| Product: |
Minolta Dimage X |
| Date: |
01/03/07 (82 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Cheap and compact
Disadvantages: Low megapixels
I've had a couple of digital cameras over the years, my last camera was a lot better than this Minolta but it was broken when I dropped it, I needed a cheap replacement and wasn't to bothered about perfect quality however I am surprised at the quality and features of this camera and it only has 2 megapixel. This camera has been easy to use, simple Controls, and there are a few reasonably advanced features combined with an extremely compact design. It pretty much fits in any pocket and is very light to carrying around.
The lens has no extending barrel, Zoom is adjusted internally, and keeps the camera slim at all times, It has 3X optical magnification and is boosted by a further 2X digital function to provide a total of 6X zoom, Extreme close-ups turn out great, the Macro mode lets you gets as close as 25cm to your abject at any focal length.
The built-in flash has a few different flash modes... Autoflash - flashes in low-light conditions, Red-eye reduction - multiple bursts before main flash (very painful if you have sensitive eyes like me, may take away my red-eye but my face is always twisted and screwed up), Fill-flash - flash is always on, and Flash-Off.
Images are stored on SD memory cards and can be quickly transferred to your PC via the USB interface which is supplied, or viewed on TV using the AV output terminal which you need to purchase else where.The LCD screen displays all the functions you are currently using which is quite handy if you've set it up for a one of take, it reminds you to reset the options. The options menus are very easy to navigate, there all pretty self explanatory and the manual helps clear things up which can also be accessed online.
The Minolta lets you record a max 35 second movie clip with audio which is a bit of a pain because this option is not changeable regardless of how big your SD card is, however you can record as many 35 second clips as your card can hold, I suppose this is due to the internal memory of the camera as it doesn't write directly to the SD card but after the 35 seconds it then saves the footage, you can also record up to 90 seconds of audio only, as well as up to 15 sec of voice memos right after you take each shot automatically.
Although this is a satisfactory camera, it does need a extremely steady hand to get clear images which I don't have but I do have a tripod to get the images clear, The battery life is poor it takes a specific brand a NP-200 rechargeable battery which doesn't last long with the LCD screen on and using flash with the highest picture quality only about 5 pictures can be taken but by adjusting the settings and using the flash and lcd screen only when necessary you can get a good 20 to 30 pictures on a 128mb card, it just takes a bit of experimenting with. Using high quality picture settings takes a few seconds for the image to save and even longer when switching to view the saved images also applies to having a lot of pictures stored, quite annoying since the battery life is so short.
I wouldn't recommend this camera, some mobile phones have just as good if not better cameras built in nowadays, It would probably be better if you get at least a 5 megapixel camera or greater.
Summary: 2 megapixel - total of 6X zoom - 35 second movie clip recorder - SD card
| Processing/Quality: |
|
 |
| Reliability: |
|
 |
| Ease of use: |
|
 |
| Features: |
|
|
| Picture quality: |
|
|
|
|
