Sony camera stores pics on floppy

While most camera vendors have been forced to settle for cable connections to view images on a monitor, Sony's Digital Mavica line packs a standard 1.44Mb floppy drive so that image scan be quickly viewed. 20 compressed images in 100Kb 'fine' and 40 in 50Kb 'standard' 640 x 480 mode can be stored on a single disk.

First up will be the MVC-FD5 (£500 + VAT list), due for release this month. A second model, the MVC-FD7 (£600 + VAT list), slated for availability in September, will include a 10x zoom lens and programmed exposure settings. Both models offer a 2.5-inch LCD colour screen, timer and flash.

The cameras tap Sony's Stamina technology to provide lithium ion-based battery life of about 500 snaps on one charge.

Sony can be contacted by telephone on 0990-111999.