Sony DSC-F88 Review

The screen display when in the AUTO (point-n-shoot) mode. Minimal information is displayed and only a few parameters such as image size or recording mode can be changed. Upper left is the battery level that's constantly displayed. The image size is "5.0M"egapixels, the image folder is 101, there's 85 shots left and in the center are the AF target marks. The AF-illuminator is enabled and the focus mode is SingleAF.

Here's a "busy" Program AE mode screen. I have manually set the white balance to fluorescent, flash power is on low, focus and metering is spot, the color saturation, contrast and sharpness are on the "+" setting, and the exposure compensation is +0.3EV. All of this information can be cleared off the screen by pressing the Monitor button.

Pressing the Monitor button will enable the live histogram display. And you can see the AF target marks are green to indicate the focus is locked and the shutter speed and aperture is being displayed because we have the shutter half-pressed.

The Manual exposure mode lets you adjust both the shutter speed and aperture, the metering system "aids" you in correctly adjusting these values by displaying the exposure value.

Macro and Magnifying Glass (close-up) focus modes allow you to shoot subjects much closer than normal. The focus range in Macro is from 3.1 inches to infinity and Magnifying Glass is 0.4 inches to infinity.

After a picture has been captured it can be quickly reviewed by pressing "Left" on the 4-way controller.

Record options (in other than Auto mode):

Exposure Compensation - Offset the auto metering by +/-2.0EV in 1/3EV steps

Focus - Multi AF, Center AF or fixed at 0.5m, 1m, 3m, 7m or infinity

Metering - Multi-pattern (default) or Spot

White Balance - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent or Incandescent

ISO - Auto or fixed at 100, 200, 400

Picture Quality - Fine or Standard

Record Mode - Normal, Burst or Multi Burst
(The MultiBurst mode lets you record sixteen frames at high speed. The capture rate is selectable for 7.5fps, 15fps or 30fps via the menu. These 320x240 images are merged into one 1280x960 finished image. When the image is played in-camera it is animated in sequence.)

Burst Rate - 7.5/15/30 frames per second (only when Multi Burst is active)

Flash Level - High, Normal or Low

Picture Effect - None, Sepia or B&W

Saturation - Default is 0 but may be + or -

Contrast - Default is 0 but may be + or -

Sharpness - Default is 0 but may be + or -

The DSC-F88 also has ten pre-programmed scene modes available when the Mode Dial is turned to the SCN position: Twilight, Twilight Portrait, Landscape, Soft Snap, Candle, Snow, Beach, Fireworks, High Speed Shutter, and Magnifying Glass. Novice users can get even better looking pictures in less than "normal" conditions by using these scene modes.

When you turn the Mode Dial it displays a "virtual mode dial" on the LCD screen.

The recording screen in the 640x480 VX (16.6 fps) movie mode. You can also record movies in the lesser Video Mail 160 x 112 (8.3fps) resolution. The length of recording is limited only by the space available on the Memory Stick in either mode. Audio is also recorded in both modes thanks to the built-in mic.

Movie mode options:

Exposure Compensation - Offset the auto metering by +/-2.0EV in 1/3EV steps

Focus - Multi AF, Center AF or fixed at 0.5m, 1m, 3m, 7m or infinity

Metering - Multi-pattern (default) or Spot

White Balance - Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Fluorescent or Incandescent

Picture Effect - None, Sepia or B&W

Image Size - 640 Fine, 640 Standard, 160 e-mail