Taking pictures is simple with the Sony Mavica. This lesson will introduce you to the basic parts of the digital camera.

How They Work

All digital cameras have these basic parts: a lens, an image sensor, memory to hold the pictures, batteries, and a way to transfer the pictures to a computer.  Each has a viewfinder or an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) to help you frame up your subject, and some have both.  Most of them have either removable memory cards or use floppy disks to make the transfer of the images from the camera to computer.  Some digital cameras require a special cable for this.  The Sony Mavica uses a floppy disk to store the image files.

A microchip stores a picture in the camera's memory as you take it.  Software, like Microsoft Photo Editor or Adobe Photoshop, helps you with editing your images, as needed or desired, and assists you with saving and storing your files in standard image formats.

Let's take a look at the basic buttons on the Mavica.  This will be presented in three video segments. 
 

Part I - 2:30 minutes

Part II - 2:07 minutes

Part III - 2:43 minutes

After, the video "clip" is complete you can return to this page by clicking back on this page or by "minimizing" the RealPlayer window (clicking on the "-" sign in the upper right hand corner of the RealPlayer's window).  This will temporarily move its window out of the way, but will keep the RealPlayer ready when you need it for the next video clip you come to in the course.

If you prefer, you may procede with a traditional text presentation of the material.  You will probably get the most out of the course by using the multimedia tools in combination with the text information but, if that is not possible, you can successfully complete the class by the traditional method alone.

Taking Pictures

Follow these steps to take pictures with the Sony Mavica.

• Remove lens cap.  Turn power on.

• Put the "play/camera" switch in the "camera" mode.

• Insert a standard HD "PC" formatted floppy disk.  This is typically the most common type of floppy disk available and is not a special type of disk.  If your disk is not formatted, you can use the camera functions to format it.  This will be covered in the "On-Screen Menus" lesson of this course.

• Next, use the "power zoom" button, with your right hand thumb, to frame the subject as desired.  Move the tab toward "W" for a wider angle or toward "T" for telephoto/close up.

• If you need to use the built-in "flash", just press the button located just under the LCD view screen.  Let it charge up for a few seconds, just like most flash units on cameras.  Note:  The flash button must be manually pressed prior to each picture that you wish to use it for!

• Press the "shutter button", the round silver button on the front side of the camera, with the right hand index finger.  When you press it, the camera sets the auto-exposure, auto white balance, and auto-focus.  These settings are normally adjusted almost instantly - when they are set you will notice a solid green indicator light appearing in the top center of the LCD view screen.  This indicates you are ready to press the rest of the way to take the picture.  Make sure to press the shutter button firm enough to see the word "Recording" appearing on the view screen.

• After taking a picture you will "hear" the camera and see the word "Recording" on the view screen.  This is just the camera "writing" the image data to the floppy disk.  It is not necessary to hold the camera still while this 5-7 second process occurs!  Just tempting, from habit with traditional analog cameras.

Pre-viewing Pictures (on the camera)

• Put the "play/camera" switch in the "play" mode. The last picture taken will appear in the LCD screen.

• The  "selection" button is the round black button located at the bottom center of the camera.  It is used to highlight/select and/or activate the various on-screen functions that are available with the camera.  It works much like a "game" controller.  It moves up-down-left-right and also will "press" straight-in-to-the-camera, to activate a selected item.

• To preview the image files you have already taken, use the selection button to highlight the "arrow" keys (on-screen) to move to any image file you would like to view on the camera's LCD screen.

• Adjust the LCD screen's "brightness", by pressing the "+" and "-" buttons located to the left of the LCD screen.  This adjustment will not affect the image data, it is just a viewing convenience, especially handy when you are outdoors in bright light.