Sony Mavica FD75 – Floppy Disk Magic

Posted: 8/10/2023

Summary

I first used a Sony Mavica in the late 90’s for work, and had to decide between one “hi-res” uncompressed photo per disc, (and carrying a heap of disks), or lower the resolution to fit a few more pictures on each disk. I argued that the uncompressed bitmap had higher resolution (better), but a colleague said that the lower resolution Email (320 x 240 JPG) setting meant more pictures (but you would lose a lot of detail). We compromised on Normal (640x480)-JPG at Fine for about 15 pictures per disk.

Thankfully we can now store many hundreds of gigabytes on a microSD card and can use max res for everything without worrying.

Oh, there was also the issue of taking a photo and then the floppy drive would scream and whir as it saved the picture...not very discreet!

Year of release

2001 – can you believe the same year that a floppy disk camera was being sold was the same year the first Harry Potter movie was released! (The Philosophers/Sorcerers Stone) and the first Lord of the Rings (Fellowship). Oh, and Monsters Inc, Shrek, Oceans Eleven, The Mummy returns (don’t mention MonkeyBone!), Memento, Driven, Evolution, Lara Croft, The Fast and the Furious, AI, Cats and Dogs, Rat Race, Zoolander, Donnie Darko, Amelie, Shallow Hal, Royal Tenenbaums, The Majestic, and Spirited Away! 2001! Floppy Disks still a thing! And all these awesome movies.

2001 - 9/11 :( and the world changed forever, the Buddhas of Bamiyan were destroyed :(, The Odyssey arrived on Mars (phew), and Windows XP was released alongside Mac OS X, and HALO: Combat Evolved (which I still play to this day!)

Specs:

Film or Pixels	0.3 MP - 4.5 mm (1/4 type) CCD (progressive scan)
Max Resolution	640 x 480 – 4:3
Type	10x Zoom lens – 3 1/2” floppy disk storage – 1.44 MB
Auto or Manual	auto exposure, auto focus, manual exposure (shutter priority, aperture priority) and auto white balance
Lens / Aperture	40 – 400 mm F/1.8 – 2.9 (4.87 crop factor)
Image Stabilisation	No
Shutter Speed	1/60 – 1/4000 sec
Self Timer	Yes :) 10 seconds
Exposure Comp’n	+/- 1.5 EV (½ stops)
Viewfinder	Nope, screen only
Screen	Fixed – 2 1/2” - 84k pixel
Macro focus	Automatic macro – no manual focus - 1cm
ISO / ASA	100
Flash	Yes
Power / Battery	1x Sony NP-F330
Weatherproof	No
Dimensions	138 x 103 x 62 mm
Weight	580g, ~600g with battery and floppy disk

4 pre-programmed special effects: sepia, black & white, negative art and solarize (intense light)

Program AE: soft portrait, sports, beach & ski, sunset & moon, landscape, panfocus

Link to the manual: https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/res/manuals/3066/30665441M.pdf

Lens

Zoom lens from 40 to 400 mm. 40mm f/1.8 – bright, but 40mm is quite narrow for landscapes.

Viewscreen

Tiny and lo-res, but it works :)

Pros

Not bad pics, would go in the “Weird and Wonderful” category rather than a daily-carry

Nice to hold, buttons in the right places

Cons

Who has a floppy drive nowadays! (I do)

Rating

It’s good, and I still enjoy using it

Film or Pixels / Storage

3 1/2” Floppy Disks

Ergonomics

it’s a bit big, but not too bad

Buttons and Controls:

Top	Shutter release – half press to focus
Bottom	Tripod socket
Front	Flash and self timer “blinking lamp”
Sides	Floppy Disk receptacle, with Disk Eject lever on the back
Back	Lots of buttons: LCD Screen Zoom lever Power on/off switch LCD +/- Brightness Battery compartment Flash button and lamp Play/Camera switch Picture Effect button Program AE button Display button Control button Disk Access lamp Disk Eject lever

Ease of use

Pretty easy – auto most things

Image Quality

good for such a small size

Image Samples

I don’t have any old school photos, but here’s one I took recently

and to show that .3mp is still useable, here’s a pano (with Hugin – which I’ll do a Guide for)

 

Final thoughts

Weird and Wonderful, fun to use

Video

it doesn’t do “video”, as such, but does “MULTI” which is like video, but images are continuously recorded as 1 file each at a rate of about 1 every 0.25 seconds. You can play them back on the LCD screen, continuously “like an animated slide show (Only once)” but when played on another machine, “only 1 image will be displayed.”

Shutter Sound

hmm – with the floppy drive grinding away – I’ll make a recording

Kodak Advantix T550 – aka last ditch effort to pretend digital wasn’t a thing

Posted: 5/10/2023

Summary

I wanted something small and pocketable, and digital wasn’t quite a thing just yet (was just around the corner though) so I grabbed a little APS film camera on sale. it’s the perfect size and weight, with a fixed 28mm lens, and does panoramas :) It’s a great little camera, and took some lovely photos with it.

