Minolta Z3 - new ultra zoom camera (1 Viewer)

Fans of ultra zoom cameras might like to look at www.dpreview.com as it has details of the new Minolta DiMAGE Z3 camera. Clearly one of the now familiar 'Z' range this beastie has a whopping x12 optical zoom, image stabilization and boasts 4 mega pixel. It quite similar in specification to Panasonic's FZ10 (which I've recently bought - I hope I shouldn't have waited!). No price given.
John

Despite the great zoom and IS it's too bad it 's not an 8 megapixel model. No matter the zoom I always seem to need to crop.

I have a Z2, and was interested to hear about the Z3. I am amazed it is only 4.0 megapixels though - same as the Z2. 12x zoom - ok, anti-shake - fair enough; but apart from those features it isn't a lot different from the Z2. I would have expected 5.0 or 6.0 megapixels to be honest.

Minolta Dimage Z3

Hi Guys,
Just thought I,d show you this picture of a Starling on my peanut feeder which I took this morning. This was taken with my new Minolta Dimage Z3 which I bought yesterday for £289 from a shop where I live in St.Helens, and it was £60 cheaper than another well known shop in Liverpool.

Just wondering if this picture is good enough for the gallery. Thanks once again to Nigel Blake for his recomendation and advice. Please note that this picture is at full zoom 12x optical zoom and was 15ft away from the feeder and has not been enhanced in any way.

If it is good enough for the gallery, I'm wondering if Birdman can tell me how to put it onto the gallery.

Kindest Regards


Brian Pemberton

abp said:

Please note that this picture is at full zoom 12x optical zoom and was 15ft away from the feeder and has not been enhanced in any way.

Click to expand...

Brian,
Was the shot hand-held? Does the image stabilizer make a difference?

Minolta Z3

Alastair Rae said:

Brian,
Was the shot hand-held? Does the image stabilizer make a difference?

Click to expand...

Yes it was hand held leaning on the frame of the back window and I think yes it does make a difference.

Kindest Regards

Brian Pemberton

Hi,
Thought you all might be interested to see the shot of a Rose Coloured Starling taken at Dawlish Warren in Devon last week. I used my new Minolta Z3 on its automatic setting standing about 30 feet away. I used full zoom (12xoptical 4X digital) and was holding the camera with no support.

I have to say I think the camera is brilliant. I've been able to take some really good shots with it, but this is by far the most interesting.

Hope you enjoy it