Stainless Beauty (Konica Digital Revio KD-400Z)

Member Name: Alasn

Product:	Konica Digital Revio KD-400Z
Date:	22/02/03 (526 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Size and Finish, Picture Quality, Ergonomics

Disadvantages: Tripod bush to one side, Limited manual overrides, Poor movie facility

The Konica KD400Z is about as small as you would wish a digital camera to be and exquisitly finished in stainless alloy. The only palasticy bits are the battery cover and (stupidly) the tripod bush.

The camera lacks many sophisticated extras in terms of manual overides but is ergonomically designed with a 3 colour menu system. It is the fastest camera to initially start-up (in around one and a half seconds) although there is up to a 4 second delay between flash shots (and about half a second on squeezing trigger). The camera is limited to jpegs and has no TIFF facility. But at normal compression the shots are detailed and accurate and the macro facility takes you down to just a few inches.

There is very little digital noise in normally illuminated shots - although some noise is clearly visible in very low light settings. Colour depth and resolution are remarkably good for a tiny camera - although close action shots may become blurred in low and indoor light. I love the way the front metal shield slides over and protects the camera and the pulsing blue light warns of pending shots.

This is easily pocketable and produces amazingly good photographs - which are marvellous at 10"x8". The TFT screen is great in all but the brightest weather and the contraols function faultlessly. I've had mine for about 8 months and the camera has worked well and battery life is very good - at around 100 shots (with limited use of screem etc.) Around 170 images on normal compression with a 128 mb card (no compression yields only marginally better and should be reserved only for the most precious images.

Movie maode is very basic and limited to a pathetic 15 seconds. Still the camera has sound and a built in speaker. There is about 30 seconds delay in processing movies - which are of minimal quality.

I just love this camera and have no regrets on buying it. There is a new model now which costs extra but produces 5mpxs. But 4mega pi
xels is fine at this stage in tecnological development and images load speedily through the USB cable provided. A card reader saves masses of battery juice though and is recommended.

There are better cameras - but few at this price and size. I recommend a closer look.

Summary: