Sony Mavica CD500 Review

Before you can start taking pictures you need to initialize the new CD-R or CD-RW disc. These are the screens displayed during initialization which takes less than a minute.

AUTO record mode screen with the shutter release halfway down, the autofocus is locked (green dot icon next to battery time and AF target marks in center turn green), single auto focus mode (SAF), battery has 97 minutes of runtime left, the flash will fire (lightning bolt icon), image size is 5M (2592 x 1944) and quality is Fine, enough disc space is left for 5 pictures, the aperture is F2.2 with a shutter speed of 1/50 second.

In AUTO mode you can only select the RECord mode or the Image Size.

Program AE screen display with a lot of options enabled such as Fluorescent white balance, ISO locked at 100, image sharpness, saturation and contrast are all set to the "+" position. The next frame shows all possible menu options that can be set in the Program AE, Shutter-speed priority, Aperture priority or Manual exposure modes.

Still image record mode options:

Metering Mode - Multi, Center or Spot
White Balance - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Flash or One-Push custom
ISO - Auto or fixed at 100, 200 or 400
Picture Quality - Fine or Standard
Record Mode - Normal, Burst 3, Exposure Bracketing, Email, Voice or TIFF uncompressed
Flash Level - High, Normal or Low
Picture Effect - None, Negative Art, Sepia, B&W, Solarize
Sharpness - Minus, Normal or Plus
Saturation - Minus, Normal or Plus
Contrast - Minus, Normal or Plus

Image Size - 5M 2592x1904, 4.5M (3:2), 3.1M 2048x1536, 1.2M 1280x960, VGA 640x480

Setting the Mode Dial to the "A"perture priority position lets you adjust the aperture value (wideangle: F2, 2.2, 2.5, 2.8, 3.2, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.6, 6.3, 7.1, 8) via the Jog Dial denoted by the blue icon in the lower right and the camera's exposure system will match the appropriate shutter speed (in this case 1.3 seconds).

The aperture controls the depth of field (range of focus), a smaller NUMBER yields a shallow depth of field and a higher number gives you a deeper depth of field. Shallow depth of field is preferred in portraits to blur out the background and when you shoot an outdoor scenic shot you could use F8 to put more in focus.

Setting the Mode Dial to the "S"hutter speed priority positions lets you set a given shutter speed (8 seconds to 1/1000 sec in 40 steps) and the camera will match the appropriate aperture value. You would use a high shutter speed to freeze rapid-moving subjects or use a slower shutter speed to intentionally blur them.

Setting the Mode Dial to "M"anual allows you to adjust both the shutter speed and the aperture value. You press in on the Jog Dial and move it to the shutter speed or the aperture value and press it again to change the setting. The "-1.7EV" readout acts as your exposure meter and lets you know if the current settings will produce an over, under or proper exposure.

The AF zone can be left in the Wide mode or you can press the FOCUS button and adjust the area you are focusing on. Choices are wide, center, left, right, bottom or top.

The focus can be automatic or you can press the FOCUS button a second time and then rotate the command dial to select any one of the following preset distance values: 0.1m, 0.2m, 0.3m, 0.5m, 0.8m, 1m, 1.5m, 2m, 3m, 5m, 7m, 10m, 15m or infinity.

Turning the mode dial to the SCeNe position will allow you to choose one of six pre-programmed exposure modes from the MENU - see the next frame for the available options.

SCeNe mode options:

SCeNe mode - Night, Night Portrait, Landscape, Portrait, Snow, Beach
Metering Mode - Multi, Center or Spot
White Balance - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Incandescent, Flash or One-Push custom
Picture Quality - Fine or Standard
Record Mode - Normal, Burst 3, Exposure Bracketing, Email, Voice or TIFF uncompressed
Flash Level - High, Normal or Low
Picture Effect - None, Negative Art, Sepia, B&W, Solarize

Image Size - 5M 2592x1904, 4.5M (3:2), 3.1M 2048x1536, 1.2M 1280x960, VGA 640x480

The CD500 features the MPEG VX movie mode for capturing motion video at VGA resolution (640 x 480) with audio at 16 frames per second. The length of a movie clip is limited only by available space on the CD disc and plays back full screen on the LCD or TV screen. With a fresh CD you can record up to 5 minutes 54 seconds of VGA size video. For email purposes you can also record at 160 x 112 resolution at 8 frames per second with audio.