Digital Photography Tutorials » Minolta

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3 Digital Camera Review

lau — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 17:28:14 +0000

The DiMAGE Z3 is the first ultra zoom camera Konica Minolta to use their exclusive Anti-shake image stabilization system which is very much needed on a ultra zoom camera. Two nice things about Minolta Z3 are the fact it uses AA batteries (better rechargeable) and SD compatible digital storage. The design is black-colored made mostly of high-grade plastic. It feels very solid and well-constructed, with a big grip, well placed buttons (important controls are all easy to reach) and there is good distance between the pop-up flash and the lens. The range of the lens is equivalent to 35 – 420 mm, allowing a large pallet of photography types and creativity. You can also add a wide-angle conversion lens as well as filters if you’d like.
The image stabilization is not based of shifting an element in the lens to counteract “camera shake”, but the Z3 actually moves the CCD itself, giving you sharper photos at slower shutter speeds. The camera is also equipped with an electronic viewfinder instead of the Switch Finder of other models (a good thing). It takes just 1.5 seconds to move the lens through the whole 12X zoom range, so it can be considered a fast camera. The Z3 does a pretty good job at taking pictures, though you can spot some noise/grain (actually noise seams to be the most serious problem of this digital camera). Colors look good with nice saturation levels and the subject is sharp; there is no purple fringing but there is an overexposure tendency. In regular macro mode you can get as close to your subject as 10 cm at wide-angle and 1.2 m at telephoto but super macro mode has a minimum distance of just 1 cm. Before ending, I’m mentioning the histogram display and the full manual controls present on this model as well as in many other ultra zoom cameras.

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3 Specifications

Tags: Konica minolta, Konica minolta digital camera, digital camera, dimage camera, Minolta dimage camera, konica minolta dimage

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 Digital Camera Review

lau — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 16:45:22 +0000

The Z series is one of the few ranges of digital cameras that look absolutely nothing like any film camera because of the unique futuristic design. The casing is plastic over a metal chassis, and the build quality is excellent: light and delicatebut in the same time it feels very strong and solid. Aside from a 5MP sensor and a couple of minor specification changes, the DiMAGE Z5 is almost identical to the Z3. The buttons are also extremely well placed, something that you can’t see on some other manufacturers. A 2 inch LCD monitor, a huge 12x optical zoom lens and Konica Minoltaâ€™s innovative image stabilization system are good reasons for anyone to buy it.

In terms of performance, it starts up in just under 2 seconds, and shot-to-shot time is approximately 2.5 seconds, which is not exceptional but from slow. Continuous shooting record the last 20 pictures at 10 frames per second. The movie mode is decent, you can operate the zoom lens during recording silently, so no motor noise is recorded on the soundtrack.

Focusing, exposure and color rendition are excellent, so I can say it provides nifty performance and generally good picture quality, as long as the ISO setting is kept low, and, the image stabilization makes it one of the few super-zoom cameras that can fully exploit its impressive 420mm focal length. It’s one of the best cameras I’ve reviewed recently.

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 Specifications

Tags: Konica minolta, Konica minolta digital camera, digital camera, dimage camera, Minolta dimage camera, konica minolta dimage

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z20 Digital Camera Review

lau — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:22:36 +0000

For the advanced amateur photographers, Konica Minolta has a DiMAGE Z-series, from which the Z20 ultra-zoom camera is the less expensive one, featuring high performance 5 megapixel sensor with an 8x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 36 â€“ 290mm) and a full range of manual exposure, metering and focus options. Besides from the futuristic silverish design, for the mid-range Z20, you can notice the large handgrip, the elongated round body, and the flash mounted over the lens barrel.
For a camera with such zoom power, the lack of image stabilization is quite an issue ourdays. The viewfinder is the same resolution as the monitor screen but it uses up a large amount of battery life compared to other viewfinders and can only be used when the LCD is deactivated (by the way, the LCD is quite small: 1.5 inch). All of the buttons and wheels are well placed for an easy use and the camera is also comfortable to hold.
Start-up time is very fast at around 1.5 seconds- it’s not a bad time, but Z10 for example is faster. In continuous shooting mode at the highest quality setting it can shoot three frames in just over 3.5 seconds, but then has to pause for a few seconds to write to the card. Comparing it again with the Z10 and the Z5, movies are recorded in high quality (but lower than Z5) Motion JPEG with audio (z10 does not have a microphone for audio recording). Picture quality is in the range of acceptable, with not too much noise and accurate colors, and, before saying that this camera is a budget alternative to the more powerful DiMAGE Z5, (an excellent performance for the money), I’m also mentioning that the 1cm close super macro will please you.

