Wow!!!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Amazing Picture "quality."

Cons: Ergonomic deficiency and color shift at extreme wide angle.

The Bottom Line: 
My experience with digital cameras is limited to just two but (even with its faults) I love and recommend this camera.

Author's Review
First of all, if you would like to see my sample images (with detail blowups) made with the Sony DSC F707, check my post at-- http://modelpix.com/a707

Just about a year ago, I bought the Sony DSC F505, Sony's "look alike" predecessor to the F707.

Simply put, the F505 is only a look alike. The F707 is an entirely new camera with a similar looking design.

The addition of a viewfinder as well as both Nightframing (frame in the dark but shoot with flash) and Nightshot capabilities (frame and shoot in the dark..."night vision"), a larger, faster lens, the ability to shoot movies as long as there is storage media available and new ergonomics, make this a camera, quite different from its predecessor the F505. Of course there is the much larger file size, as well.

I've been a professional photographer for more than thirty years and now, for health reasons, am reduced to "dabbling" at photography. These two Sony's (F505 and F707) are my first two digital cameras. I am hopeful of adding a pro-level digital camera in the near future.

In the meantime, I've been able to do amazing things with both these cameras. I shot a color ad, that ran in a quality, glossy magazine with the F505. I am able to extend far beyond with the F707. I use the F707 mainly for shooting content for (E-commerce) Web sites...and for fun, too.

From a "real world" point of view, I think most would be amazed at the ease and quality of making pictures with this camera.

I recently purchased a Canon S9000 photo color printer and am able to get wonderful 13X19 inch prints from images captured with the Sony F707...even if the images are cropped!

As long as one is shooting in a JPEG mode, the shooting is fast. I've never experienced a delay. But shooting in a TIFF image mode, one must wait, perhaps, 30 seconds as the image(s) is recorded. The F707 actually produces two images in the TIFF mode, both the TIFF and a JPEG duplicate, as well.

When I showed prints, of a model, photographed both on film (and scanned into the computer and printed) and those made from image files captured by the F707, the choice has been unanimous in favor of the Sony F707.

Personally, I disagree but I understand the reaction. The images made with the F707 are exceptionally colorful. I believe, too much so. Though skin tones tend to look quite good, background colors (trees, leaves, greens) were overly saturated.

And in macro photography (closeup), I noticed a problem (albeit, rather subtle) which also occurred with the earlier Sony F505. That is, there tends to be a noticeable color shift between the left and the right side of a picture (landscape orientation). The left side always has a warm (reddish) hue, while the right side is always "normal" to cool in hue.

Ergonomically, I find the controls (zoom function, white balance, etc.) which are placed on the left side of the lens barrel are often, inadvertently, deployed (mainly the zoom). It seems to make sense to me to have them placed on the right side of the lens barrel where they could easily meet with one's finger tips when one holds the barrel in his/her left hand. And the zoom (rocker switch) control could be rotated 90 degrees, as well. That way, when one pressed the rocker toward the outer portion of the lens, the lens could zoom in, while pressing the rocker switch toward the camera body end, could adjust the lens to a wider angle. This seems more intuitive to me.

The addition of a viewfinder is helpful but, as it is electronic rather than optical, it makes it difficult to judge contrasty scenes as the highlights tend to wash out. The good news is that the resulting image generally looks a whole lot better than what one would have seen in the viewfinder.

I rarely shoot in TIFF mode and am able to get excellent results using the JPEG Fine mode (2560X1920). I believe that I get about 33 images on my 64 MB Memory Stick in this mode.

Other features, such as the Nightshot and extended movie making capabilities, merely, make this camera more fun to use.

All in all, the quality of the images made with the Sony DSC F707 seems to be hard to beat. This is not a "professional" level camera, but, if you have the experience, you can make it seem so (at least to others).

I paid a thousand dollars for this camera just six months ago. But, with prices constantly dropping, I am sure that one could be had for quite a bit less. And, If you were to get one, I feel you would be quite happy with your purchase. I know that I am!