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Sony Mavica: Photos on floppy disks!
Dave A's threads on old digital cameras have reminded me that, for the past year or so, I've been futzing around with Sony's Mavica line of digital cameras. For those who aren't familiar with them, the Mavicas used 3.5" floppy disks as their storage medium, which came in handy back when pretty much all computers were still equipped with floppy disk drives, since solid-state memory was still expensive at the time, and transferring photos from most early digital cameras to your computer using a (non-USB) serial cable was slow and tedious. The first Digital Mavica models, MVC-FD5 and FD7, were introduced in 1997; the last models, MVC-FD100 and FD200, were introduced in 2002 and, as a sign of the future of digital photography, were also equipped with MemoryStick slots.
Anyway, on with the cameras! I'll start off with the first Mavica model I found, which was also one of their best (spec-wise), the MVC-FD91 from 1998: I'm pretty sure the lens setup was borrowed from their Handycam line of 8mm camcorders, as it sports both 14x optical zoom and "SteadyShot" vibration resistance. The sensor is capable of 1024x768 resolution, as crowed by one of the various colorful stickers stuck to the housing, and each floppy disk generally holds 6-7 photos at the highest quality settings. The image quality isn't that great, even by Mavica standards, but it's definitely a capable camera, and the old F330/F550 "InfoLithium" battery packs still manage to hold a decent charge 20+ years on. Here are some example photos: (more photos from the same convention taken with the FD91 can be found here) More soon! -Adam
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Visit my site! Stereo: Pioneer SPEC-4, Pioneer SPEC-1, Kenwood KT-7500, Dual 1219, Nakamichi BX-100, Pioneer PD-M60, Paradigm Studio Monitors |
#2
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I'm shocked Sony actually used a standard storage medium! Those pictures are excellent for 1998, imo.
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#3
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First 5 years of my digital camera life 2000 - 2005 was with an FD-91. Still have it. Don't think I have a battery that will work it though. Anyone with a hankerin' for one let me know!
Couple of pics from the races at TMS back in 2005. The wide one is two I put together. |
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There's one of the basic ones available on Columbus OH craigslist right now...
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#5
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Seen one in a flea market, but didn't bought it. It was only the camera.
But I'm glad to see that some one bought one Off-topic: what are those Pyramids? There where some pro cameras back then that made better digital image, but the price was above the reach of ordinary consumer, even in U.S.A. You could put some money for house buying in stad of buying a camera. |
Audiokarma |
#6
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I've seen some mavicas pass through the local Goodwill. But I know it would be a forgotten knick knack in a month. The FedEx Kinko's in Lakeland FL had one they used for IIRC passport photos a good 12 years ago.
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Tom C. Zenith: The quality stays in EVEN after the name falls off! What I want. --> http://www.videokarma.org/showpost.p...62&postcount=4 |
#7
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I dug out my FL-91 today and shot a few pix. I forgot how good it was for the time.
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“Once you eliminate the impossible...whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Sherlock Holmes. |
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Sony made earlier use of the Mavica name for an instructional device, which apparently was not marketed.
jr |
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Sony also had one that recorded on 3" CD-RW as I recall.
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#10
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Quote:
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As for the 'pyramid' photo, those are two Time Pyramids flanking an Alien Clock. One of the Time Pyramids doesn't keep good time, but the array sure looks neat, I think. Just a few of the many clocks in my collection..... Quote:
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With regards to batteries, I've had fairly good luck with the original Sony 'InfoLithium' packs, but there are several companies selling reproductions like this which work fairly well. Some of the offerings like this also include a battery charger, which comes in handy if the original has gone missing, which seems to be fairly common with Mavicas for some reason. Quote:
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Correct. Of course, that would be rather stretching the meaning of "Mavica", given that it originally(?) stood for MAgnetic VIdeo CAmera, but whatever floats their boat... -Adam
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Visit my site! Stereo: Pioneer SPEC-4, Pioneer SPEC-1, Kenwood KT-7500, Dual 1219, Nakamichi BX-100, Pioneer PD-M60, Paradigm Studio Monitors Last edited by AdamAnt316; 07-17-2020 at 09:02 PM. |
Audiokarma |
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Dind't realized that Mavica it's an acronym.
@ Dave_A : That railway agency is still in operation? |
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Quote:
I've added a few more from TMS in 2005. The guy in the light blue T-shirt is me about 40 lbs heavier and 15 years younger(!) geezzz... The bag on my shoulder was for carrying the camera, batteries and extra floppy discs. Last edited by Ed in Tx; 07-18-2020 at 09:04 AM. |
#13
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btw I have a "new in the box" a 3.5" drive for that camera, Sony 1-759-679-11 just in case I needed one someday. It is available.
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#14
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Another "btw"... The Sony FD91 also took great macro closeups. I see "SPEC-4" in your list. I own two SPEC-4s, consecutive serial numbers. One of them blew up back in 2011. I've attached a couple of pics taken with the FD91 of weak cracked solder connections on the main amp board that fried. Before you turn on your SPEC-4 again I would highly recommend you go through it and re-solder everything! Then scrub off all the old brown nasty looking flux from the boards with a toothbrush and alcohol. Clean'em up good. All the boards in both of mine had cracked solder connections. The one that blew took out resistors, finals, drivers, other small transistors and diodes.
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#15
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Along similar lines, Sony also made a MiniDisc camera, as seen in this e-bay listing:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sony-Hi-MD-...0f65d61780169b I don’t think that they applied the Mavica name to this device, although the MD was a magnetic/optical media. not affiliated, jr |
Audiokarma |
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