On this present day 2001: Sony launches DSC-F707

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Launched twenty-three years in the past immediately, the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-F707 confirmed simply how rapidly digital cameras had been evolving.

As a part of our twenty-fifth anniversary, we glance again on the most vital cameras from that interval. As we speak marks twenty-three years since Sony launched one in all its extra attention-grabbing compacts: the 5MP Cyber-Shot DSC-F707.

The early days of digital pictures noticed numerous experimentation with kind issue, as digicam makers explored what digital expertise, the absence of a roll of movie and the flexibility to preview the scene with out an optical path from the lens to the photographer, would permit.

Sony’s DSC F707 was only one such instance. Like Nikon’s early Coolpix 900 sequence cameras and Casio’s QV fashions, it acknowledged that you just won’t all the time need the display and the lens to be pointing the identical route. However as an alternative of creating the display adjustable, they put a hinge between the lens and the physique.

Our authentic assessment concluded that the outcome was “a surprisingly usable and ergonomic design.”

It is an thought Sony had been enjoying with for some time, however the F707 was a significant step ahead. It appeared rather a lot like its predecessor, the DSC 505V. These had been the times earlier than software program correction made wide-angle lenses possible in compact cameras, so each cameras provided a 38-190mm equal zoom vary: nice for the time however considerably limiting, in hindsight.

However Sony made two very vital modifications in contrast with the earlier mannequin: it moved to utilizing a bigger sensor and paired it with a a lot brighter lens, all for a similar $1000 price ticket ($1770 in immediately’s cash).

Free of the necessity to pull an expanse of movie throughout the again of the lens or to have an optical path to the viewfinder, the Sony DSC-F707 is an instance of among the enjoyable early digicam makers had. So, for that matter, is the “10x” marking on the aspect of the lens, with “Digital Zoom” in a lot smaller letters.

You need not know a lot about pictures to acknowledge that it is a massive deal. Somewhat than utilizing a 6.4 x 4.8mm crop of a Kind 1/1.8 sensor it jumped as much as a Kind 2/3 chip (8.8 x 6.6mm). This was an 88% improve in space, giving virtually a one cease enchancment. The lens was additionally upgraded from an F2.8-3.3 to an F2.0-2.4 most aperture, giving as much as one other cease’s headstart over its predecessor. Add to this the bounce from 2.6MP to 4.9MP and it ought to begin to turn into obvious simply how rapidly cameras had been creating, again then, and the way a lot of a leap ahead the F707 should have appeared.

Our assessment acknowledged this, saying “its decision chart (and actual life) outcomes are nothing in need of gorgeous,” earlier than awarding it our Extremely Advisable standing.

Click on right here to learn our authentic Sony DSC-F707 assessment

The sequence would ultimately attain its pinnacle with 2005’s DSC-R1, which moved throughout to an (roughly) APS-C sensor, making it Sony’s first really massive sensor digicam. It had a built-in 24-120mm equiv F2.8-4.8 lens, making it extra versatile than the fashions that preceded it. Its CMOS sensor additionally allowed stay view from a big sensor for the primary time.

However by that stage, Canon had launched the EOS 300D / Digital Insurgent, and the identical $1000 that the R1 value might purchase you an interchangeable lens digicam, with all of the improve ‘alternatives’ that implied. The Insurgent not solely introduced the DSLR to a wider viewers but in addition the necessity to preview the scene by means of an optical path, arguably each limiting and cementing the general public’s thought of what a ‘correct’ digicam appeared like. Together with its transfer to a bigger sensor, the R1 misplaced the hinge between the physique and the lens, heading in direction of the predictable DSLR-alike look that ‘bridge’ cameras settled into.

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-F707 pattern gallery

Pattern gallery
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2024-08-21 14:00:00
Source hyperlink:https://www.dpreview.com/articles/9937002232/on-this-day-2001-sony-launches-dsc-f707

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