Sony F828: Hands on with a unique digital camera.

[@danvander-ark1309]

This was my first digital camera...still have it and it works fine! I charge the battery every now and then and take it out and shoot a couple pics. And you're right...you hit the shutter button and then go mow the lawn or something cuz the RAW takes quite a while to process. The lens is great...its a camera built around a lens; and its part of the reason I bought the Sony RX10 IV 3 years ago...that lens if fantastic. Love your videos!

[@uzairabdul-karrim4879]

How's the speed if you shoot jpeg?

[@danvander-ark1309]

Pretty decent

[@matthewjohnson1891]

I used to drool over the pictures of just the camera when i was in college.

[@MattsNotes]

Same here matt and here I am with the same camera years after college lol!

[@benlowe7123]

I bought this camera in 2003 and still works great. I'm far from a photographer and don't really have much of a background in it. I am looking for information about how to adjust the shutter speed to perform "light painting" and I am not having luck finding manuals for a 2003 camera. Do you know if this model can perform this? I've tried and have not had any success.

[@MattsNotes]

Thanks for the comment! For light painting, are you referring to images where it's dark out, and people "paint" using a light source (like a phone, flashlight, etc?)

[@shabanafzal9440]

I got this camera from USA in 2004. I still use it today. It's been great for wedding and portrait photography. The results are colourful and amazing. After nine years I bought a new Sony battery, the old one holds 50% but still works. The camera is a legend and takes beautiful pictures. I'm keeping mine for as long as possible.

[@MattsNotes]

Awesome to hear! I just picked up its bigger brother, the R1. I plan on getting out for a few videos this fall with these awesome cameras!

[@shutterslaps4938]

Love this man 🙏 your comedic style is killer , had me loosing it at “what the hell is she painting” 🤣🤣 Very interesting about that sensor 👏👏 will be looking into that one. That’s awesome that you got a Nikon 775🎉🎉 very interested to see your thoughts and images on it 👏👏👏

[@DouglasNascimento]

I still use the predecessor Sony F717 until today for a few things. Both are great cameras

[@MattsNotes]

Great to hear! I love taking the f828 out when our flowers start blooming

[@josdenis3684]

Goed gevonden, Mattia!

[@gregorymessimer5728]

Pssst! All you need to 'mod' this is a neodymium magnet and some filters. You can use the night shot in restricted modes, which actually turns this into a full-spectrum camera, but with a magnet you can trip the relay to move the filter out of the way and run full-spectrum in all modes! You 'un-mod' it by flipping the magnet around and swiping over the sweet-spot (which is on the right bottom of the barrel towards the tripod stabilizing hole) a second time. Add filters to exclude various wavelengths and you can shoot in IR or UV, or any mix thereof. Just got one of these on Thursday, found out about all that on Saturday, so I haven't tried it all myself yet. I feel like I stumbled onto something really sweet with this camera.

[@MattsNotes]

Wow haha! Didn't know it was that easy! I may actually try this now. How are you liking yours so far?

[@gregorymessimer5728]

​@@MattsNotes I'm really enjoying it! I haven't gotten the proper filters yet, but I have an 850 IR pass filter coming for longer wave IR. For UV I found a filter that blocks the visible spectrum, but also leaks IR, so I have that plus one that blocks IR oredered. I think the combo should pass 320nm+ UV light. There are better single filters, but they cost about 7x's as much. As for the rest of the camera, I love its macro ability, and the internal jpeg processing, which allows it to stand up to my 20Mp Sonys. I haven't been able to convert the RAW .srf files with Sony's current software. May have to exchange it with another file extension. And I really only bought it for the novelty, I didn't even know the housing was metal! The DSC-F717, its 5Mp predecessor, also has this trick.

[@rickbiessman6084]

Dude, right before you started talking about the Bright Project shirt, I thought "wow, that’s a really nice t shirt!". So cool of you to mention it - I just ordered one. Pretty affordable too. So cool!

[@MattsNotes]

Haha they're great! I should grab another shirt since they're 12 bucks. They've been pretty quiet on social media so I hope they're still a thing

[@rickbiessman6084]

@@MattsNotes Oh yeah. It’s one of those things that you’ll regret getting only one copy of...

[@stevemccormack9948]

I was always a fan of that Sony format. It was my favourite at the time. They need to introduce this with video capability. My guess is it would be a hit.

[@MattsNotes]

Couldn't agree more! The ergonomics would be ideal for video especially

[@stimpacat]

I got this camera, Back in 2004. Di night shot for Long Island Summer mag. Running around the Hampton's taking pics of chicks. Rough work. Made enough to pay for camera and then some but it was for couple years. Although he mentioned that a lot of times it was not in focus. Looked perfect when taking but I never downloaded to see pic s and understand why it was out of focus. Still have the camera and do use it now and then. Still takes great pics. Also the camera has a extra filter , you need a magnet to turn it on and off, And you can see thru cloths

[@MattsNotes]

Great comment! Sounds like good times with the old f828. That focus problem is certainly one I've ran into with this camera and it's younger siblings as well lol

[@garethwilliams976]

Got mine in 2003 and liked it a lot except for its inability to cope with specular highlights which threw up all sorts of colours. You did not mention one great feature which was the laser focusing so that in darker areas a grid pattern was thrown forward from the camera and the lens was then focused on this! Did Sony ever use this again? Swapped for an R1 which had much better image quality and which I still have though rarely use.

