Sony CyberShot D700
Review

(Many thanks to Mike Chaney, the author of Qimage Pro, for loaning me his Sony D700 for this review)

Sony's CyberShot Pro D700 is definitely the "king of the hill" of the sub-$2000 digital cameras. Newer digicams may be topping the 2 megapixel mark these days but the 1.5 megapixel D700 has got it all!

(Note that the D700 has been replaced by the newer DSC-D770)

True SLR with a big optical viewfinder, a huge 2.5-inch color LCD, 5X zoom lens with manual focus and zoom control, variable ISO 100-400, builtin popup flash or external "clip on" strobes with the hot shoe mount, 1/2-inch 1.5 million square-pixel progressive scan CCD, JPG or TIF image capture (1344 x 1024 pixels), ATA Type II memory card (CompactFlash, SmartMedia or MemoryStick cards in PCMCIA adapter too) and it's powered by the infamous Sony InfoLITHIUM rechargable battery.

This is a color LCD in the tradition of Sony camcorders -- it's a 2.5-inch diagonal screen that's bright enough to be readable anywhere except in absolutely direct sunlight and even then it is usable to a certain degree.

The user controls have been ergonomically placed on the camera but the light gray color of the body does not mix well with the white lettering used to mark the buttons. Sony made the newer D770's body a darker gray color to solve this minor problem. Once you learn what button does what you really don't need to be reading labels anyway.

A perfectly flat bottom, metal tripod socket and a battery door that is accessible when used on most tripods.

Don't expect to take this camera anywhere unless you are prepared to become a salesman for Sony -- its cool looks attracts attention faster than a red Ferrari going three hundred miles an hour!

The D700 has the largest focal length zoom of any camera in its class except for its 2MPixel brother, the new Sony DSC-F505 which also sports a 5X zoom (and that one is a Carl Zeiss!) The 700's lens is a F2-2.4, 5.2-26mm (35mm equiv 28-140mm) optical zoom with 13 elements in 10 groups. Threaded for 62mm filters. The minimum object distance is 20cm in all focal lengths, macro is automatic.

Technical detail on the aperture: F2-11 (Wide), F2.4-11 (Tele) in 21 steps.

You say you want real manual control?   Well, here it is!   Just like that found on most 35mm cameras, a manual zoom and manual focusing ring.

Sony DSC-D700 Specifications