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z20 Specifications

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Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z10 Digital Camera Review

lau — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:53:18 +0000

Konica Minolta Z10 has a silver solid plastic futurisc design except the black placstic lens cap. This ultra-zoom (however, the 8x is the least amount of zoom in the DiMAGE Z-series) is easy to hold and has the important controls well-placed.
If you use rechargeble batteries, you will be amazed to find out that you can get up to 550 shots which is the top for this range of cameras. It’s also a fast camera: starts up almost instantly, with just a 1.1 second delay, while focusing speeds range from about 0.4 seconds for easy subjects at wide-angle to a second for more difficult subjects.
The LCD is rather small compared to the latest cameras, and the Switch FInder located above the LCD can only be used when the LCD is deactivated. The macro mode allows you to get as close as 1cm from the subject and colors are accurate and quite saturated as well. There is some purple fringing and noise is not an issue even at ISO 400. The Z10 doesn’t have a microphone so you won’t be able to record sound even if it does have a movie mode. In conclusion, the main target of the camera are passionate photographers who enjoy manual features and don’t care too much about movies.
There are just a handful of accessories available for the Z10: ZCW-200 wide-angle conversion lens kit is mentionable, but, unlike the DiMAGE Z2 and Z3, you cannot attach an external flash to the Z10.

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z10 Specifications

Tags: Konica minolta, Konica minolta digital camera, digital camera, dimage camera, Minolta dimage camera, konica minolta dimage

Konica Minolta DiMAGE X1 Digital Camera Review

lau — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 14:03:33 +0000

The 8-megapixel DiMAGE X1 is one of the most compact and slim cameras made by Konica Minolta. Despites for being so small, it has a large 2.5 inch LCD with bright backlight function making it confortable to use. For the first time in the DiMAGE X series, the DiMAGE X1 offers Anti-Shake Mode for steady shots in low light conditions. Another new thing on this camera is an improvent of the movie mode which now offers recording of smooth, high-resolution VGA (640×480 dots) movie clips with sound and the possibility of using the 3x optical zoom during recording. The DiMAGE X1 multifunction cradle is an useful tool that provides quick and easy connectivity for uploading and viewing images directly on a Computer or TV, as well as battery charging.

It has a very reflective gray or silver surface and quite few very intuitive buttons (4-way selector at the back and The shutter release, power button and mode selector switch on top). The lens is not located in the center of the front size, but in the upper right corner. The battery is capable to capture up to 200 shots before it needs to be recharged. However, even if it looks good and it is easy to use, shooting performance is below average for a camera in this class – it’s a slow camera and the lack of AF-assist lamp leads to focusing problems). The image quality is good, but not great (colors, balance and exposure are great, but some noise is visible).

Konica Minolta DiMAGE X1 Specifications

Tags: Konica minolta, Konica minolta digital camera, digital camera, dimage camera, Minolta dimage camera, konica minolta dimage

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6 Digital Camera Review

biteus — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:04:39 +0000

The design of this camera is very different than the rest of the cameras in it’s range. If you thought that a SLR-like ultra zoom digicam can not look fancy and stylish, you are wrong. The round forms of the design do not interfere with the camera usability and hand grip. The tripod mount is positioned well in the gravity center of the camera, but the mount is made of plastic – not very solid. It starts up in around two seconds and focus speed is about 0.2 seconds long. Konica Minoltaâ€™s Z6 features a very good anti-shake system that will help you to zoom at maximum power of 12x without a tripod and take good shots in low light also. Because of the focal length of the lens, the images may result in having barrel distortion at wide angle, and at the telephoto end it has softness and chromatic aberration, but noise control is excellent. Colors are natural, in my opinion a bit washed out. The super macro mode tells this lens to focus as close as 1cm, creating stunning images of the details of objects. Z6 has full manual exposure controls plus the possibility to attach an external flash, 5 different scene modes, custom white balance, and posses a viewfinder in case you run on low battery (however, it’s electronic not optical). Unlike other ultra-zooms from Konica Minolta, it lacks the RAW shooting format.
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6 Specifications

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6

Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6

Tags: konica minolta, konica minolta digital camera, konica minolta dimage z6, dimage z6, 12x optical zoom, 6MP, anti-shake, manual settings

Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200 Digital Camera Review

lau — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:10:10 +0000

DiMage A200 is a discontinued camera from Konica Minolta, but you might still find it on the market. The advantages of choosing this camera is that at a lower price, you get a 8MP camera with a zooming ring with hight optical zoom – 7x, manual functions, robust body with the look and feel of a SLR, and important features like RAW shooting, anti-shake technology that shifts the CCD to compensate for the vibrations that occur with hand held shooting (you can shoot with shutter speeds up to eight times longer – 3 stops – than with digital cameras without such technology) – available in movie mode also, subject movement predictive focus control (great for sport events), vari-angle LCD, electronic viewfinder, Direct Manual Focus function (also allowing you to enlarge and view any part of the monitor image), real time histogram display.
Last but not the last, the automatic flash control of the DiMAGE 200 works with the Maxxum/Program Flash 5600HS(D), Maxxum/Program Flash 3600HS(D), Maxxum/Program Flash 2500(D), Macro Twin Flash 2400 and Macro Ring Flash 1200. By adding the PC Flash Adapter PCT-100, you can also use other general-purpose flashes and studio flashes.
Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200Specifications

Tags: konica minolta digital camera, konica minolta dimage, konica minolta, konica minolta dimage a200, dimage a200, 8MP, 7x optical zoom, zoom ring, raw, anti-shake

Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 Digital Camera Review

lau — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 23:39:34 +0000

With 8-megapixels and 7x optical zoom, the Dimage A2 is the concurrent of Nikon Coolpix 8800. Unlike Coolpix, Dimage A2 works with a 28-200mm equivalent with lens and manual zoom and focus rings, magnesium-alloy body also. Just like Coolpix, it allows control over the exposure, contrast, sharpness and color saturation; it uses popup flash with Advanced Distance Integration flash metering and the possibility to use external flash and records date, time and descriptive info on images and good redeye performance.