[@paulbrett3622]

It was also my first digital camera, bought it in 2004. The swivel body made it an incredibly good for candid shots shooting from the hip. Apart from my interest in photography, I ended up documenting my kids growing up, so it has a special place for that alone. One time I took it to a local camera shop asking for advise on how to safety clean the lens. The guy proceeded to demonstrate by damaging the lens coating and removed some of it. This was traumatizing. Lol. Anyway, I never noticed any change in the images after that. Can anyone recommend a modern day equivalent to that lens? I use a Sony a6400 now.

[@MattsNotes]

Thanks for sharing this! I'm hanging on to my f828 as well. The lens I'd quite special on this old camera. An E mount system equivalent is pretty tough to think of for me, but I've heard some good things about the tamron 28-200 2.8 to 5.6!

[@PaulJonathanBrett]

@@MattsNotes thank you!

[@selimyigit3912]

thank you

[@MattsNotes]

Thank you friend!

[@artistjoh]

So what is the IR camera you refer to - I didn't see in your videos any mention of IR?

[@dubajja]

Great camera to try infrared photography.

[@MattsNotes]

I'll have to give this a shot soon here!

[@celsoprincipal351]

whats the name of this music in this video ? Thanks. Like.

[@ShutterKnack]

Have you tried the infrared magnet trick? It's a full spectrum camera in disguise!

[@MattsNotes]

I'll have to give this a shot! I've been wanting to shoot IR lately so this will give me a reason to!

[@MattParson]

I've finally went down the RGBE rabbit hole... I've found the REAL mode with saturation and contrast boosted in camera gives more accurate color in the skin tones compared to shooting in STANDARD mode.

[@MattsNotes]

Thanks for this info! I'll have to give this a go and perhaps try out the different modes/profiles as well

[@robstammers7149]

Great video, I've owned (and use) an F828 on a regular basis. Shooting products as its macro mode is superb, by the way you forgot to mention the F828 is equipped with a superb Leica Tessar zoom lens, which still today is highly regarded. I wouldn't recommend this as a street shooter, its just not fast enough, but for landscape, portrait, close up, or any studio static work it's just so good, the F828, to me, is as good today as it was when first released, vastly underrated it certainly is, but those in the know, and to those who know how to use it, it's a gem of a camera, in which Sony got it 99.9% right. Yep, I love my Sony F828, thanks man.

[@MattsNotes]

I love to hear this. I just picked up it's younger sibling (the sony r1). I wish it had an iteration of the f828 sensor but it's unique in its own right. I'd love for companies to bring back unique bridge cameras again 😅

[@robstammers7149]

@@MattsNotes Totally agree, I've had my R1 for a couple of years now, and use it in partnership with the F828. Finding near mint examples of these two cameras is getting steadily more difficult and prices for good ones are going up too. Have a great day Matt, catch you later.

[@garethwilliams976]

The lens is a Zeiss Vario-Sonnar.

[@fattlip1958]

Hi, what lens are you using?

[@chrisreggie1441]

Bring out the f828 again!

[@themrhtc8757]

Hey bro. Is this good for video? For KZbin?

[@MattsNotes]

Thanks for your comment! Unfortunately the f828 does not do video well

[@Gamehighlight2023]

I ordered one back in 2004 for $1500 then Sold it :( in 2006 because lost my job)....Anyway I just got onr today as brand new for $100 in 2022 :))))

[@MattsNotes]

Its amazing how cheap this camera can be! I saw one for 20 bucks and almost bought a 2nd, but I have too much gear in the first place lol

[@crunchwrapsupreme8812]

Me too!!!!!! I had to return mine, it was just to expensive, and just got one for 70$!!!!!!

[@SemestaFilm]

Good. I Love Sony DSC F828

[@MattsNotes]

Thanks friend! It's a fun camera to use. I'm still surprised at how rich the colors are straight from the camera with no editing!

[@SemestaFilm]

@@MattsNotes Agree. Truly an amazing camera.👍👍

[@cartel1976]

Can hardly hear you please lower background noise 😂

[@MattsNotes]

Yeah my bad lol

[@anascancerjourney9922]

I have this camera and accessories for sale. Please reply if you're interested.

[@nickburns4463]

Matt - this is Nick with Coldwell Banker Realty. I'm trying to refer my friend to you for some photography work he needs done -- but I don't have your cell or FB contact! Please message me, man! .. I hope you see this soon. Lol Great video.

[@MattsNotes]

I'm exclusively taking feet pics only. Just kidding I'll find you on Facebook and pm you lol