On Mon, 2 Aug 2004, Caveman wrote: > I definitely like the sliding cover method of protecting the lens/camera > in the Oly, so I would like to see it in the digicam. Canon wins, very > nice design for pocketable camera. However, I was attracted by the > "nightshot" feature of the Sony. Now that's really cool, taking pics in > the dark without anyone noticing it (no flash whatsoever, just IR). > However, do you guys think this would be really useful or just a gadget > that would enable wife to take me pics while snoring without waking me > with the flash ? Anyone that found some good uses for IR "nightshots" ?
I had a DSC-F717 and DSC-F707 for over two years and hardly used the nightshot feature. The one cool thing is that you can shoot IR photography with it by also using an IR filter, because the camera moves the IR-blocking filter out of the way when you are in nightshot mode. To prevent you from really getting good use of this feature they also prevent it from working in daylight by limiting exposure time to 1/60" of a second or slower and increasing the ISO. This means that you need to use a strong ND filter to get IR pictures during daylight and they are still kinda grainy. If Sony hadn't done that (and I believe they did it because a few years back people were using the nightshot mode of their video cameras to see warm body parts through skin tight swimsuits) their Nightshot-enabled cameras would be superb for IR photography. I will say that I like the design of the Sony cameras with a thumbwheel, and that includes the V1. I find it very easy to operate them in manual and semi-manual modes. If you think you'll use those then I'd give it a second look compared to the S60. alex
