Sony Mavica MVC CD350 3.2 MP Digital Camera - Black Silver

I am not an avid photographer, and by no means an expert at digital camera reviews, but I have owned this Mavica CD350 for over a year now, so I will share my experiences with it. The camera is well made, as we have given it a rough go for a year and it has held up to our tests, even being dropped a couple of times. It is very bulky, but that was to be expected considering it has to have room for an entire mini CD-R or CD-RW to fit inside, and the processing muscle to read and write to it. I have large hands, so this camera is a good fit for me, but my wife tends to think it is oversized for most other users, and when using the MPEG video function, it does tend to get a little heavy. One of the primary reasons we decided to get this camera is the ample storage provided by the CD-R and CD-RW discs. Consistantly high prices for memory sticks were also another reason that we decided to pay a little more for this mid-range camera. This fact alone has made the camera very affordable over the course of the year that we've owned it. Instead of having to upload and erase from our memory stick(s), we basically just take out the CD-R, place in another, format, and bang, we're ready for 100 more pictures. The most impressive thing to me is that by default, I suppose, most computer CD-Rom drives will read the mini CD-R discs just like they are regular Compact discs. This works well, considering the CD350 Mavica has one of the slowest upload rates of any camera (or any USB-based device) I've ever used. My computer is cutting-edge and built for graphically-heavy computing, and it takes the Mavica upwards of 20 minutes to upload a full disc of pictures through the USB port, which is insanely too much time. Aside from the laggy USB upload speed, Sony included an intuitive little CD-R adaptor that you can use to play the mini-discs in a regular CD-ROM drive. As I previously stated, most computers I've used will read the disc without this adaptor, but just in case, this little device will help you out. It's basically just the size of a standard CD-Rom, with a donutesque hole in the middle where you can pop-in-place your mini-disc, and there you go.

The functionality of the camera is fair. The camera is very capable of taking very high quality pictures in ideal lighting and still-life situations, but if the light is a bit off, or the object moves just a hair during shooting, then some "ghosting" occurs. This is remedies somewhat by having a nice flash, but not enough to make it annoying at time. The zoom has always been a sore spot as well. Anything withing 2 feet, and you can't get it to focus. Again, I'm not an expert and maybe this is how it should be, but I've had disposable digitals that have taken better closeups. For the price of this camera, it gets the job done for taking good pictures of Ebay items, cars, mountains, and scenery, but I wouldn't give it 2 thumbs up if you're looking for ease and speed of upload, action pictures, or very impressive zoom capabilities. It's tough and durable though, and the mini-discs are a great money-saver over time.

I've had Sony Mavica CD Cams since they came on market. I love them because of the CD enabling quick and easy storage and viewing on PC. The main fault with these cams are the slow speed of focus. You won't be getting great action shots, or speedy click-click from pic to pic. slow in turning on as well. But if you plan ahead you'll get great pics/ better than the low #pixels seem to indicate in fact. We paid $1500 for our first Mavica CD cam. So price has come down which makes that a great factor as well. Some folks won't like the size as it is large and a bit bulky. But for me bigger seems better for steady holding and clear shots.

I bought this camera on Ebay (at a fraction of the original cost) to replace a Sony MVC CD350 I had bought new for $499 which was stolen last year when my car was broken into. I used the first Sony CD350 on three trips to Europe and took some priceless movies and pics of my husband's mother who has since passed away. This camera takes great pics and movies and easy to use. I have several smaller, slimmer digital cameras but still love this Sony-even thought it a lot bulkier and heavier than the newer dig cameras. I also use if in my business and would highly recommend this camera to anyone. One of my employees has bought the same style camera on ebay after he saw the quality of pictures I took !! For the money, this is a fantastic camera and I look forward to using it a long time !!!

I LOVE this camera! It is so easy for anyone to use. The CD just pops right into my computer to download my ebay pictures. It has all kinds of features on it. It doubles as a video camera, so you don't have to worry about carrying 2 cameras to a family function.It has 3x zoom which is great. It comes with a Rechargeable Battery Pack, USB Cable,Shoulder Strap, AC Adapter, A/V Connecting cable. All this is standard. This camera is a good overall camera and I would highly recommend it.

The immediate storage to a cd is why I searched for and bought this camera. No buying expensive cards or using up massive storage space on the pc. Pop in a disk and save as you go. My only problem is an occasional freeze up...don't know if it is because I am not using Mavica disks or why. Size is a bit cumbersom. I also purchased optional lenses for zooming and panaramic shots.