Digital Camera Review

Digital Camera Review

Konica Minolta released the DiMAGE Z5 at the Photo Marketing Association trade show in Orlando in February 2005. This digital camera targets intermediate users who have grown out of compact cameras, but are not quite ready to make the jump to digital SLRs. The 5-megapixel Z5 bridges the two types in shape and function. In a nontraditional frame, Konica Minolta packs 5.2 total megapixels on a 1/2.5-inch type CCD and puts it behind a 12x optical zoom lens with image stabilization. Coupled with a large right-hand grip and a nice layout of manual and automatic controls, the Z5 offers full usability in its 30 fps movie mode. The DiMAGE Z5 will retail for $499.95.
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Picture Quality / Size Options (8.0)
Adjustments to the image quality and size can be made in every mode of the Konica Minolta Z5. This camera has a 5-megapixel CCD which offers the following image sizes: 2560 x 1920, 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, and 640 x 480. There are also three compression modes that can be found just under the Image Size option: Fine, Standard, and Economy. This range of sizes is good enough to email easily at the low end and print detailed 8 x 10-inch prints on the high end.

Picture Effects Mode (8.0)
All of the picture effects can be found in the third tab of the recording menu. The Color mode offers Natural Color, Vivid Color, Black & White, and Sepia. When users scroll through these options, they receive a live view of the color changes (once again, love it). The Black & White option can sometimes look like a washed out grayscale, so the other two picture effect modes can help fix that. The Sharpness and Contrast each offer three settings. Hard, Normal, and Soft settings are available in the Sharpness mode. Perhaps if you’re a high school yearbook photographer and shooting a girl with her arms crossed over a mirror with a delicately placed rose (known as the “rose pose”), you’ll want to use that Soft setting. The ability to tweak image effects is somewhat rare among compact cameras and quite helpful in forming digitized effects. The Contrast mode with its High, Normal, and Low settings will best fix your grayscale woes. All of these features are made for the digital photographer who prefers or is forced (due to time restraints) to avoid Photoshop and all computer editing options.

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