DiMAGE is Everything! (Konica Minolta Dimage G530)

Member Name: LegendaryMrDude

Product:	Konica Minolta Dimage G530
Date:	24/04/05 (1144 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Ultra-fast startup, No shutter-lag, Build quality

Disadvantages: Price, User Interface

Digital cameras have arguably made a far greater impact than film cameras ever did, a quick look at the pages of Ciao reveals literally hundreds of digital models all vying for your attention and hard-earned. The majority are produced by manufacturers that are already well-established in the field of photography and all offer much the same in terms of functionality so how do you choose which is the best one for you?

I faced this challenge a couple of weeks back when we were out looking for a digital camera for LegendaryMrsDude. My old Fuji Finepix F601 was playing up and was long overdue a replacement, but what to replace it with? The criteria we chose and how the Konica Minolta G530 compared against the competition in each are described below, along with how we've found the camera in the last month of use.

Asking my wife is size is important isn't unusual... what surprised me slightly was that she said she'd prefer a smaller one than last time. With a baby one the way, she wanted a camera that she could carry around in a hand bag so that there was always a camera handy should the need arise. While there are smaller cameras out there, the G530 certainly cuts a fine figure. Barely bigger than a pack of 20 cigarettes and with no significant protrusions, lumps or bumps it's small enough to sit in the hand-bag. We even bought a padded LowePro case (because no case is supplied with the camera) and it's still smaller than the old Fuji F601 that we had previously. 4 out of 5 then for compactness.

Construction is also important, particularly with near-everyday use intended. The G530 scores well here. The case being entirely metal and there's even a metal cover that slides over the lens (which also acts as the on/off switch). While the intent is obviously never to drop it, I get the impression that it would survive a tumble or two. There's no rattling from anywhere on the camera; there are no untidy edges, gaps or holes that shouldn't be there. Buttons have a very positive feel and most make an almost imperceptible click as they are pressed to let you know something has happened. All in all, the camera exudes quality so 5 out of 5 for construction.

Speed of use has long been a bug-bear of digital cameras. Start-up times and shutter lag can all too often mean that you miss the moment, moving subjects end up out of focus, people end up with eyes closed because the blinked. The G530 does well here, with a start-up time of less than 1 second(!) Just slide back the lens cover and by the before you've found the shutter button with index finger, it's ready to go. Shutter-lag too is almost non-existent. The documentation claims the shutter lag is an staggering 0.03 seconds (!) and I've not yet been able take a test photo that illustrates the problems I've had with other digital cameras. So 5 out of 5 for speed of use.

Compatibility is reasonably important to us as well. When we bought the Fuji some 3-4 years ago there wasn't much to consider; CompactFlash and SmartMedia were the main choices for storage and USB1.1 was pretty much the only method of connectivity, using whatever cable the vendors decides to supply you with (although they were usually proprietary). Things have since moved on and there's an army of storage formats, some of which we had already invested in so rather than buy a camera that would require us to buy into ANOTHER storage solution, we wanted something that would work with either SD or CompactFlash for storage. CompactFlash still seems to be the mainstay for high-end digital cameras, but for compacts, SD offers the best capacity to physical size ratio so it's no surprise that the G530 takes SD cards, which are now available in sizes up to a massive 1Gb, although the G530 is supplied with a measly 16Mb card. As an added bonus, the G530 also supports Sony MemorySticks, allowing you to have a MemoryStick AND an SD card installed at the same time, giving a potentially colossal amount of storage! You can set a preference for which media is used first and, when it's full, images will be stored on the "secondary". The connection to the PC is via a mini-USB socket rather than the proprietary formats of some other manufacturers. Unfortunately the camera is only USB 1.1 rather than the faster USB2.0. Even so, the combination of storage formats and using a standard interface means 4.5 out of 5 for compatibility.

