Sony Mavica floppy disk digital camera

[MixerVM]

On RinkWorks' Computer Stupdities (I dont remember the section), someone has been asked twice if it is safe to remove the floppy disk from the Sony Mavica camera in a lighted room!

[ricky43ist]

Try a close-up with this camera. I believe the battery for the flash is in the front, just below the power switch. I still have the manual with mine. 700.00 plus for this camera, new.

[bakonfreek]

Im getting one with a video mode to use as a "sacrifice" camera since its like $10

[MezashiTheCat]

My school has about 20 or so of these, but they also have a Memory stick slot, and a few of them have 16Mb MS sticks.

[limpidd]

I have one of these.

It's too bulky.

[Messerschmitt262a2a]

:-) "sounds just like a floppy drive in the computer" -> but WHY? xD

[brentkamens]

My grandma has one of these, she still uses it to this day.

[AshleyNerdcore]

its 2011. and my parents got my one of these bcause im interested in photography. i didnt have no idea how to transport photos onto my computer.

[vwestlife]

@AshleyNerdcore You need a floppy disk drive.

[pinnoy]

@AshleyNerdcore Just got myself an FD88 Mavica for fun. I get a kick out of going outside, bringing this vintage cam and getting the looks from people saying, "What's that???"

[Randreash]

A friend of my gave his Mavica. As yours had a dead battery so was the one I have. I too used my Hi-8 battery and it worked. My floppy pops out when you push 2 buttons on the back of the camera via a small slot. Must be an newer model.

[talldude123]

Do the Mavica's have a movie mode? I'd hate to see it, probably awful quality and slow moving!

[vwestlife]

@talldude123 Some do, but not this one.

[GIRlovesWaffles]

@vwestlife The Movie quality isn't so bad, but many early models did not record sound (but the CD Mavica did).

[cmarshall1018]

@vwestlife my FD-81 has video but you can only record up five second at a time

[brhnc]

I sold those when i worked at the WIZ in 97' - "top of the line" they said...yuk back then i could not wait for flash saving in the FUTURE

[Fellj1801]

1:20 the screen says STD

[vwestlife]

@Fellj1801 Std = Standard.

[ricky43ist]

@Fellj1801 On the menu there is a setting for 'Fine'. Still quality is not the best. I bought mine new and it cost 700 dollars plus. He forgot to show the large round battery compartment below the On/Off switch. It also does awesome macro (closeup).

[LaughTonyLaugh]

i just bought a mavica mvc-fd83 with the tags and in the box for 5 bucks

[pauljohn67]

Ha, I remember the Mavica. That thing is the real deal! I would love to take one out as a tourist and ask people to photograph me with it.

[AlcyoneLT]

The cost of flash memory was pretty high back in 1997. I think a 4mb CF cost over $100. Floppy disks on the other hand were practically given away for free. It's cool to see these old things still working.

[funkeworks]

@natzcsparkle Here is your first lesson: It is not a "DSRL", It is a "DSLR", or Digital Single Lens Reflex.

[RickyDanielMerrick]

Awww....this camera gave me my very first experience with digital photography...still have those grainy VGA shots on file...makes me feel as old as a dinosaur. :-)

[WorldGenesis]

I want one :P

[punchmaster123]

*holds up floppy disk*

"I got 1.4 MB of porn loaded up on this bad boy!"

[charvelgtrs]

It's crazy how technology has advanced. That camera is huge and only shoots in 640x480 res. I bet that camera was super expensive when it first came out too.

[MetallicBill]

I bought one from the Goodwill, if you think 1998, better think even earlier, like 94 and 95, when Sony Style was a BIBLE sized Sony Catalog, the Handycam 8mm cams were going strong, but digital camera and computers were also breaking in the Sony tech canon. Mine is a different model, but it did prove working! It won't read floppys not formatted on it though

[DoReMiForever]

I am getting myself one!

[rhebstriet]

I have one like that one but it don't work.

[jjovereats]

i could make a device that stores 1920x1440 images, 5 of them at least, that uses disks of dimensions 3.5 .

[imageingdevice1]

oops i made a mistake the canon rc-260 was not 1988 it was 1991 thats why i though it looked so modern for its age i dont thin sony mavicas came out until 1997 after flash media card i did see some sony mavicas from the 80s but they are proffessional ones not consumer marketed products thet cost thousands not £600 i have this model mavica as well looks realy cool there must have been a reason to market it even though flash media had arrived else they would not have made it thats only sence

[beggbog]

IT WAS NOT OUT THAT LONG BEFORE DIGITAL FLASH MEDIA FOUR YEARS ISNT THAT LONG THESE CAMERA CAME OUT ABOUT 1991 OF WHAT I COULD SEE OF THEM DIGITAL CAMERA FOLLOWED SOON AFTER IN 1994 THEM MAVICAS ARE COOL MACHINES THOUGH IT MUST BE SAID

[imageingdevice1]

i saw a 1988 edition of one of these floppy disc digi cams once the Canon 260 it could amazeingley portray the picture slide show automaticaly through the TV screen just like today and had short movie clips it was not that large in size either amazeingly high tech with built in flash i never knew theses cameras caqme out in the 80s that camera you showed is is very actractive indeed it makes me feel that i should get one its size reeks of prestige like a status symbol

[EpicMan83]

Looks pretty new...

[shawn00]

as if FLOPPY DISK wasnt a good enough hint that this is not a recent camera....

[djaxe32]

old school :D

[theonelinerkid]

i had one ofthese for ages never broke down or anything best camera i had. now its gone

[mrvesteraas]

Nice video!  I remember trying a camera like this around '98.

[ganimed1976]

Those old camera´s are a little obsolete but they are still cool. I have a Sony MaViCa FD5 with a fixed focal length lens and a FD90 with 1.6 MegaPixels and 8x optical zoom. I bought both for about 10 bucks. I realy like those cameras.

I have also an 3.5 inch floppy disk adapter for my Sony MaViCa cameras. That adapter holds a Sony Memory Stick inside. So you can take a picture and the camera stores it directly on that Memory Stick. ;)

btw: MaViCa stands for Magnetic Video Camera

[masticina]

If you don't know the past you don't know the future. It is nice to see these things still work..just you know.

[nathanallan1]

Very cool, a 10X optical zoom is still something nice to have in a camera. Digital zoom is just magnifying the picture that is there. Nice!!

[vantageIIx]

Weird, I remember reading in a comment that you buy many things at a "Unique" thrift store, and I saw this EXACT same camera (along with the same Sharp VHS camcorder, Panasonic camera case, and Panasonic cube speakers) at the Unique thrift store in Levittown, NY...

[flybikes90]

my school had one of this nasty things, actually a shitload.

[flybikes90]

my school had one of this nasty things

[DJDeCiBeL01]

I was on the "web staff" at my high school (from '97 - '01) and we had 3 of these that we used to take pictures of various things for the school's web site. Ahhh, the memories...

[Mr1p0d]

When you took the photo of your camcorder it says 1/1/97. It means that this camera is from 1997

[VinylReelToReel]

@Mr1p0d That is possible, but not sure. Sometimes, a company will not upgrade their camera's software every year. All we know is that this camera uses software first introduced in 1997.

[footinmouthindustrys]

I remember some of my teachers having these when i was in first and second grade, around 1999 and 2000

[Gimmer3]

I loved my Sony Mavica so much. I uesed mine for years to take eBay photos and to take photos to register my sheep. What a thrill it was to go digital and be able to see photos right after you shot them. I build whole websites useing mine. I still have it but now have a much better camera with a digital zoom.

[OTAlucard]

have you figured out how to get the pictures off of the floppy disk cause when i put it into a windows xp machine it seems it wants to format the floppy again

[vwestlife]

@OTAlucard Format the floppy disk on the PC, not the camera. That way it works fine for me.

[OTAlucard]

@vwestlife now ithink there might be a problem with the floppy drive inside the camera its giving me c-13:01 error damn :(

[OTAlucard]

@OTAlucard i am going to take it apart and try to clean the floppy drive part 

[slicker41]

@OTAlucard go to my computer and right click the icon that looks like a floppy and go to explore. GLAD TO HELP! :D

[OTAlucard]

@slicker41 thanks i am going to have to try this out when i get a chance xD

[gabbysbuddy]

I have a different version with 14X zoom - Lens is front mounted like the old camcorder (sticking out!). I get 14 standard pics, 10 fine pics or one bitmap on a floppy!(1.44 Mb) Or one minute sound and video. I can 'voice tag' each pic too! As well as the back screen, it has a viewfinder with a tiny colour CRT!

