Hello all - I've owned this camera for 15 days now. My major gripe is the fact that Konica Minolta UK sent out a batch of these to Warehouse Express with no user manual included. They then offered to sell me one for £10!
Eventually, and to date, I have received four! - 2 from Minolta and 2 from Warehouse Express (who had a batch sent) - this was after I had to complain and requested numbers for the head of customer service, eventually Minolta Uk then relented.
Intersting to note I have received four manuals, and each have arrived in an envelope without an apology, letter or even a compliment slip.
As if that wasn't bad enough, I did a mega review on here a few days ago and inexplicably lost it when I tried to preview it!
The DC Review is much better than I can produce, so I'll not repeat. The sharpening can be done in camera, which helps (or photoshop of course). Having not owned any of the other minolta Z range, I can't comment on the difference, but if I was a Z3 owner, I wouldn't upgrade to this.
Camera prices have tumbled and a year or two back I'd have thought for £279 (delivered) this was a good purchase, but I'm reliably informed that is not cheap for a digital camera with 5Mp and 12x image stabiliser etc. - Still what do I know compared to the 4/5Mp Vivitar users with 3x digital zoom for less than £150 on Bid TV or Price Drop TV?
Many years ago, i was a serious SLR photographer. Now I find it fun, so I'm not overly concerned at this camera lack of long exposure (bulb setting) - the days of me timing 60 sec exposures at firework displays or thunderstorms are long gone. It's also fun to get back to basics and use aperture or shutter priority modes again. With the added bonus of switching to auto or programme for others to "point and shoot".
Remember, this camera was only purchased to photograph those birds to close for scoping and too far away for the 4500 @ 4x - one thing that isn't mentioned in the review, the digital zoom works surprisingly well.
In good light the iso 50 will produce great results and the iage stabiliser DOES work - who knows, I might even start to use macro mode - something that never interested me before.
My main gripe with this setup is the optional extras. the zoom is 35-420mm equivalent - there is a wide-angle adaptor (could have made it wider to start with?) there is NO telephoto adaptor/converter - I'd have thought as the current vogue is for superzooms, a 1.4/1.7x converter would have been a good idea? The camera hot-shoe has 3 flashes available, cheapest one being £130+ - I'd have thought more might have gone into the built-in flash. The £15 quid case in handy to carry/protect (fits a trouser belt) - would have been nice to have been included. £60 for an optional AC adapter (included with my Fuji) and of course the ludicrous inclusion of a 16MB SD card.
Them are just my opinions (and whinges!) - the $10,000 question would I recommend purchase? - well, yes if it is your first digital camera, or you're upgrading from a very basic model. Although it isn't perfect, it is still very good.
On the other hand, if I had the Z3 or similar Panasonic (forget the model) indeed any of the big MP/Zoom cameras, it would be fairly pointless upgrading.
The battery life is good, and 4xNiMh or better 8 or 12 with a fast charger (mine is two hours per set) are essential. Main reason is the viewfinder is not very good at all if like me, you wear specs. The large LCD is greatly suited for this, and the better battery life if fully justified, or fully justifies using the LCD screen - if you follow..
I've not posted any prints on here - the review is of the camera, not my pics - besides I've only been out once and that in a blizzard. As already told, indoor use is poor.
Apologies for rambling, and any gobbledigook as I'm not risking previewing and losing this review a second time!
Having used the edit button, I forgot to mention and have just noticed I never got the paper manual for the software either, but care not - life is too short (it's on disk anyway).
May I add at this point & having re-read this post, it sounds a very negative and harsh review. This is really a good camera, very good, and certainly worth the (reasonable) cost - my point is it's not a great camera, but then it doesn't pretend to be. Ergonomically, it looks and feels good - which many people feel important, and also, there are enough menus to satisfy the button pushers amongst us.
Steve