size. The "noise" looks more like a video shot than a photograph, at least compared to other parts of the photo. This is an issue that potential buyers of this camera will need to weigh, along with their intended distribution of their photos. Nonetheless, the photos are magnificent and their high quality encourage you to get out and take more photos with the camera.
The 7x zoom, and especially the way you control it with the ring around the lens, is really a joy to use because it's so easy. You just use the zoom ring around the lens (instead of a rocker switch) to zoom in to frame the shot you want. To give you an example of the zoom power of the lens, Image 14 shows the result of the lens zoomed wide and Image 15 shows the result of the lens zoomed in, on the same airplane.
Indoor photos are also high quality. Much to my surprise, this shot of the teddy bear (Image 21) didn't even need the flash. The camera determined that there was enough natural light coming in the window from behind the bear and that the flash was not necessary. But if the flash is needed, then it pops up automatically when there isn't enough light. (See the flash up in Image 4.) Like most built-in flashes though, they're limited in their range. So, you might need an external flash, which fits in the standard flash hot shoe on this camera.
Sony claims that third-party flashes will work with the Cyber-shot DSC-F828. However, when I tried my Canon 420EX, which is a very popular model, the molding around the flash made contact with the molding on the top of the camera, so the flash wouldn't fit. Even though the standard hot shoe appeared to fit, there wasn't enough room at the top of the camera to slide the flash completely into the hot shoe. So, if you already have a flash that you're considering using, try to test it out with the camera first.
At around $1000, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 seems expensive at first. But when you calculate the price of a digital SLR, along with the lenses that you would need to match the Sony's capabilities, then the Sony is looking a lot more attractive. You also need to consider, along with the $1000 price tag, that, unlike an SLR, you can't swap out the Sony lenses for other lenses that you may want to use in the future. At this price range, I'd also expect the camera box to include things like a remote control for the shutter release, which can help eliminate camera shake when the camera is on a tripod. All in all, for what you get though, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 is a very capable, beautiful camera for the price.
If you're shopping online, consider buying the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 at B&H, the sponsor of this review on Photobird.com. B&H is celebrating over 30 years of quality, service, selection, and price.
My Favorite Features:
7x zoom
Easy-to-use zoom adjustment
InfoLithium battery tells you how much time is left
Uses CompactFlash cards and Memory Sticks
Tilt the body separately from the lens
The command dial
Solid construction
Design
Photo quality
Areas of Improvement:
Ease of use
Speed
Photo noise
Include a remote control for the shutter release
Work with third party flash devices
Much more attractive at a lower price
Viewfinder/LCD switch should be a toggle, not a switch
In a perfect world, everyone would have the pleasure to test drive the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828. It's one fine camera that everyone should have the opportunity of using. Whether you want to keep it or not, with its price range, ease of use issues, and non-interchangeable lenses, is a different story for each individual. But, this Sony digital camera does have its high points, including its remarkable Carl Zeiss 7x zoom lens, 8 megapixel resolution, long-lasting InfoLithium batteries, its solid construction, and eye-catching design. With the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828, Sony has really set the benchmark for the upper-level range of digital cameras. If you're looking for a high-end digital camera, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828 should definitely be on your digital camera comparison list.
Whether you decide to buy the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828, or take photos with another digital camera, be sure to share your digital photos with your own online photo album on Photobird.com. Your photo albums on Photobird.com are easy to make, easy to use, attractive, and fun!
Related Links
Photos of the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828
Sample photos from the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-F828
Sample photos in their original sizes from the Sony DSC-F828
Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-F828 website
Review of the Sony DSC-F828 at Luminous Landscape
Review of the Sony DSC-F828 at Digital Camera Resource Page
Review of the Sony DSC-F828 at Steve's Digicams
Photobird's Top 10 Tips for Buying a Digital Camera
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Ed Krimen is an accomplished photographer who has taken thousands of digital photos. As co-founder and CEO of Photobird.com, Ed wants to make it truly easy for you to create attractive online photo albums to share your photos with your friends and family.
Special thanks to Andi for her time, effort, and talent.
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