Dimage A2 uses three metering modes: 300-segment, center-weighted and spot. Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 users may also expect outstanding image quality (still lower than Coolpix), but when it comes to macro, itâ€™s not that powerful as Coolpix (a minimum of 13 cm instead of 3 cm). Images are slightly noisy and soft, some out-of-focus. However, it starts up faster. Dimage A2 beats Coolpix with the easiness of operating the menu. If Nikon puts the accent on image results, Konica Minolta appears to concentrate on operability, bouth cameras being good quality digital cameras. Letâ€™s not forget that Dimage A2 received a DIWA Gold Award in 2004.

Technical Data:
â€¢ 1.8 inch LCD with 308.000 pixels is more powerful than Coolpixâ€™s 8800 LCD
â€¢ ISO Sensitivity: 64 â€“ 800
â€¢ Shooting speed: 0.4 seconds
â€¢ Engage speed: 2 seconds
â€¢ 2,1 images/second in continuos mode
â€¢ Anti-Shake function for sharp images at low shutter speed or long focal lengths
â€¢ CCD-RAW, TIFF, RAW+JPEG, Extra Fine JPEG file modes
â€¢ Uses Compact Flash (CF)
â€¢ Program, Aperture priority, Shutter priority and Manual modes, plus Scene Mode (Portrait, Sports, Night Portrait/Night View and Sunset)
â€¢ Color modes: Natural Color (sRGB), Vivid Color (sRGB), Adobe RGB, Embedded Adobe RGB, B&W (Neutral and Toned), Solarization
â€¢ Exposure Compensation: -2EV to +2EV in 1/3EV increments
â€¢ White balance: Auto, preset, daylight, incandescent, fluorescent, cloudy, speedlight, shade
â€¢ Metering: Matrix, spot, center-weighted, spot AF area
â€¢ Li-ion battery (280 pictures) and Optional battery grip that holds two Li-ion packs or 6xAA batteries

Tags: 7x optical zoom, 8MP, camera, digital camera, external flash, flexible camera, image stabilisation, nikon, Nikon Coolpix 8800, noise reduction, picture quality, konica minolta, Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2, dimage

Minolta Dynax 7 Digital / Maxxum 7 Digital / Î±-7 Digital 35mm Film Camera Review

lau — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 19:45:12 +0000

This is a SLR (Single Lens Reflex) Camera on 35mm Film with Interchangeable Lenses. This model started to go on sale in 2004. It works in Autofocus and Manual Focus Mode with Focus Lock (Wide focus area, any local focus area can be selected from the 9-point sensors). Includes a few automatic Shooting Modes: Landscape, Macro, Night, Sports and Portrait. Combining the best of established 35mm system photography with digital photography affords photographers the ability to more fully express themselves. As the Anti-Shake function is built into the camera body and not the lens, it is effective for the entire range of Minolta AF lenses. Same as other cameras, supports Full-auto, Programmed AE (P mode), Aperture Priority (A mode), Shutter Priority (S mode), Manual (M mode) and 3 Custom modes. Also, it has self-timer: electronic with 10-second delay, cancelable or 2-second delay, 2 or more exposures in multiple mode. This modelâ€™s luxury is the depth-of-field preview and letâ€™s not forget that it stores photographic data of up to 7 rolls of 36-exposure film (and for every frame these options: aperture, shutter speed, lens focal length, lens maximum aperture, exposure mode, metering mode, date/time information, exposure compensation, exposure bracketing values, flash compensation, flash bracketing values) . The common data panel on the top-plate is, in this case, quite small and shows only the shutter speed and frame counter. The data panel on the camera back shows the value of every single control on the camera.

Technical Data:
Metering: Ambient, Center-weighted Average, Spot metering, Flash metering or TTL Average
Battery Type: 2 x 3V Lithium Battery (CR-2)
Shutter Speed: 30 – 1/8000 sec
Viewfinder Frame Coverage 90 %
Viewfinder Magnification 0.7X
ISO Range – Automatic Setting ISO 5,000 – 25
ISO Range – Manual Setting ISO 6,400 â€“ 6
ISO Range – With flash: ISO 1000-25
Exposure Compensation: +/- 3 EV in 1/2 EV increments
Flash sync: 1/200 s

Tags: Maxxum 7 Digital, Î±-7 Digital, Dynax 7 Digital, 35mm Film, camera, minolta