[Devar]

I remember borrowing one of these and using it on a holiday back in 1999! Or was it 1998.. a long time ago. It was awesome.

[Myheroscape30]

This is really neat.

[plugee]

We had one of these at my elementary school in like 1998. I remember the teacher had to put in another floppy disc after every five photos she took.

It was massive!

[TheRealSamDole]

It shoots at 680x460 pixels, which is about 0.3 megapixels

[vwestlife]

@TheRealSamDole Actually 640x480, VGA resolution.

[TheRealSamDole]

@vwestlife Right of course, had a dyslexic moment :P

[AnthonyGVideos]

Wow, and I thought mine with a CD was old! I sent you a vid response of the same camera, but with a CD.

[Willd86]

This is FD7 model, FD5 hasnt 10x zoom.

[komateroare]

i had a camera like that when it first appear. i made a lot of friends that time because of it. it was incredible at that time how easy u can have a photo on the disk, with no paper and scanner involved. i still keep lots of photos from that period and i`m happy i had this tool to freeze happy moments.

[hateWinVista]

You got be shitting me!

It's really amazing that old digital cameras uses floppy disks.(Not like small memory card that can be stored like 4 MB or 8 MB.)

[peterdevreter]

@hateWinVista a floppy is 1,44mb

[kakureru]

that thing basically is a camcorder that has video capture to disk. the later bigger than VGA ones are the ones that were actual digital cameras.

[spunker88]

I can remember using one of these in school, and they were super expensive. At the time they were one of the easiest ways to get pictures onto a computer. It was also my first experience with a digital camera.

Its hard to imagine that a decade later my cellphone takes better resolution pictures and uses affordable microsd cards.

[TheNascarfan14]

I Have The Same Model They Are Very Good Cameras!

They Are Made To Last A Lifetime!!!!

[artifactingreality]

Schools used to fucking love those shitty floppy drive cameras. Which I never understood as flash memory cards were around at least as long as digital cameras were. Remember Smart Media cards? If Wikipedia is to be believed they were designed as a replacement for floppies and were first marketed in 1995. So there was no excuse for anybody to be selling floppy cams by then.

I suppose schools only wanted them because floppy drives were standard on all their machines but card readers were not.

[asyukiu]

I remember seeing one of these early models of sony DC when I was in elementary school. Watching this video just make me think that in 12 years the technology has been improved so much. Now my cell phones get 8megapixals and 14megapixals cameras on them.

[neocon70]

i remember when this was high end technology. i never owned it but my high school's video production class owned one. i was amazed when i was able to take it home and transfer the pics to my computer. i was astonished!

it would be nice if you could take a picture with it and upload to photobucket to show these young folks how we rolled in the 90's! lol.

[jason24568]

Is this camera was before they used the memory cards?

[vwestlife]

@jason24568 Yes.

[jason24568]

@vwestlife What the mega-pixel of this old digital camera? It could be VGA cams that they did on mobile phones?

[vwestlife]

@jason24568 Sony does not specify the image sensor resolution for this camera, but Sony camcorders which use the same 1/4-inch CCD are rated at 470k pixels, or 0.47 megapixels. The photos it takes are 640x480 VGA resolution in JPG format.

[bakonfreek]

@vwestlife isn't there an original manual on the internets somewhere?

[vwestlife]

@bakonfreek Sony has the manuals for almost everything they ever made on their eSupport web site. Just type in the model number and you'll find it.

[SuperGilberto1977]

@jason24568 who is they?

[moonwalker915]

mine is just from 2000

[moonwalker915]

have this camera its uses floopy wow thats old

[cheetawolf]

i had one of these!

but it fell and the screen blew up. :(

[TheFunkeyChannel]

i think my dad got this

[Zinaa2010]

I have the same one. Bought about 12 years ago. It's just great, and it makes the most fantastic pictures. Guess they don't make them anymore. My regular one Konica Minolta is not as good as this one. But the Mavica was extremely expensive these days, I remember.

[photolabguy]

Awesome video! My best friend had one of these in 1998. I have tons of images here on my computer that were taken back then. 640x480 baby! We had a lot of fun taking pictures with this camera.

