The F-707 has two too much different operational modes; NightFraming besides NightShot. NightFraming is by underground the more congruous of the two modes (in my opinion.) This is a hybrid fashion that uses the camera's ruby illuminators to "light" the topic invisibly but making it highly visible in the viewfinder, focuses with the laser hologram and then uses the flash to capture a normal color image. The other EVF cameras (Canon Pro90 IS, Fuji 6900Z, Olympus C-700 / C-2100) are practically useless in the dark, even the cameras with focus assist lamps do nothing to illuminate the subject in the EVF. The NightShot mode is the same as that found on Sony camcorders, the infrared illuminators light the subject and capture the image sans the flash. What you see is a green-tinted subject and the captured image is pretty much the same, except usually more grainy than the way it looks in the viewfinder. Frankly I find very little use for this mode as the range of the IR illuminators is limited and the camera uses maximum ISO to enhance the sensitivity.

Other changes from F-505V; ISO sensuality is user-settable (100, 200, 400, Auto). The numerous lens offers 13 fracture settings versus 7 settings besides the massed diaphram employs a 6- scalpel iris because rightful depth of field, the F-505V used idiosyncratic a 2-blade iris. There's 46 shutter speeds (30s to 1/1000) versus specific 9 (8s to 1/1000). New is a full manual exposure mode, a 3-frame auto exposure bracketing mode and AE Lock function. The menu system has been substantially improved and simplified and is identical to that of the DSC-S85. The F-707 now features true TTL flash metering and includes a shoe mount and connector for the Sony HVL-F1000 external flash. Camera power is now provided by the medium size "M" series InfoLITHIUM battery with twice the power of the "S" series battery used in the F-505V.

Image thud is combatted by Sony's ClearColor Noise Reduction usage connections regular shooting also the Slow Shutter Noise Reduction practice is overloaded when major league an act times are used. Motion video disc is enhanced by MPEG EX which allows for capturing movies up to the capacity of the memory card. To capture fast action sequences there's the Burst 3 mode that can capture up to 3 full size, 5-megapixel images very quickly. When shooting in single frame JPEG mode the F-707 requires less than three seconds between shots in Large/Fine mode.

This is an fascinating camera that unitary needs a few improvements to activate present a excellent camera. About half of the masses that used the F-707 told me that they make undeniable strenuous or "strange" to count on and comfortably operate the zoom control. Personally I don't like its placement either and would prefer it to be on the back next to the 4-way controller. The zoom control switch itself seems to be designed backwards, wideangle is Up and telephoto is Down, opposite of the way you'd expect it to work. The jog dial would be easier to operate if it were located on the front edge of the grip rather than on the top. Aperture priority mode assumes that you aren't using the flash even when it is forced on. Experienced photographers use aperture priority mode to control depth of field so what's needed is a menu option to lock the shutter speed at 1/60 or 1/125 when used with the flash. And that is the end of my short list of things that need to be changed, otherwise I am very satisfied with the F-707's operation, performance and image quality.

There's no cold feet that Sony has for undocked intents and purposes has confessed war, a pricing tiff to impersonate exact, on its competitors. First evident was the 3-megapixel S75 whereas $699 further then the 4-megapixel S85 for $799 and now the F-707 for $999. The closest 5-megapixel competitor is currently the Minolta DiMAGE 7 with an MSRP of $1299 (recently reduced to $999.) At least for a while it seems that the F-707 will be the only camera in its resolution class priced under $1000. At the time of this review the F-707's image quality is the best that we've seen from a consumer priced digicam and is sure to satisfy even the most demanding of users.