 

Year of release

1999 – Office Space! (make sure you have filled out a TPS cover sheet), the Columbine High School massacre :(, Y2K, Napster, Brendan Fraser in Blast from the Past (oh, and The Mummy & Dudley Do Right). The world was horrified by Jar Jar, perplexed by The Sixth Sense, Being John Malkovich, and The Matrix! Bicentennial Man was also released, … and I’d moved to the Windows PC world from MS-DOS, the C=Amiga, C=128 and the VIC-20 carefully stored in a cupboard. The EOS 630 was a bit of a pain to travel with due to the size hence the T550

 

A bit lighter than the last two!

 

Specs:

Film or Pixels	Advanced Photo System (APS) film – IX240 – 24mm C (Classic) 25.1 x 16.7 mm, 3:2  H (HDTV) 30.2 x 16.7 mm, 16:9 P (Panoramic) 30.2 x 9.5 mm, 3:1
Type	Fixed lens compact
Auto or Manual	Auto – pretty much everything
Lens / Aperture	28mm f/3.5
Image Stabilisation	No
Shutter Speed	1/4 -1/500 sec, Auto
Self Timer	Yes :) 10 seconds
Viewfinder	Real image
Film Advance	Auto
Film Retract	Automatic rewind, mid-roll rewind possible.
ISO / ASA	ISO 50 to 1600 – DX coded
Flash	Yes, Kodak Sensalite
Power / Battery	1x CR2 Lithium
Weatherproof	Yes – weather resistant
Dimensions	92 x 62 x 34 mm
Weight	121g, 138g with battery and film

APS film is not to be confused with APS Digital even though APS Digital used the C and H references to highlight the digital sensor size...even though no-one would remember the APS film sizes. Anyway, APS-C (Sony, Nikon, Pentax) , APS-H (Canon)

APS film also included a magnetic data strip to store data from the camera: print format, number of prints, title, and exposure information.

APS film was designed to remain in the cartridge, and the cartridge has an indicator for “empty”, “not full”, “full”, and “developed”. Some APS cameras allowed a user to load and unload/reload film so you could swap films mid-roll (yes some 35mm cameras allowed you to rewind and leave the leader out but you had to manually advance the film to the next available shot, and might not get it right, or double expose over an already exposed frame). APS film loaded/unloaded into the canister with no leader, but required additional equipment to process (now they just break it open and remove the film – so you can still get it developed).

Kodak and Fujifilm both stopped making APS film in 2011. I still have a few rolls, but is quite expired now.

Lens

tiny tiny lens, but good pics from it

 

Viewfinder

It’s soo tiny, but it works :)

 

Pros

Small and light, good pics

Cons

Can’t get APS film for it anymore, and what is on eBay is expired

again, without a battery you can’t do a thing

Rating

It’s good, and I still love using it – really wish they would make a digital equivalent

Film or Pixels / Storage

APS film – which they stopped making in 2011 :( Came in Colour or Monochrome

Ergonomics

it’s small, but perfect for me

Buttons and Controls:

Top	APS C – H – P selector C – Classic – 3:2 H – HDTV – 16:9 P – Panorama – 3:1 Shutter release (nice and smooth)
Bottom	Waaay off centre tripod socket – ridiculously at the very edge of possibility
Front	Lift up flap for the flash/turn it on
Sides	Camera wrist-strap lug, weird Kodak rubbery thing?
Back	Flash, Timer, Date, Title: 01 Birthday 02 Vacation 03 Wedding 04 Graduation 05 Congratulations 06 Christmas 07 Holiday 08 I Love You 09 Party 10 Family

Ease of use

So easy – point and click

Image Quality

good for such a small size

Image Samples

Here’s one from the 1999’s, 

 

and here’s some I took recently with the film that was still in it when I dug it out of storage (about 20 years in the camera!) (and a LOT of post work to get them presentable!)

Final thoughts

I really like this camera, used it a lot

Video

it doesn’t do video, unless you consider 36 frames of click-whir to be video

Shutter Sound

Really nice – but you need batteries – no manual override – I’ll make a recording

Old School Panoramas – literally Cut and Paste

Posted: 1/10/2023

Summary

Whilst I was going through some old photo albums to find old pics for examples of the EOS 630, I was reminded of the OS way of doing panoramas – take a series of photographs from the same focal plane (this is why cameras have a Focal Plane Mark :) and then literally cut and paste them into a photo album (Pretty sure these were all taken with the Cylon (Olympus):

 

I’ve run a few through Hugin (software to stitch panoramas together – I’ll do a video on how to use it) with the results:

 

Canon EOS 630 – Electro-Optical System @ the son of the 650... (which was used to take the first photo uploaded to the Internet)

Posted: 1/10/2023

Summary

The next camera I had, which I thoroughly researched before getting. My step-dad was working in Japan and on one of his trips he picked this up duty-free, with a couple of Lens’s ;) Thanks mate, and still works … well, all my cameras still work, so kinda superflous to keep saying – but if you start reading at this one, or the next one, or the n+10 one then I will have to say it because it could be the first one you read :)

@ the EOS 630 – the son of the 650 which was used to take the first photo uploaded to the Internet

Year of release

1989 – the year commercial internet providers started (the internet? Just a fad!) and the World Wide Web became a thing. The Exxon Valdez ran aground, which also resulted in a treasure trove of emails still being used for digital forensic research to this day. The fall of the Berlin Wall, the Hillsborough Stadium :( and the demonstration in Tiananmen Square … and I was coding on a C-128, the VIC-20 carefully stored in a cupboard. Happily snapping with the Cylon, but wanting more control over shutters and apertures and such.

