Konica Minolta DiMAGE E500

I've had a digital camera for quite a while now - a Fuji S300 (which I reviewed a little while ago) but my partner has wanted one for a while, one that is relatively small, light and easy to use. Last July I decided to take the plunge and get one for her birthday.

After scouring the web and comparing endless specifications I decided to opt for the (Konika) Minolta Dimage E500 as it seemed to satisfy all of the criteria. It is a solidly ...
...and weighing 130 grams.

For such a small camera it packs is quite feature packed - 5 million mega pixels and 3x optical zoom lens with 4x digital zoom on top of this. The camera was easy to set up, just pop in the 2 AA batteries supplied and the setup was complete (the camera has 12MB in built memory so no need to insert a memory card to at least try the camera).

The camera is turned on by pressing a rather small and ... more

I've had a digital camera for quite a while now - a Fuji S300 (which I reviewed a little while ago) but my partner has wanted one for a while, one that is relatively small, light and easy to use. Last July I decided to take the plunge and get one for her birthday.

After scouring the web and comparing endless specifications I decided to opt for the (Konika) Minolta Dimage E500 as it seemed to satisfy all of the criteria. It is a solidly built compact camera measuring 91mm x 61mm x 27mm and weighing 130 grams.

For such a small camera it packs is quite feature packed - 5 million mega pixels and 3x optical zoom lens with 4x digital zoom on top of this. The camera was easy to set up, just pop in the 2 AA batteries supplied and the setup was complete (the camera has 12MB in built memory so no need to insert a memory card to at least try the camera).

The camera is turned on by pressing a rather small and discrete button located on the top of the camera, after doing so the automatic lens cover retracts and the small zoom lens reveals itself. Exactly what else happens depend on what 'Mode' the camera is in, with the mode being controlled by the circular dial on the top right hand side.

Firstly lets look at the 'Picture Taking' modes of which there are several - a full automatic mode plus other automatic modes for specific situations such as sports, portraits, landscapes etc. The camera has no view finder to look through so the 2 inch LCD screen at the back of camera must be used for composing the photo with the zoom being controlled by a rocker switch which is also located at the back, there is no need to focus as this is all taken care of automatically. The LCD is large enough, bright and clear and we quickly got used to using this. The camera, like them all, has a built in flash which fires automatically should it be needed, it also has the very handy automatic red eye reduction to stop those family snaps looking scary and vampire-like. The actual image is then taken by pressing the shutter button which is in the traditional spot on the top right of the camera

Whilst in this mode pressing the 'menu' button, which can be found in the bottom left of the cameras back will give access to menus to change the image quality as well as other more advanced options such as exposure compensation. All menus are easily navigated using the up, down, left and right arrow navigation button which are arranged in a circle around the actual 'menu' button which is used to confirm the selected options.

The other main mode is the 'Playback mode'. This shows the images that have been taken on the 2 inch LCD screen using the left and right navigation buttons to move between the images taken. The menu and associated navigation buttons are this time used to delete either individual images or the wipe the whole memory or lock prized images to prevent accidental image deletion.

The final mode is 'video capture', this works just like normal photo capture but the shutter button is used to record video - you need to keep the shutter button pressed in to keep the recording going.

All in all we have been very impressed with the camera. The images we have taken are high quality and can be enlarged to almost A3 size whilst retaining image quality, the build quality is good, it is simple to use especially with the comprehensive manual supplied and comes with the 2 AA batteries required, a USB cable for downloading images to the computer, PC image processing software and even an S-video cable so that images from the camera can be played back on the TV and to round it off there is a nice velvet case and wrist strap.

And finally the price - all this for £114 as Jessops price matched an Internet price as long as the Internet company is UK based and selling a UK model (not an import)
 

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