Q-ute (Konica Q-mini)

Member Name: poisonfish

Product:	Konica Q-mini
Date:	24/09/01 (103 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: small, not very expensive

Disadvantages: battery life, small memory, no viefinder

This is one of the digital cameras they use at my university Camera club. I regularly go, as I need to use pictures in some of my reports. Digital cameras are so much ebtter than using 35mm and then scanning it in - you lose so much quality with taking the picture then scanning it, unless you invest in a 35mm negative scanner.

The camera cost £380, which I hear is a good price. As with all technology the price is bound to fall so shop around.

Using the Konica is really easy - the easiest out of all I've used. It has a 1.8" LCD on the back. which I've found handy for framing the picture in context. Others have told me that it's a good replacement for a polaroid when making test compositions for art. On the negative side, It doesn't have an optical viewfinder. This is bad in sunny conditions, or for action shots. I didn't find it a problem when I took pictures of buildings. It also has a video-out. This is very handy for using it in the house, to output to a TV. With a bit of fiddling I set it up to record my pictures through the SCART socket directly to video, which is economical off-computer storage.

But of course you need a computer to use this properly at all. Not a particually powerful one, but with a top-range printer (and the expensive paper) this could save you lots of money in the long run.

The software I use is Adobe Photodeluxe 1.0. It's good for scaling and organising your pictures. The camera uses AA batteries, which don't last long at all, but it does come with a charger.

The camera comes with 2mb "compact flash" as standard. This really isn't enough, but the cards are easy to buy - especially if you're in a camera club!

The picture quality was completely adequate for my needs. I print my pictures in large documents, so they need to be low resolution. The Q Mini has only got a maxium resolution of 640x480, so this may be a problem for
people who want to print anything more than normal-sized family prints. For this reason it's ideal for web pictures. It's not really suited for enlargements.

I've found this camera to be great. If you're looking for a mid-range digital camera I suggest you go to your nearest shop and check it out.

Summary: