Product Reviews

When Canon launched the first sub-£1000 digital SLR with an interchangeable lens, many believed it would herald the end of high-end, all-in-one cameras. This hasn't been the case, however, as no fewer than five new all-in-one models have recently been announced by Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Olympus and Sony. All of them have a resolution of 8 megapixels, long lenses, stacks of features and price tags of around £899, and Sony's Cyber-shot DSC-F828 was among the first to hit the shops.

The DSC-F828's 8 megapixel CCD delivers images with 3264 x 2448 pixels in a 4:3 aspect ratio. That's enough detail for reproduction at 10in x 8in at 300dpi, and represents a big jump from the 2560 x 1920 pixel resolution of 5 megapixel cameras. While all five of the new models use the same Sony CCD, the DSC-F828 uniquely employs a four-colour filter system that adds emerald to the usual red, green and blue.

Images can be recorded as Jpegs, uncompressed Tiffs or, in a welcome first for Sony, the RAW format. Annoyingly, though, the RAW converter software for Mac wasn't ready at the time of writing this review, but Adobe's Camera Raw 2.1 for Photoshop CS will do the trick.

Best-quality Jpegs at the highest resolution weigh in around 3.5MB each. As is the trend for high-end cameras, there's no memory supplied, but the F828 will handle both Sony's own Memory Stick format and, in another welcome move, Compact Flash cards including the Microdrive.

In terms of design, the F828 shares the unique swivelling body of earlier Cyber-shot F models, where the oversized lens rests in your left hand, leaving the right to adjust the body. This allows you to comfortably shoot at waist-height or over the heads of crowds, although not with the same flexibility of fully flip-out screens.

Rather than simply fitting a new chip in the body of its previous high-end camera, though, Sony has gone for a complete redesign. The body's bigger and heavier than the earlier Cyber-shot F717, but it feels considerably more solid and comfortable with its larger grip. Much of the F828's bulk comes from its new 7x optical zoom lens that boasts a 35mm equivalent range of 28-200mm. Unlike its rivals' motorised zooms, Sony has adopted a mechanical ring operation, which is much more responsive.

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Carl Zeiss optics are also bright, with an aperture range of f2.0-2.8. The manual focus is electrically assisted, and there's a reasonable macro mode, which, at 2cm, delivers a minimum coverage of 56mm across the frame. Images are composed using either the 1.8in screen or the electronic viewfinder.

Sony has certainly packed this high-end camera with features. There's USB 2 for quicker image transfer (on Macs with USB 2 ports), a hotshoe for Sony's external flashgun, a backlit LCD status display, and Sony's excellent laser hologram and infrared night-framing that allow composition and autofocus in complete darkness. The battery lasts an impressive 3.5 hours and there's an on-screen reminder indicating exactly how many minutes remain.

The F828 has separate auto, program, manual, shutter and aperture priority modes, along with four scene presets. Its movie mode is particularly impressive, offering 640 x 480 video at 30 frames per second (fps) for as long as you've got memory remaining. Note, however, that to support 30fps you need to use either a Memory Stick Pro or Microdrive - normal sticks or Compact Flash cards only offer 16fps. Exposures range from 30-1/3200 seconds and sensitivity is rated at 64-800 ISO, while burst mode records up to seven frames at 2.5fps.

In terms of handling, the F828 is an absolute dream. It's ready for action in little over a second and matches Canon's EOS300D and Nikon's D70. The redesigned body and mechanical zoom also feel great in practice.

In terms of image quality, there's certainly more detail captured than 5 or 6 megapixel cameras can achieve, and Sony's filtering delivers pleasing colours. It's not all good news, though. The new CCD squeezes 8 megapixels into the same physical space as older 5 megapixel chips, with the inevitable result of higher electronic noise levels. While shooting at 64 ISO keeps noise under check, higher sensitivities become a problem. At least the 828's bright lens allows 64 ISO to be used more realistically than those with slower optics.

The F828 also suffers from some purple fringing around high-contrast areas such as bright reflections or rooftops against an overcast sky. Again, to be fair, this is a problem for many cameras, especially with long zoom ranges, but we'd hoped the Carl Zeiss T* optics would keep it rather better under check.

While barely visible on most prints, these aspects still let down what would otherwise be the best prosumer all-in-one yet. Admittedly, we're being picky, but £899 is a lot of money that could be spent on a budget digital SLR, albeit one with far fewer gadgets and a shorter supplied lens.

If you've got £899 to spend and prefer all-in-one cameras, the Sony DSC-F828 is definitely a contender, but with our concerns we'd recommend comparing it closely with its 8 megapixel competition before buying.