[LuigiFan128]

I had one, It stoped reading disks tho

[MyValeria23]

piece of shit, my computer doesn't even have a floppy disk drive

[vwestlife]

@MyValeria23 So?  This camera is 12 years old. If you're looking for something more modern, you shouldn't have wasted your time watching this video.

[tasmith1969]

I've got a MVC-FD87 that works perfect, takes excellent pics, and super simple to use. No software required, just pop the floppy in your PC and go!

Got it off ebay new still in box for $5.00 (yes, five bucks)!

[everclear21]

WTF Hardcore XD

[dmc081]

u can get those batteries on ebay

[3mily5ays]

I totally had that camera! We bought it in 1998. I remember I had to stand kind of still while it wrote the file to the disk.

[BeryJensen]

Kodak DCS Pro sytem already exist.That sytem much much better,and use CF memory cards in 1997.

[Honthetube]

The first time i saw one these was at high school, there was this odd girl that used to bring it into school, she'd wonder around and take pictures of the other pupils and things around the school grounds during brake time in-between classes.

[VinylReelToReel]

@Honthetube Reminds me of American Beauty lol

[dan1986ist]

I have one of those cameras

[191191119]

lol my school used those back in 2005 lol

[Juggla17]

Just read Sony is finally ending support for Floppy Disks in Japan which will be the final country they're manufactured in.

~fin~

[agfamatic91]

i think i remember that my teather had one very simuler camera in the late 90s. and we all thot it was someting very cool that he could transfer the pictres directly to the computer without needing to develop them and then print them out on paper (in b&W only of corse)

[MicrosoftWindowsGuy]

This is fantastic!

[RPCJerkobi]

One of my teachers has one of these.

[bluenazz]

I work at a university and our Parking Office bought one of those Sony floppy drive cameras in the late 90's. The parking guy would take photos of the offending vehicle, write the ticket or put the boot on a vehicle, and then return to his office. The enraged student would go to the Parking Office and then get shown the photos. Priceless!

[allboutk]

i remember these

[mig189189189]

Great "retro camera" video!

Thanks for posting!

[Colortiniz]

Very cool, I never knew these existed.

[Trance88]

Nice camera. It would be cool to have one of those! It doesn't really look old, it's just oversized compared to today's digital cameras. I'm surprised 500 pictures can fit on a 3.5" floppy. I think I remember seeing someone at my high school with one of those cameras back in 2004.

[vwestlife]

@Trance88 I put in a blank disk and I was able to take 30 photos at the "fine" setting before the disk got full. It gives you a little pie-slice indicator on the LCD to show roughly how much of the disk is full.

[mike9889]

I remember these camera's being used back in 2003 in my Middle School, do you know when was the last year these Floppy Disk camera's were built?

[vwestlife]

@mike9889 Wikipedia says the last floppy disk Mavicas were in 2002. Sony also made an adapter which lets you use a Memory Stick in a floppy drive, and it even works in PCs. They also made still cameras which record onto mini-size (3-inch) CD-Rs.

[themaritimeman]

Wow, that's neat! Does the camera itself have any means of connecting to the computer, or can you only take out the disk and put it in a computer?

My Mom has one of the first modern digital cameras - a Kodak DC280. Dad bought it for her birthday in 2001. According to all the writing on the box, over time it was marked down from $1250 to $950, to $750, to $550, then to $250! And they still hadn't sold it. Dad offered them $80, tax and all, and they let him have it! Uses a 20MB CompactFlash card.

[themaritimeman]

Correction - Just pulled it out, it's a DC3400, made in 2000, and it uses an 8 MB card!

[vwestlife]

@themaritimeman The camera has no jacks or plugs of any kind. You just take the disk out and put it into your computer.

[Juggla17]

Haha! Vwow, that's funny, I didn't know they made camera's with 3.5in Floppy Disks. Another great history lession from vwestlife.

~fin~

[wildbilltexas]

And I thought my old HP 215 from around 2001-2 was super slow writing on its compact flash memory card. How many megapixels did this camera have?

[vwestlife]

@wildbilltexas It takes photos at 640x480 VGA resolution, which is a whopping 0.3 megapixels.

[wildbilltexas]

@vwestlife Wow, and that was impressive high-tech back then. I think my HP was 1.5 megapixel.

