DiMAGE Z5 Digital Camera (5.0MP, 2560x1920, 12x Opt, 16MB SD Memory Card) -

Manufacturer: Konica Minolta
Model: 2800351
Max Focal Length: 69.9 mm
Max Horizontal Image Resolution: 2560 pixels
Max Aperture: 2.8 1/f
Image Format: DCF|DPOF|EXIF|JPEG
: Number of User Reviews: 5

Reviewed by: golfreak21 from FL on May 7, 2005
Rating:

Experience: 21 Days

Strengths: 12x optical,5megapixel,fast autofocus,anti-shake which works very well when zooming at long telephoto, 35-430mm gives great flexability in range of shots,very comfortable grip,takes SD&MM cards.

Weaknesses: not Much,Slower autofocus in movie mode but you don't buy a digital camera to make movies.

Summary: This is my first experience with a digital camera.I've always used high end slr's. I was planning a trip to europe and bringing a mini dv camcorder and didn't want to lug a heavy slr with all the cumbersome lens changes.This camera covered all my range of shots with a 1 Gig Memory card gave me almost 400 shots in the highest resolution and fit with my mini dv in one small camera bag. very happy with this camera.

Reviewed by: trook_1115769206 on May 16, 2005
Rating:

Experience: 12 Days

Strengths: fits nicely in hand. excellent zoom. histogram. good battery life. clear pictures. good movie mode. manual and auto settings, good flash options, fast start-up time, anit-shake feature

Weaknesses: no auto alumination assist feature

Summary: Love the camera. This is my first Konica/Minolta camera and I really love it. The anti-shake feature is phenomenal. I would recommend this camera to anyone who wants a super zoom camera.

Reviewed by: mrmagoo7 on Mar 23, 2005
Rating:

Experience: 1 Weeks

Strengths: anti-shake technology, 12x optical zoom, fast focus capability, 640x480x30fps movie mode with audio, filters can be mounted

Weaknesses: size (but what do you expect with a 12x zoom and my last camera was a Sanyo MZ3), very slow focusing in movie mode when zooming in/out, no audio memo with photographs, manual focus mode

Summary: I purchased this camera as I was growing tired with the limited 3x optical zoom that was supported by my Sanyo MZ3. Though I've looked at the Canon S1, I finally decided with this camera since because of 5 megapixel images and 12x optical zoom.

I've been using movie modes to replace carrying around my DV camera. Therefore, 640x480x30fps with unlimited recording duration was a must. The ability of being able to zoom while recording in movie mode was an added feature that I wanted. The added feature of anti-shake technology working in movie mode also works well. In numerous movies that I've made, I still can't hear the motor used for zooming in/out in the movies in a relatively quiet room. The camera doesn't do a good job (I would call it only a fair/poor job) when focusing in movie mode when zooming in/out. It can take upwards of 5 seconds for the camera to focus when at full zoom. Though, this might be insufficient ambient lighting. I'll need to test that out further.

Photos can be taken in Automatic mode surprisingly quickly. I use to have to wait for a camera to focus, but, with this camera, focus to shot taken is less than a second. Manual focus is OK, but, I like the ability of being able to select the distance (in meters or feet) instead of using the sliding scale that the Z5 uses. One feature that's missing is recording clips of audio when taking a photo. I found that very useful when taking pictures for reference use when an audio clip of my voice was useful for giving details of why, where, and what position the photo was taken. Anti shake works surprisingly well as I'm able to hold the camera and take photos at 12x without appreciable shakes.

Overall a great camera. Bonus is that the Sandisk 1GB SD card, which is one of the cheaper 1GB SD card, is fast enough to be used for recording 640x480x30fps movies in fine mode.

Reviewed by: jamilili from IL on Apr 7, 2005
Rating:

Experience: 1 Days

Strengths: The larger LCD is very nice when reviewing picture on the camera as well as taking images. The anti-shake mechanism is very useful negating the use of a tripod

Weaknesses: You need to throughly read the manual to fully understand all this camera can do.

Summary: I owned the Z1 prior to getting this camera. The Z5 is more stylish. The larger LCD and anti-shake are very desirable. 5 megapixels contribute to qreat image quality

Reviewed by: hydroman73 from MN on Mar 22, 2005
Rating:

Experience: 1 Days

Strengths: 5mp, screen size, 12x zoom,

Weaknesses: Right now, alot!

Summary: just picked up my z5 from ritz camera put batts in and 1gb sd took 5pics noticed two red pics on 2in. lcd then camera had blue dots moving all over the screen? then had system error come up on screen unit shut down, then would not start up again, removed batts then retried would only start up if put on evf setting then tried movie mode took about 30sec. of video had blue dots all over screen in play back same thing and huge glitches also nothing like the z3 i had tried for 2 weeks! got on the phone and called minolta they said to ship in for repair i said no way just bought an hour ago it wiil go back to the store, asked if they had problems with the line (like they would say they did) said no, that if i got another i should have no problems?.....just wish camera would have worked like it was suppose to for $500.00 hope this isn't a repeat of the issues with z3 until new firm ware came out WHAT A SHAME!

Make it simple,and just exchange the camera where you bought it f...

Obvisouly it was defective....