How did they get 5million pixels into that? (Konica Minolta Dimage X50)

Member Name: daniello

Product:	Konica Minolta Dimage X50
Date:	14/06/06 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very slim, excellent zoom, large screen, fastest start up time in its class & Macro is brilliant

Disadvantages: Flash is close to lens so red eye can be a problem.

I had a Konica Minolta Dimage X20 2.0 megapixel camera when they first arrived on the market and absolutely loved it so when I became the victim of a pickpocket 2 years ago my insurance money went towards the purchase of its big brother, the Dimage X50.

The camera was offered in red, silver, black or blue - I thought the silver one looked the classiest so had that version.

I'd read lots of camera reviews before I eventually bought it from an electronics website. At the time it was difficult to find on sale and was quite costly (£219)for a snapper. Most amateur snappers were happy with 2.5/3.0 mega pixels. Anyway, I paid for it on a Saturday morning, was emailed on Sunday to say it had been shipped from France, and it was delivered into my hands on Tuesday morning!

My first impressions were that it is just as tiny as the X20 and I knew right away I was going to love it.

I've just checked the spec and can confirm it weighs only 19grammes. The 2 inch LCD on the back makes picture reviewing really easy, and the ability to zoom in on and around on the pictures you have taken is fantastic.

One of the best features of the X50 is the unique zoom lens - you can hear it zooming, but unlike other cameras there are no external moving parts! The lens is constructed to extend telescopically inside the camera body - so no protrusions!

The camera came with an SD card (16mb) but you'll probably want to invest in additional cards with larger capacity. I only managed to get about 10 pictures of good quality on my card if I remember right, I only use 256mb cards now.

Tech Specs:
Number of effective pixels: 5.0 million
CCD: 1/2.5-type interline primary-colour CCD with a total of 5.4 million pixels
Zoom : 2.8 x optical 4.3 x digital (12x altogether)
Aspect ratio: 4:3
Autoflash/ autoflash with red eye/ fill in flash/no flash
Flash recycling time: approx 6 seconds
Shutter: CCD electronic shutter plus mechanical shutter with shutter speeds of 4 seconds up to 1/1000 of a second.
Focal length 6.1 - 17.1 mm (35mm equivalent: 37 - 105mm)
Maximum aperture f/2.8 - f/5.0
Optical real-image zoom viewfinder with 2" TFT digital interface monitor
Recording media: SD Memory cards & Multi Media Cards
File formats JPEG, motion Jpeg (mov) WAV, DCF 1.0 DPOF and Exif 2.2 compliant
Pictbridge enabled
Drive modes: single/ continuous advance/ UHS continuous advance (11 off 1280 x 960 images in one second)/ self timer and multi frame (9 different pics on one photo with one press of the shutter release)
NP700 Lithium Ion rechargeable battery
Tripod socket, speaker, microphone, USB port/ AV out terminal

I'm not going to go any more technical than that as i'm already out of my depth!

What I do know though is:

The camera can record voices, videos (night or day mode) and photographs. Night videos tend to be a bit grainy and on the red side in my experience, but i'm not sure about the quality produced from other cameras under the same conditions.

Automatic digital subject programme selection of portrait, landscape, sports action, sunset, text and macro, makes things really easy and the slider button is on the top of the camera next to the shutter release.

When I'm showing off, I always opt to demonstrate the macro function - it is just soooo impressive on this camera, comments tend to marvel at the quality of the image compared to the size of the camera - mind you it does help that there is a camera shake warning symbol to show when your image may be blurred so you can retake it again.

Buttons on the camera are well placed with the shutter sliding open to power it up, so you are unlikely to switch it on in your bag/pocket without knowing.

A four way button on the back allows you to scoot backwards and forwards between stored images. to adjust the drive mode and flash, to delete images and to rotate stored images. Also on the back are the menu button, the playback button (which can also power the camera up to view stored images without exposing the shutter) and the display button.


The most amazing thing about this camera is the speed at which it is ready to photograph from first powering it up - I'd compare it with driving at 0-60 mph in 3 seconds (but not in my Rover 75!)

Battery life is pretty good too, not sure how many actual shots i've taken from one charge, but on holiday for a fortnight taking video and photographs I only had to charge the battery twice during the fortnight. The battery is taken out of the camera to charge it, although a DC 4.7V adapter can be purchased separately to run from the mains.

When the camera is in playback mode you can delete selected or all images and you can opt to have stored images copied and saved as tiny files ready to email - great timesaving idea.

Colours are true and playback images can be displayed as slideshows, ideally suited for displaying on a tv screen or monitor.

The only things I find annoying about the camera are:

Red eye on some flash photographs, even with the 'red eye flash' option selected. This is more pronounced on the X50 than it was on the X20 version due to the location of the flash compared to the lens. They should have left that bit alone, but then you live and learn eh?

The wide angle is not as wide angled as I'd like it to be, but then I can't blame the camera for that can I.

There is a battery strength indicator which I usually fail to take notice of, so when the battery is worn out, it just expires - that may be a personnel management problem though, not the camera's fault either.

Because of the red eye I can only rate this camera as good, but it doesn't change how much I love it.

MyX50 was delivered to me at my work where everyone was interested in my new toy; and lo and behold, before the day was out two further cameras were ordered by colleagues.

Although we are two years down the line, I still love my camera and everywhere that I go, my camera comes too, which has enabled me to take some excellent impromptu shots;

Summary: In a nutshell, everywhere I go, my Dimage X50 goes too!

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