Currently a student studying Electronics & Software Engineering at the University of Leicester
Currently a student studying Electronics & Software Engineering at the University of Leicester
Member since:17.01.2003
Reviews:8
Members who trust:2
Significantly cheaper than the Z5 but not significantly different
The Z3 is 1 in a series of currently (August 2005) 6 cameras. The Z1, Z2, Z3, Z5, Z10, Z20 all have incremental specifications. Note that there is no Z4. However, something which can be quite misleading is that the Z10 and Z20 are budget models and therefore do not have the larger zoom lenses or the ability to add accessories such as the wide angle lens converter kit or an external flash.
The main feature with the Z series (along with their huge zoom lenses) is the ability to see exactly what the picture will look like whilst taking the picture when looking through the view finder. This is perfect for when it is too bright to see the main LCD. This type of functionality usually means that a camera is categorized as a "digital SLR" and so is very expensive. This however, is not the case for the Z series due to them not having a removable lens, although they are still referred to by most people as digital SLRs.
The mechanism for achieving this lower cost SLR status has been changed since the earlier versions of this camera. The Z1 and Z2 (and the budget Z10 and Z20 models) have an internal mirror system to project the LCD image up to the viewfinder. The Z3 and Z5 on the other hand use the standard approach of a separate miniature LCD called an EVF (Electronic View Finder). So moving the switch on the back of the camera will just change the displays electrically instead of actually moving a mirror inside the camera, this leads more reliable camera, which should be less likely to break given general knocks and bumps.
Overall the Z3 is very comfortable to use. If you try holding the camera in the shops you will find that it feels unbalanced compared with other cameras, this though is only the case whilst there are no batteries. It does go through batteries faster than other cameras, although this isn't surprising due to the anti-shake system which is extremely effective. With its full manual modes it makes it an ideal camera for someone wanting to learn about photography, and a quick turn of the control allows you to select from automatic, pre-sets, and semi automatic modes. The buttons are laid out perfectly and there is even an option to have one button as a custom button allowing you to use it to change a setting on the camera without even having to go through the on-screen menu. The on-screen menu is shown on the EVF and you can also review your photos on the EVF.
The customizable ISO settings means that you can get pictures with very little noise by choosing a 'fast film' setting, however by ISO 400 there is a fair bit of noise, (the Z5 has much more noise at ISO 400). The ISO rating is a left over from film cameras and is an indication on how fast the film reacts to the light. Today this is all controlled by the software on the camera and in a basic sense changes the length of time it will wait until it records the pixels of the image sensor. The Z3 allows you to set down to ISO50, of course there is an auto mode so that it can be in control to ensure you get that perfect picture.
The only downside to this camera is that it can sometimes be difficult to see exactly if something is in focus due to the grid on the EVF, the grid is apparent as they have used a lower resolution LCD, as far as I am aware this problem has been sorted for the Z5, although I don't believe it is a big enough problem to warrant paying so much more.
On a final note if you plan to get this camera invest in a large SD memory card. 512MB minimum, but you'll be much safer with 1GB. I wouldn't bother with anything larger than 1GB instead if you can spend more spend it on a faster 1GB version. When using the ultra high speed capture features the card does get filled up extremely quickly, and to get the best out of the camera you really need a fast card. Also videos take up rather a lot of space.
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Advantages: A lot of zoom on a reasonably small/portable camera and very versatile Disadvantages: The manual focus is slow when moving from one extreme to the other
dydddewisant 25.05.2006 (25.05.2006)
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Review of Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3
Advantages: A lot of zoom on a reasonably small/portable camera and very versatile Disadvantages: The manual focus is slow when moving from one extreme to the other
dydddewisant 25.05.2006 (25.05.2006)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z3
Aug 26th, 2005
very helpful by (88%):
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