Sony Mavica (1981), the first still video camera in history. Sony Digital Mavica MVC-FD5 (1997), the first digital camera of the Mavica series. Mavica (Magnetic Video Camera) was a brand of Sony cameras which used removable disks as the main recording medium. In August 1981, Sony announced the Sony Mavica as the world's first electronic still camera. It was not a digital camera, as its CCD sensor produced an analog video signal in the NTSC format at a resolution of 570 × 490 pixels. Mavipak 2.0" disks (later adopted industry-wide as the Video Floppy and labelled "VF") were used to write 50 still frames onto tracks on disk. The pictures were viewed on a television screen. Otherwise, this camera is positioned as the "pioneer of the digital era". The unreleased original MAVICA as well as the later ProMavica MVC-5000 and MVC-7000 were designed as single-lens reflex systems with interchangeable lenses.[4] At least the ProMavica MVC-7000 also featured lens mount adapters for Nikon and Canon lenses.

[6] The VF format soon evolved into the backward-compatible Hi-VF format, supported by the ProMavica MVC-7000 and the Hi-Band Mavica models. Inside the Sony Mavica MVC-FD7 Digital camera from 1997 Sony Mavica MVC-FD7 x10 Lens Assembly. The 0.3M pixel sensor is on the right hand PCB. The 0.3 M pixel 640x480 sensor used in the Sony Mavica MVC-FD7 digital camera from 1997 The later Digital Mavicas recorded onto 3.5" 1.4 MiB 2HD floppy disks in computer-readable DOS FAT12 format, a feature that made them very popular in the North American market. With the evolution of consumer digital camera resolution (megapixels), the advent of the USB interface and the rise of high-capacity storage media, Mavicas started to offer other alternatives for recording images: the floppy-disk (FD) Mavicas began to be Memory Stick compatible (initially through a Memory Stick Floppy Disk adapter, but ultimately through a dedicated Memory Stick slot), and a new CD Mavica series—which used 8 cm CD-R/CD-RW media—was released in 2000.

The first CD-based Mavica (MVC-CD1000), notable also for its 10× optical zoom, could only write to CD-R discs, but it was able to use its USB interface to read images from CDs not finalized (CDs with incomplete sessions). Subsequent models are more compact, with a reduced optical zoom, and are able to write to CD-RW discs. The Mavica line has been discontinued. Sony continues to produce digital cameras in the Cyber-shot and Alpha series, which use Memory Stick and other flash card technologies for storage.Wheels And Tyres For Range Rover Mavica MVC 2000, an analog model from the mid-1980s[7]Animal Print Bedding Sets With Curtains The Sony FD Mavica MVC-FD200 with its charger and lens cap.Bears Den T Shirt Sony Mavica CD400, front view

Sony Mavica CD400, rear view There were other digital cameras that used disk storage as memory media. ^ "The Mavica was a single lens reflex with interchangeable lenses. The original Mavica was provided with three bayonet-mounted lenses: a 25mm f/2, a 50mm f/1.4, and 16-65mm f/1.4 zoom." Mavica introduction in 1981 ^ Brooke Clarke's PSC-6 web site showing a ProMavica MVC-5000 and mentioning an assortment of compatible lenses: 400mm, 60-300mm zoom, night vision lens, "Wide Lens 5mm 1:1.8 Sony" (MCL-05H), "Zoom Lens 9.5 - 123.5mm 1:1.8 Made by Canon" (MCL-913T) ^ Forum thread showing a photo of the ProMavica MVL-7000 SLR with MCL-200N lens adapter ^ - Camera in 1999FLASHBACK 2001: Remembering an early Digital Camera. Back in 2001 I owned the hottest digital camera on the market at the time. It was well-loved by those truly into digital imagery and innovation and was the start and early days of the “digital enthusiast” from how I remember it, and I was one of them.

This camera was from Sony (Yes, they were innovating even back then with camera tech) and it was called the F707. This was the successor to the F505V which I also owned. The 505V was from 2000 and I loved that thing (The 2.6 MP 5o5 was before the V), but I enjoyed the new 707 even more. This eventually turned into the F717 and then the F808 but the 808 was big, bulky and started to look more like a DSLR than something from the future like the F707 did. The actual lens that was attached sort of looked like a shotgun barrel coming out of the camera body. It was tiltable as well, allowing you to get the angle you need. Makes me wonder why they do not bring something similar to 2016/2017 as it was super uber functional and a joy to use, even for back then. Tilt the lens up or down. Get this, it even had an EVF. Later Sony models and cameras from other manufacturers omitted the EVF from most cameras until just in recent years. I think today, mostly all serious cameras will be released with an EVF.

The days of external warts are over, I think. But funny to see the early days and early cameras of digital…they had EVF’s! I have many snaps from the F707, as i carried it with me everywhere in 2001. While it is far off from todays imaging capabilities it was a fun camera. Imagine this form factor today, with todays sensor tech? Would be pretty cool! Back in 2000 and 2001, high res was not a thing yet in digital. The F707 came in at 5MP, where the previous 505V was around 3MP and the previous 505 was 2.6MP (I owned them all). This one had a Zeiss lens (Made by Sony under Zeiss) and took Sony Memory Sticks (remember those)? The Dynamic Range was low, there was no real shallow DOF to be found…in fact, it was much like a phone camera today, in a snazzy body and package. I’d dare say that most phones today have better sensors but back then it was fantastic to have a high tech body with instant imaging. Many photographers enjoyed the F707 for what it offered us at the time, and while no one would be using one for pro work of course, many enthusiasts raved on and on about it as the goold old DP review forums were always ablaze with F707 talk.

Goes to show how far we have come in digital! I remember always using it for pics of my son, or just my surroundings. I lived in the Desert when I owned the F707 and F505, and basically shot images of cactus, my pets, and my family. This website was not born yet but I was out there every other day shooting and then reviewing what I captured. It was the early days of digital, and it was an exciting time for sure. I remember Canon and Sony leading the way back then. Sony with their Mavica floppy disk cameras, then the evolution into Memory Sticks and these shotgun looking cameras. As I mentioned, the Dynamic Range sucked but we did not have any better at the time, so we embraced what we did have. It’s funny but looking back at these, the images are of course resized to how I sized them back then. I must have had a low res computer screen, as now these look so small and tiny but back then I remember them filling my screen, lol. Today we have high res EVERYTHING. Video, Audio, Photos…but even in 2000 we were living in a low res world.

HDTV was just coming into stores with 720P resolution, and it was expensive. We had low res digital cameras and were still listening to CD’s in our cars and stereos. Today we have 4K and above TV’s, super high res audio downloads for those who are audio geeks and insane megapixel count full frame and beyond sensors. Technology has just FLOWN by these last 16 years. Sure, 16 years sounds like a LONG time, and it is, but when I look at what we had at the start compared to now, it is huge. The Sony F707 will forever be burned into my memory as a camera that was fun, exciting and motivating (in 2001). Today it is just a memory, for me, of the old days. I was younger, my son was only 5 years old, and the digital bug took a hold of me. I owned many cameras in these early days (even the Mavica), so I may write flashback articles from time to time like this, with some memories of cameras past. I’ve owned a ton of them, and found the hard drives with the photos, so why not? I just checked Ebay and there is an F707 for $19.99.