[jeepo88]

@vwestlife my old Nokia n70 cell phone takes better pictures than this LOL, not to mention an hour worth of video recording. and it's super compact too. gotta love how technology keeps getting better and better

[pcwalker]

I remember some of those having composite outputs. The CD Mavicas we had at the S.O. were used for the jail photo system. Took absolutely great photos (for the time) on media, but horrible on the RF output from capture.

[bbishoppcm]

I loved those cameras! The disks could be read in any computer (mac or windows) which was a major problem in those days with other cameras, and they took AMAZING photos! Also, they all seemed to have amazing zoom capabilities (10x optical!!)

[prisonson]

nice video

[batterymaker]

A co-worker had one of those about six or seven years ago. Despite the floppy storage system, it did take remarkably sharp photos.

[FelixTheHouseFreak]

Haha it would take about 15 floppy disks to store one picture from my camera.

[Misstersack]

I know that my school had Silver Mavica's that used a Memory Sitck Pro (?) I think that they were the same size but I know for sure that the quality was very very good.

[AnalogueJosh]

We had these at school, they didn't take too bad pictures if I remember.

[CoolDudeClem]

Pretty cool, I've never seen one that uses floppys before. A floppy dive wouldn't be usefull in today's 10+ megapixel camera world. What reolotion can this do? I like how it has optical zoom insted of the crappy digital zoom cameras have now.

[DrCassette]

Wow! This is really a piece of camera history! I've heard of the "Mavica"-Cameras by Sony before, but I didn't knew they recorded pictures to floppy disk! In what format does it save the photos? Do you copy the photos off there just by putting the floppy disk into your computer or does it offer another way?

[vwestlife]

@DrCassette The photos are standard JPG format. You just take the disk out and put it in your computer.

[xctome]

cool camera never seen one before! i have a 10-12 year old Sony CCD-TRV608 Hi8 camcorder just like yours. i am replacing it with a Canon FS200 flash memory camcorder. dose the Floppy disk camera take video?

[vwestlife]

@xctome Some floppy disk cameras did take video, but only at low resolution and with no sound.

[Jamiep84]

I remember these being sold alongside early CF-based digital cameras.

The selling point was easier transferring of the pictures to a PC. Many people (supposedly) found serial transfer cables hard to use.

[user12119]

It reminds me a bit of those fisher-price kid cams!

[GanEdenAustralia]

I have the Mavica FD91 and FD95 which both have a long zoom lens. One came from the US and one here in Australia. Standards are poor compared with todays technology but they are a nice novelty camera.

[badbob1983]

So every time you charge the battery, the time and date would reset? I can see how that would be annoying. We had one of those at school in about 1998 and at the time I thought it was poor compared to Fujifilm DX-8 digital camera we had at home. Still, it's good to see these still around.

[vwestlife]

@badbob1983 Actually, it has a small coin cell backup battery to keep the settings when you take out the main battery. On this one, the coin cell battery is dead and needs to be replaced.

[EncoreEnterprisesLLC]

At my college, they used to have these floppy disk Mavica cameras for library loan as late as 2006. I regularly got them on loan, and it inspired me to put a digital camera on my Christmas list that year, and I got it. The camera I received was a more modern Olympus FE170 that used those proprietary "xD" cards.

What was the name of that computer show that you bought this from?

[vwestlife]

@EncoreEnterprisesLLC I got it at the Trenton Computer Festival. The show has gotten smaller over the years, but you can still find plenty of neat stuff at the outdoor flea market part of it.

[BeeOwGeeDeeAyN]

A very nice camera. It would be very interesting to see actual photos from it if it is not hard for you to upload them somewhere and give us links.

[phantom3rdchannel]

they still use those at my old high school lol. and actually when i was in elementary school about 2001 my mom wanted one of those so bad so she could upgrade from her Epson Photopc 500. ......we never got one:/

[phantom3rdchannel]

oh and btw your right about the charger none of them had on board charging really sucked, and i know pronunciation differs from place to place but down south we always said it muh-vee-kuh.

[classicmacintosh]

@phantom3rdchannel Here in North West England we pronounce it 'mar-vee-cah'

[BadEditPro]

I remember those quite well... I always wanted one.Neat find. :) JC