Sony Mavica: Photos on floppy disks!

[AdamAnt316]

Originally Posted by dishdude

I'm shocked Sony actually used a standard storage medium! Those pictures are excellent for 1998, imo.

Given that Sony invented the 3.5" floppy disk in the first place, they probably saw it as justified. As for the quality, it's definitely lacking in low-light situations as evidenced in this photo, but does a pretty good job overall.

Originally Posted by Telecolor 3007

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?

I've bought four of them so far, all at flea markets and thrift stores. One of them doesn't work (drive issues), but the other three work splendidly for what they are.
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.....

Originally Posted by Electronic M

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.

Yeah, the Mavica line was very popular with insurance companies, realtors, and other businesses. I believe the last two models were in production for at least a couple of years after the end of the format due to that fact.

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

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.

Those photos look pretty good! My first 'digital capture' device around 2002 was a Panasonic VHS camcorder tethered to a Snappy Video Snapshot device, later replaced a few years later by a Kodak 'EasyShare' camera which I found at a flea market. I remember hearing much about the Mavica line, but didn't come across one for sale until last year.

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.

Originally Posted by Chip Chester

There's one of the basic ones available on Columbus OH craigslist right now...

Yep, they're still out there, as are the disks. And even the basic models can be kinda fun to mess with, since they included a button to apply 'picture effects' to the photos being taken. More on that later.

Originally Posted by Dave A

I dug out my FL-91 today and shot a few pix. I forgot how good it was for the time.

Very nice! I've been getting quite a bit of use from these Mavicas as of late. Seems much more convenient to transfer from floppies directly into the computer than to use an SD card and have to deal with the associated photo library program. Not quite sure why that is.

Originally Posted by jr_tech

Sony made earlier use of the Mavica name for an instructional device, which apparently was not marketed.



jr

Interesting! I'm guessing that those 'Mavicards' are predecessors of their 2" "Mavipak" disks, also known as the "Video Floppy" format used with the original 1981 Mavica prototype, and later models like this one. Unlike the Mavica models from the late '90s, the earliest models were not digital, but rather were actually 'still video cameras', recording single frames of analog video onto the video floppies in concentric rings. I'm guessing the "Mavicard" model was an attempt at an early magnetic video disk using similar ideas. Any idea what size those 'cards' were?

Originally Posted by Eric H

Sony also had one that recorded on 3" CD-RW as I recall.

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