The FD75 carries on the tradition of the original FD7 Mavica and the one thing that ties all of them together is the 3-1/2" floppy disk drive. Millions of people have enjoyed the ability to shoot a picture, place the diskette in their computer and then instantly see the results. No special cables or software is needed and that's the real beauty of it.

You can get incredibly close to your subject without even moving thanks to the 10x optical zoom lens. If this lens was on a 35mm film camera it would be a 40-400mm focal length, now that's a telephoto!  Filters can be easily attached thanks to the 37mm threads on the lens.

Besides the long focal length, it's a fast lens. The maximum aperture is F1.8 which makes the FD75 a good performer even in dim lighting conditions.   I am constantly amazed at how rarely the flash is ever needed.

The auto focus system works continually and lets you go from several inches to infinity without a special "macro" mode. In fact, the closeup capability is very impressive.

This is the menu of options available during Record mode. It's pretty straight forward, the FD75 does not have the multitude of options found in some of the other Mavicas. The RECORD MODE lets you capture uncompressed bitmap (BMP) if the diskette has enough room left for them. The EMAIL mode will generate smaller 320x240 sized images that are easier to "modem" to friends. The QUALITY setting gives you 640x480 size images in Standard or Fine JPEG compression levels. The FLASH LEVEL gives you some control over the output intensity of the flash. The FILE NUMBER options makes the camera reset the file numbers on each diskette or it can also keep sequentially numbering your images over many diskettes.

Just as the floppy drive is a standard Mavica feature, so is the "L" series Sony InfoLITHIUM rechargeable battery. The NP-F330 is supplied with the camera along with the BC-V615 external charger. You can also use the NP-F530 or NP-F550 battery packs. The amount of battery time remaining is displayed on the LCD so you never have to wonder when it needs to be recharged.

Steve's Conclusion

It's not full of whiz-bang features that you don't need - or understand. In fact I doubt that most users will ever access the menu for anything other than formatting a floppy. You just point and shoot, that's what it's all about. You don't have to be a camera expert or even read the manual to get good pictures out of the FD75. All you need to do is make sure that the battery is charged and remember to stick a fresh floppy in the disk drive. Composing your picture on the huge 2-1/2 inch color LCD is easy and fun, it's just like using a camcorder.

The 640x480-pixel VGA resolution images are OK for onscreen or web page use but they aren't big enough for making prints any larger than average "drug store" size (4x6") prints. Unlike most other digital cameras the FD75 does not have a video output feature for displaying pictures on a TV set and it does not capture motion video sequences. If this suits your needs then you'll probably be satisfied with the FD75's pictures, if not, check out the higher resolution Mavicas or the CyberShot cameras. Many people may not care for the size or bulk of these cameras -- check out the new Sony DSC-P30 or DSC-P50 if you'd like higher resolution in a smaller, lighter, pocket-size camera.