 

A bit heavier than the last two!

Specs:

Film or Pixels	35mm – 24 x 36 mm – 3:2 ratio
Type	SLR
Auto or Manual	Auto – pretty much everything – or manual – pretty much everything
Lens / Aperture	Canon EF (Electro-Focus) lens mount, with a LOT of lenses available (now – in 2014 Canon says they made the 100-millionth EF lens!))
Image Stabilisation	No (well, not on the camera, but you can get on EF lenses – Canon were the first to make a lens with IS, in 1995)
Shutter Speed	30 sec to 1/2000 sec, Auto and Manual control
Self Timer	Yes :) with blinking LED (kinda like the Cylon, but only for self-timer)
Viewfinder	Pentaprism, 0.8x mag – 94% coverage
Film Advance	Auto, 5 fps in one-shot, or 2.5 fps in servo mode
Film Retract	Automatic rewind, mid-roll rewind possible, option to leave out the leader
ISO / ASA	ISO 6 to 6400 – DX coded 25-5000, 6! ISO 6! where can I get some of this?!? (here!)
Flash	Yes, quite a flash unit ;) but, seriously, Hot Shoe: I had a few Canon flash units over time, but don’t use flash very much, so haven’t really focussed on flashy flashies
Power / Battery	1x 2CR5 Lithium
Weatherproof	no
Dimensions	148 x 108 x 68 mm
Weight	670g, 993g with battery and 35-70 (kit) lens

Based on the EOS 650 (circa 1987) which was the camera used to take the first photo uploaded to the World Wide Web thing in 1992 - The first photo on the Internet. Oh, interesting story there too The story of The first photo on the Internet

Lens’s

I got the kit 35-70mm-f/3.5-4.5 with the camera, and a telephoto zoom 100-300mm f/5.6 (not the L version, i.e. pushme-pullme thermos).

The 35-70 was quite good, got some decent pictures with it. The 100-300 was a bit of a struggle, 100 isn’t too bad, but really soft at 300. And, as I discovered, not as good on a digital SLR compared to a film SLR.

I later got a nifty-50 f/1.8 II (awesome pic quality for not much $$) and then a 28mm f/1.8 Ultrasonic prime, also awesome picture quality and wider than the nifty and the 35-70.

I picked up a Cosina 19-35mm/3.5-4.5 which was ultra wide, but I don’t remember putting any film through it – as soon afterwards I got a G1 and the world of digital snaps opened up (i.e. you can take a heap of pictures, see them on the screen, and not have to wait to get them developed!)

I recently got some L (Luxury) glass (17-35) and I’m itching to use the 630 with it, and also a Holga lens with EF mount – keen to see the results with that too!

Viewfinder

No diopter adjust (you can buy correction lenses). AF marker, in focus – metering circle, shutter speed, aperture, flash indicator.

Pros

Like the Cylon, I used it for many many years, learning more about photography, the triangle (shutter, Aperture, ISO – TxAvISO), light, multi exposure, etc.

Cons

without a battery you can’t do a thing

Rating

It’s good, and I still love using it – Pixels and Megapixels date, film never does – it’s always 35mm

Film or Pixels / Storage

35mm film – which you can still get – and ISO 6!

Ergonomics

it’s big and not-as chunky

Buttons and Controls:

Top	LCD Display (Shutter, Aperture, AF, Film, Mode, Bracketing, Multi, Battery, etc) Shutter release, Input dial, Main switch, Ev, Multiple Exposure, Mode button - P mode select: P1=Standard, P2=Quickshot, P3=Landscape up to P7
Bottom	Tripod socket – perfect in the centre of the lens, as it should be!
Front	Depth of Field preview, manual aperture.
Sides	Camera strap lugs, film door opening latch
Back	Top – LCD display illumination button and Partial metering button Bottom behind a panel: Film rewind button AF mode selector: Film wind selector and Self timer Battery check

Ease of use

Can be really easy – point and click (and no more blinding red light!) or you can take full control

Image Quality

Depends on the lens (as is the case for every cam).

I took some great images with this, and was what I used when I did the photographics course/s: lighting, composition, developing, enlarging, film, etc.

I have a few lenses, 35-70, 100-300, nifty 50, 28mm, and some L glass :) I’ll cover these in a separate post (when I get access to full-frame Canon Digital SLR – film gets $$$$ but I will run some through the 630 - promise)

Image Samples

Final thoughts

I really like this camera, used it a lot

Video

it doesn’t do video, unless you consider 36 frames of click-auto wind @ 5fps to be video

Shutter Sound

Really nice – but you need batteries – no manual override – I’ll make a recording