Given that LegendaryMrsDude is not particularly technical, ease of use was another big thing. Point-and-shoot had to be the default, although the ability to exercise a little more control wouldn't result in a marked-down score. The G530 does reasonably well in this area, although it could do better. There are 7 buttons and a thumb-pad on the back of the camera, and most seem to serve different functions depending on which mode the camera is in. Fortunately, they are well labelled and, once the camera has been set up for the first time, there are only 5 that need to be used on a regular basis; the shutter button, the pair for zooming in/out and the playback and delete buttons for sorting through your pictures before you've downloaded them to your PC. Setup of the camera is reasonably intuitive, the menus are clear and navigation fairly straight-forward using the thumb-pad. A range of programmed subject modes comes as standard, giving all the usual portrait, scenery, night-time and sport, along with the amazingly handy "snap-shot" and the unusual "angel" modes. These last two are likely to be the most often used, snapshot being ideal for point-and-shoot operation while Angel gives softer, warmer, more flattering skin tones but is otherwise the same as "portrait". On the ease of use front then it scores a 3 out of 5, which would have been lower still if it weren't for the "Snap-shot" mode.

Regardless of how good a camera is technically, it's no use if the pictures it produces are rubbish. Previous exploits with digital cameras have revealed all manner of inconsistencies, from picky auto-focus to poor light metering, exposure and dubious white-balance adjustment. Starting with the auto-focus, half-pressing the shutter button will set the camera focusing. It's remarkably quick to focus, the literature states times of 0.25 seconds and while it feels slightly longer than this, even double the quoted time would still only be half a second! Focus-lock is indicated by a constant green LED by the eye-piece; a flashing green LED meaning that no focus lock was achieved so if you do press the shutter button, your picture may be slightly out of focus. On the whole, the AF deals well with challenging scenes, high-contrast and reflections don't really cause any problems and moving subjects are handled surprisingly well for a compact camera. Earning the G530 5 out of 5 for focusing.

The focusing is complemented by the exposure and white balance which are similarly well handled. It has so far proved impossible to take a picture than has been exposed so badly as to be unrecoverable during editing and the actual number of pictures that have needed their "levels tweaking" have been few and far between. Of all the program modes, Angel is the one that plays with these settings the most, adjusting white balance and exposure to ensure that skin tones are more flattering than they would be under normal conditions. The effect is subtle and could easily be achieved on the PC, but it's handy to have it done consistently in-camera (if you like that sort of thing). So a 4 out of 5 for exposure.

And that's pretty much the camera in a nut-shell. Costing a tidy £200 (shop around and I am sure you'll find it cheaper), it's got a nice small screen with good colour reproduction that remains visible in sunlight. With 5 Mega-Pixel resolution the image quality is great and will happily enlarge to 10x8. The various compression modes allow for image sizes ranging between 3Mb and 500K with the biggest factor being artefacting with the higher compression levels. The in-built flash is good for fill-in at close range but won't reach much beyond 15 - 20 feet. The battery is proprietary (NP-600) Li-Ion that will last for an estimated 185 pictures after which you will need to take it out of the camera and put it in the supplied mains-charger for recharging. As well as still pictures, you can also record movies (AVI) and audio clips (WAV), with the maximum length being determined by the amount of storage you have left, thanks to the clunky user interface switching between modes is a bit of a chore. Of course, the camera can be used un full-manual mode as well, with control over every aspect being possible but the limited buttons mean that I doubt anyone will ever use it in this way as you'd be forever hunting through menus in search of the setting you wanted to change.

All things considered then, this is a fine piece of kit. It's well engineered, packed with features and produces excellent pictures. It's let down slightly by the ease of use. Once set up, it's a dream, but getting there, or changing it afterwards, can be a bit of a nightmare. The lack of an intuitive control system is the only problem this camera has, in every other regard it's probably the best digital compact I've ever used.

So what's the verdict? On the assumption that you are buying, as we did, a camera to use as a point-and-shoot then it's got to be 5 stars. Once it's set up it simply takes great photos. The start-up and response times are amazing, probably the quickest on the market and the output is fantastic.

Summary: