Combining point-and-shoot convenience with a host of manual photographic controls, this camera is sure to inspire digital photographers to expand creativity and get better results. Armed with high-quality Carl Zeiss™ optics and shutter speeds of up to 1/2000 second in auto mode, the DSC-F717 produces stellar results, even in the most demanding of shooting situations. Exterior silver body colour, an arrangement of buttons on the side of the lens barrel, different ribbing on the zoom / manual focus ring and the flash Hot-shoe. For those who haven’t handled a camera of this design before it’s surprisingly natural. You will carry the camera by the lens and use the rear as the viewing / control platform. The rear of the camera is attached to the lens by a swivel which can be rotated through approximately 77 degrees upwards and 36 degrees down. The entire camera body is constructed from a strong magnesium alloy finished in a light silver . Build quality is excellent, it’s finished off to the finest detail and everything feels very solid and robust.
The main LCD is clear and bright, has an anti-reflective coating and several adjustments which allow you to control both the image brightness and the backlight level. The LCD itself is bright and clear, as mentioned above the anti-reflective coating works very well. The F717 has two JPEG compression levels which can be combined with a variety of image resolutions and JPEG FINE, JPEG STANDARD or TIFF image quality. To give an impression of what some of the combinations of image size and quality produce the table below is a cross reference of some of them: 2560 x 1920 TIFF 2560 x 1920 FINE JPEG 2560 x 1920 STANDARD JPEG 2048 x 1536 FINE JPEG 1280 x 960 FINE JPEG 640 x 480 FINE JPEG Still the best resolution of current five megapixel digital cameras Good dynamic range, exhibits good detail from shadow through to highlight Fast AF, improved ability to select AF area, low light AF good Proportional by-wire zoom ring, works well High quality, sharp and very fast 5x optical zoom lens Fast startup and operational times, short write times Swivel body - you either love it or hate it Live view and playback histogram NightFraming feature is useful, NightShot of questionable use Excellent long exposures Unlimited MPEG movies with audio USB 2.0 connectivity Well positioned tripod mount Superb battery life Excellent build quality