When the 3 1/4-in floppy camera came out I wanted one. It was not in my budget. But a decade and a half ago a friend gave me one. It worked. It came with two batteries and three floppies.

Yesterday a different friend gave me one as well. It came with one battery. That battery is the same as the other batteries.

I went from a person who couldn’t afford anything back in the day to a person who’s just being handed these priceless artifacts.

They both work. The only device I can read the disk on are the cameras themselves because I have no floppy drives.

Sony Mavica FD91 and FD81

  • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.netEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    I have a funny story about a Sony Mavica.

    My family bought one when it was becoming obsolete, on deep duscount, I forget from where. We used the crap outta that thing, and when we became internet savvy, used it as a way to upload pictures to the computer for eBay listings. Eventually we replaced it with a digital camera that used an SD card, and in its little protective case the mavica went, to rest.

    2 decades later, I find it while cleaning out old boxes, found that it still worked perfectly (thanks to using standard AA’s), and decided to sell it on eBay.

    It sits up there for a while at $20, until one day I get a message about it, asking if the screen was okay or sum such. I tell them it is, and shortly after they buy it.

    Out of mild curiosity, I click on the buyer’s profile, and see that he sells stuff as well, and it’s a very old account, about as old as mine. The pictures for the items he currently had for sale are pretty grainy, and I thought… Surely not…

    I download a picture of one of his items, and sure enough; it’s the same resolution as the mavica takes, 640 by something.

    That crazy bastard had been steadily using his Sony Mavica floppy disk camera for over 20 years for his little eBay business.

    I suspected that his camera must’ve finally given up the ghost, and he spotted my prime example and bought it so he could continue his well worn routine.

    He left me positive feedback for the Mavica, and I suppose he’s still using it to this day, keeping that old equipment alive.

    As a fan of the brave little toaster, it nearly brings a tear to the eye… I just really hope he switched to rechargeable batteries at some point, the little floppy drive on it chewed through them quick.