Sony MVC-FD7 (1997)

The Sony MVC-FD7 was announced together with the MVC-FD5 and they were both the first digital Mavicas. Also the first digital cameras to adopt a 3.5" floppy disk as recording media. I specifically say digital Mavica as Sony also had a line up of still video Mavicas.
 
Today many people mistake the MVC-FD5 and FD7 to be Sony's first digital cameras and therefore they also believe that the floppy disk was the first recording media ever before memory cards came to the market. Both assumptions are of course completely wrong! Sony also gave away special coloured floppy diskettes to promote the two cameras. You can see them in the gallery above.
 
The MVC-FD7 was a heavy, square shaped device. This was the smallest possible design because the disk drive had to be implemented. They built the camera around the disk drive, as Sony once put it. Sony adopted the floppy disk because it was theirs and they thought it would be the cheapest form of recording media possible. At that time they were absolutely right. The cheap floppy disks could easily be removed and inserted in personal computer disk drives to process the images. No cables, no fuss.
 
Not only that but Sony also sported a powerful, versatile lithium-ion battery which could be used in most of the digital Mavicas and also in some Fuji digital camera models. It featured a large 2.5" TFT screen with brightness control, VGA resolution, auto exposure, built-in flash and a fixed focus lens. Nothing spectacular.
 
The difference from the MVC-FD5 was that the MVC-FD7 had a 10x zoom lens with built-in auto focus feature. However, it took 10 seconds to write an image and 5 seconds to read one. 
 
Since the digital Mavicas once dominated 40% of the digital camera market they can be considered the first mass market digicams. As a consequence most of the digital Mavicas are worthless these days, except for the CD Mavicas and the prosumer models like MVC-FD91 and MVC-FD95.
 
All images © digicammuseum.com and © digitalkameramuseum.de

Specifications

  • Brand: Sony
  • Model: MVC-FD7
  • First mentioned: 1997
  • Marketed: yes
  • MSRP: $899
  • Imager Type: 0.38MP 1/4" CCD
  • Resolution: 640x480
  • Internal Storage: -
  • External Storage: 3.5" Floppy Diskette
  • Lens: F4.8 /f=4.2mm fixed focus
  • Shutter: 1/60s - 1/4,000s
  • Aperture Range: F1.8 - F2.9
  • LCD screen size: 2.5" TFT
  • Size: 127 x 114 x 63.5mm
  • Weight: 500 gr.
  • Remarks: -

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