My late husband loved digital photography. When he passed away, I looked at this Sony camera sitting on the shelf and decided I was going to learn to use it. I'm not a technical person so I can't go into all the technicalities of the cells, apertures, etc. that so many other people speak about.

But what I CAN tell you is that I started an online website, Atlanta Vintage Jewelry dot com, and all the pictures there (over 1400 so far) have been taken with this camera. I found it relatively easy to learn (with the help of the instruction book). It has great features, close-up capabilities, various white balances, spot metering, timer, and such that I use regularly.

My graphics program is Photoshop. After taking the pics, the camera simply connects to my PC, and after reading the CD source in the camera I can import them right into the program for editing. It also has a threaded lens so it accepts filters and additional lenses, if needed.

I love this camera. My husband also had some other camera brands (i.e. Olympus) and after working with them, I chose this Sony as my favorite. Bulky? A little. But it's immaterial.

The only negative I can say is that you have to keep the camera steady once you've snapped the picture until the red light goes out (writing info to the interior disc). Otherwise the data may not show up. To virtually eliminate this problem, I now use a tabletop tripod and the camera's timer.

I've taken self portraits successfully. It takes great distance shots. I've only changed the little CD once, and they're relatively inexpensive compared to memory sticks. The camera has a built in flash but also a hot shoe to accept bounce flashes or whatever.

I like it and I think you will, too.

I prefer SONY MAVICAS because they so easily accommodate the 3 inch disk CD-R/CD-RW which hold 156MB - 190MB per disc giving me the flexibility of unlimited memory storage and costing 0.50 cents per disc as opposed to the overtly pricey habit of replenishing COMPACT FLASH memory cards (or precious memory-sticks as SONY calls them). More importantly, I don't have to lug around my laptop on holiday excursions... !
I have a Sony MVCCD500 CD Mavica 5MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom .
Instead of the laptop, I'd rather carry along as well my devoted 35mm Canon film SLR longtime companion (for old times' sake) along with my 8-month old Mavica. Any thoughts to share?!

Can't wait for the new 6MP SONY MAVICA dual video/still to come out.

I've had this camera for over a year now, have used it under varing conditions (cold, rain, dust) and it works perfectly. One of the best features of this camera is that you can save the small CDs in your library, and never have to worry about your computer crashing and losing all your valuable photos! I buy the read-only CDs (which are cheaper) and don't delete any photographs that I take.

Granted, the camera is a bit heavier than the little ones that seem to be so popular, but not as heavy as you'd think.

I use the camera to take photographs for various web sites that I host, and the quality of the photographs are amazingly good. Another plus is that no matter where you travel with it, if you can find a computer with a CD-ROM drive you can see the photographs. No need to travel with your camera's software and plugs... This way I can leave an electronic version of photographs with those I'm visiting, and still take them home.

Simply a five star camera. I wouldn't trade it in for any other type.

I have owned this camera for about 6 months now and I am glad I bought it.
Pros: 1) Brand name Carl Zeiss lens, known for its excellent quality. The colors are true and sharp in pictures from broad daylight through flash and still captures very good details under low light conditions without flash. Closeup photography is outstanding and I have taken some excellent pictures from a distance of about 10 cms.
2) Very easy menu selections - One other reviewer also mentioned this as a point that many users tend to overlook and I second his opinion. You don't have to dig 2-3 levels deep to change camera setting, especially if you are using manual setup.
3) Big fat LCD screen allows easy viewing.
4) Though its not meant to operate as a camcorder, it does make an excellent movie. The sound capture is very sensitive and the in-built speaker is very good.
5) Easy transfer to you computer thought USB cable (provided). I use Win XP and it is a breeze for me to transfer the pictures from camera to the computer using XP's camera wizard. Can also be connected directly for viewing on a TV screen.
6) For permanent storage, you can also finalize the CD and just pop it in the computer whenever you want to view. Mini CDs are dirt cheap (compare them to flash media of equivalent capacity). SONY recommends using MAVICA CDs (of course), which are a little costly. I have been using Maxell mini CDRs without hitch (available at Wal-Mart for about $6.00 for a 10 pk). Camera keeps giving annoying reminder to use mavica CDs, just ignore it.
7) Hot shoe pod to attach external flash for enthusiasts, though the built-in flash has a very good range (about 14 feet under auto exposure conditions).
8) Like the weight and feel of it.
9) Very Good battery life between charges.

Cons:
1) 3x zoom is a minor disappointment especially as the digital zoom is worthless.
2) There is no temporary storage for picture, where one can review a picture before deciding to burn it on the CD. The camera does have option to "delete" which is a misnomer. All the camera does is not show the file if you choose delete, even though the picture will be on your CD. If its a CDR, you are stuck with it as soon as you have clicked the picture, at least you can reformat if using a CDRW.
3) The bundled software from SONY is C-R-A-P. As I mentioned before, I use WinXP (home and professional) camera wizard to transfer the pictures by USB. (Cons # 1-3 are my primary reasons for giving this camera 4 stars).
4) The lag time between two pictures can be as great as 6-10 seconds, especially as the CD gets full, so it may not be the best for taking a series of single pictures rapidly. You can however take upto 16 exposures at a time in multiburst mode (and I am guessing here, the lag time might be greater before you can take another multiple series with a single click).
5) The laser lens for burning the CDs might be sensitive if the camera experiences more than the usual rough and tumble. I have taken this camera on many vacations, through all sorts of weather without any trouble, still I take care not to bang it against something hard. (Rock climbers, members of the press - this may not be the camera for you to take along on one of your excursions).

I am a professional radiographer and photographer (25 years now) and I used both the Sony CD500, CD400, CD350, CD300, as well as a Nikon Coolpix for field research x-raying mummies in Peru. This means the cameras were pushed hard.....blowing sand, huge contrast ranges, high resolution radiographs needed, fast manual control of radical light conditions, etc.....essentially most of the tough conditions and imaging requirements you can imagine. Here's what I found:

The Sony Mavica CD500 & 300 beat them all. It's not the most expensive or the best resolution but we all thought it did the best job.

Mavica CD500: best of all....resolution, reasonable recording time, great image control for exposure, close-ups, better controls, pretty much everything

Mavica CD400: best resolution but extremely slow recording time made it impossible to work with most of the time....the CD300 often got 3-4 shots while the 400 was recording one.

Mavica CD350: not enough manual control for us, but usually got great images on automatic....some problems with exposure range for close-ups though

Mavica CD300: not the best resolution, but now that I've done some prints for publication from it's highest res setting I will not be buying any more 400s....just not a significant enough difference,
plus it's not as heavy or bulky.

Nikon Coolpix: not in the running by comparison with the Sonys....although it is more lightweight....we are buying mini CDs for 33 cents each in bulk... and getting 140-180 high res
images per CD.....they are so easy to format, initialize, and copy on any CD burner that I can't believe we even considered using memory stiks, or USB downloads.

The best features are common to both the Sony Mavica CD300 and 400 series though.....manual control of the images, excellent close up abilities, decent wide angle (which can be enhanced with add-on lenses if necessary), and both rapid video and automatic functions with night focusing for flash, etc., etc.

Finally! There is a great digital camera!