The DSC-F828's interface has a whole
new look, and this design will probably start appearing in upcoming
Sony cameras. The redesign makes the interface easier to read,
and the menus look generally consistent across all modes.
The Setup menu, which has its own position on the Mode Dial, is separated
into 5 sections. The first is called Camera 1:
AF mode: selects the way the AF system operates, Single,
Monitor, Continuous.
Digital zoom: selects the Digital Zoom type, Smart,
or Precision.
Date/Time: determines if the date or time will be
permanently recorded atop the images. The options are Day and
Time, Date, or Off.
Redeye reduction: decides whether the flash will fire
pre-flashes to reduce the red-eye effect. Options are On or
Off.
Hologram AF: decides if the camera will turn the Hologram
AF system in low light, On or Off.
Auto Review: displays a just captured image briefly
while it is saving. On or Off.
The second section, Camera 2, is for:
Expanded focus: On or Off. This option controls
whether or not the central portion of the image is expanded
(magnified by 2X) to assist manual focusing.
Hot shoe: makes the hot shoe primary, On or Off.
Pop-up flash: Auto, or Manual.
The third section changes name depending on what card is selected
with the switch on the back of the F828. If a CompactFlash card
is use, the section is called CF Card Tool. If Memory
Stick is use, it is called Memory Stick Tool. In either
case, the options presented are the same:
Format: to format a Memory Stick, or a CompactFlash
card, depending on the switch's position.
Create Rec. Folder: is used to create a new folder
in which photos will be stored.
Change Rec. Folder: serves to switch back
and forth between folders.
The fourth section, Setup 1, provides more basic and
universal settings for the F828:
LCD brightness: is to adjust the monitor: Bright,
Normal, Dark.
LCD backlight: controls the brightness of the backlight:
Bright, Normal.
EVF backlight: controls the brightness of the viewfinder:
Bright, Normal.
Beep: controls the camera sounds. The options are:
Shutter Only, All On, Off.
USB connect: chooses the protocol to use for the
USB 2.0, PictBridge to print directly to a PictBridge-enabled
printer; PTP for Picture Transfer Protocol; and Normal to
have the camera show up as a Mass Storage Device when connected
to a computer.
Video out: selects the video output, NTSC or PAL.
Clock set: sets the time and date on the
F828.
The printed manual provided with the DSC-F828 deserves a special
mention. While it covers just about every aspect of the F828
with the exception of a few details, it could benefit from
a better organization, and in a few instances better explanations.
For example, the Colour modes of the camera (Standard or Real)
are explained as follows:
Standard:
"Shoots to make the resulting shot easier on the eyes.
The image becomes vivid compared to its real color and the
contrast becomes higher."
Real:
"Shoots for faithfulness to the actual texture and
color, which the contrast, brightness, and saturation become
lower. This mode is suitable for modifying the image on a
computer".
Regrettably, although the meaning of the above is bit hard
to fathom, it also seems to us to be misleading. From the photos,
it would appear that it is the Real mode that
should be described as Vivid, not the Standard mode.
Software
Two discs are included with the F828: Pixela's
ImageMixer and Sony's Image Data Converter, the program
necessary to open SRF (Sony Raw Format) files.
ImageMixer provides
editing capabilities for both JPEG and TIFF images. Saturation,
brightness and contrast of images can be modified, and images
can be cropped and re-sized. An auto enhancement feature is also
offered.
Each section of ImageMixer is referred to as an "environment",
which include Capture, Album, Movie Editing, Layout, Image
Editor, Video Disc, and ImageMixer Easy Video.
Video CD — CD-R discs containing
photos that can be seen as a slide show — can be made,
but the CD-R drive must be part of those supported by the software;
and if the disc is to be played back on a DVD player, it too
must support the Video CD format.
The Image Data Converter is exclusively for Windows computers at this time,
but a Macintosh version is expected to be available in early 2004. The
version shown here is version 1.0.
The program's interface
is iconic, but offers basic descriptions through mouse-overs.
The window opens at a fixed size of 800 x 600 pixels, and while
it can be minimized, the widow size cannot be changed.
Image Data converter can only show Sony RAW files, and ignores all
other formats. At launch the program starts by showing RAW photos as thumbnails,
but the editing window presents images at a larger size.
RAW files can be adjusted for
white balance, tone curve level, exposure compensation, saturation,
contrast and hue, and sharpness. Each of these adjustments is
made using a specific pop-up window, and the functions are called
up by clicking on the icons at the top of the screen.
Operations are not particularly fast — even on a fast computer — but
the results are excellent and images can be saved at any one of 5 JPEG
compression settings, or as 8-bit TIFF, or as RAW (SRF).
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Interface & Software
