All of the photographs on this site, with the exception of the cover page photo, were taken with one of the two Sony Mavica cameras that I own. I have two camera models: the FD-71 and the CD-1000; they both work great, but the CD-1K is the best. The FD-71 is almost two years old now; it only has 640x480 resolution. This is fine for web photos, but poor for print or even large viewing on the screen. After about a year and a half into owning the FD-71, I desparetley yearned for higher resolution. Not only would this allow me to print my photos, but it would allow for clearer, sharper pictures, too. The CD-1000 was the definate answer to this; it has 2.1 megapixel resolution (1600x1200), which allows great prints up to an 8x10 size.
The hallmark of the Mavica cameras is their storage medium. Most cameras use CompactFlash or other memory cards. This adds an a problem; to put your images on a computer, you must either "download" them from the camera, or get an external card reader. Also, the media is very expensive: over $100 for a 128 MB card. The Mavica line, on the other hand, uses the cheap and flexible floppy disk, which 99.9% of computers world wide can access. The floppy disk worked great on the FD-71; it allowed you to get 40-50 pictures per disc at a cost of less that a quarter. When you finished a disk, you simply popped it out and inserted a new one. At the time of the FD-71, Floppy Disk was the best storage choice. However, with the advent of Higher resolution, the number of pictures stored per disk dwindled to almost 7. Clearly, a replacement for the floppy disk was in dire need.
Enter the CD-1000. This Mavica writes data to a 3 inch "Mini CD-R" that will allow you to store about 150 high-res. pictures on a disk. Disks can be read in almost any CD-R drive running Adaptec's Direct CD software. Alternitively, you can "Finalize" the disk in-camera, which will allow you to use it in nearly any CD-ROM drive around the world. And, by purchasing disks in bulk, you can get the price down to 79 cents per disks, which is basicly the same price that you paid for floppies (.25 times 40 images per disk floppy, .79 times 150 images per disk CD). Sony has found a great, cheap replacement to the older Mavica's F.D.
IN RELATION TO THIS SITE: All of the R2K images from 2000 were taken with the FD-71. They are unaltered, so what you see is what the camera took. Because of size limits, I will not be putting general CD-1000 images on this site. I will put some images up, but most of my images will be located on Sony's ImageStation. As soon as I have a fairly decent collection online, I will post the link here. I will also put some of this year's R2K pictures here, and any other pictures that give input into my life.
UPDATE 5/23/2001: I have added a link to my Mavica "General" album on Sony ImageStation on the main Page. Or, click the button Below.