Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 > Reviews > A year with a Minolta A2

Author's product rating:   

Picture Quality	Good
Range & Quality of Features	Diverse
Ease of Use	Easy
Overall Look & Design	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	Versatility, great results, long battery life
Disadvantages:	sluggish shutter speeds

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

First apologies if this sounds similar to my A1 review. It is and for good reason. They're identical apart from the larger picture sensor of 8 mega pixels and the enhanced viewfinder resolution.

This is a great camera, classed as a "prosumer" it falls between a full on digital SLR and a consumer digital snapper.

It's ideal for someone who wants to move on from their first digital camera to something that gives more control over the end picture.

Sensor
The 8 mega pixel sensor is good for high quality A3 prints. The sensor also has an "anti shake" feature that really does work and I found gives you effectively one more stop.

Lens
The good quality 7x optical 28 - 200 mm (35mm equivalent) zoom lens allows the camera to be used for most type of work from indoors to sports activity. The only lens drawback I noticed was that its macro capability is somewhat restricted.

Battery
The battery last for ages, I never managed to run it down between charges.

Exposure control
I found the camera to have good accurate white balance and with a shutter speed of 30 seconds to 1/4,000th of a second, well capable of almost any kind of shot.

Speed
Start up time is quite quick but there is a significant lag between pressing the shutter button and the picture being taken. Just enough for you to lose that expression or moment of action that you'd been waiting for. It seems that the only way of overcoming this is to upgrade to a £1,000+ digital SLR.

Noise
I wouldn't recommend this camera be set at much more than 400 ASA as noise becomes apparent.

Viewfinder
The Electronic Viewfinder has a class leading 922,000 pixels which makes for much easier fine focus control

The A2 will work in RAW mode and its results although slow to record are of a very high quality.

Overall it's a great camera and a good next step from your first digital experience.

If you can afford the difference choose this over the A1 version just because of the viewfinder.

Hope this helps you