Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Thoughts about the Minolta DiMAGE X

Never mind ;-)

I was looking at higher resolution cams myself.

I still have two Canon A-1 bodies and a number of lenses that I use when I want very good pictures (or when travelling). The Dimage X is for the occasional web/email pic, birthday party and what not.

There is a very good GERMAN web page that has test pictures of a number of cameras. The files are obviously huge.

Look here for test pictures.

There may be an english language site of similar content, but you really don't need to understand any german to use this one.

The problem I had when I was shopping around was optimizing between

Resulution (Megapixels)
Price
Build quality
Optical quality (i.e. optical Zoom factor etc.)
Useability of the camera

I found the Dimage X the best compromise for my specific needs.

Also when you buy a higher resolution cam you need more memory to store the pictures. They usually come with very little memory that lets you store only 5-10 pictures. Find out what type of memory the camera uses and how much you want / need to upgrade before you buy.

Just a few thoughts

Can you kind of point me into the right direction as to where to find the images on this greman site.

Please don't feel as if your information is not helpful. It is completely the opposite. You along with others are making me realize that I need more resolution in my shots. That is all. I appreciate all of the info you have given me. I am not a person that will buy without research and so I have come here. Your advice is great. If you have more, please let me here it.

-Brian

I have a Canon G2. It's fantastic and has never disappointed. Battery life is phenomenal. Pictures are great. It can accept almost any kind of CF card. And the flip screen is pretty cool too. My friend has a Canon S40. Basically a smaller version of the G2 and he loves it as well. I'd go with one of these if you can afford them.

@Grymes: I never felt as if my info was not appreciated at all ;-)

What is a good camera for my purpose may be rather useless for you. That is why you asked about the Dimage X in the first place, right? There are Pros and Cons to every camera on the market. A good 2 MP cam may be better suited than an average 4 MP.

About the web site:

There is a Dropdown / Listbox on the left that says "Information" and a button next to it that says "Los". Select the camera brand from the list box and click the button. You will see a list of camera names and links to the respective pictures, including the size of the file they are linked to. When the link has three asterisks (***) next to it that indicates that the pictzure is an unedited sample picture taken with that specific camera, so it is exactly what you get with a camera of that type. The differences are pretty big between the pictures.

Good luck finding the best deal

Or, for your convenience:

F100 Test pic 1059 KB

Dimage X Test pic 730 KB

Supposedly the DiMage has kinda crappy picture quality. MacWorld recently tested it and said it was 'ok'.

I don't know about everyone else, but for me it is hard to see differences in picture quality between different camera. Yes, I see some imperfections like slight blurring and sometimes a glowing effect, but that seems to be found in most of the images I have looked at. Seems to be one or the other, blur or haze/glow.

Definitely think I need to do more research and right now is not the time. Cant really concentrate on this knowing that I should be working.

-Brian

Some info I sent to a friend looking to buy his first digicam for unknown uses.

www.steves-digicams.com
www.imaging-resource.com
www.dcresource.com
www.dpreview.com
www.photo.net

Those are the big sites for reviews and experiences.

Aaron's general recommendations:

Optical Zoom is important, digital means nothing

Standard batteries are cheaper than proprietary - AA's are the choice for cheap NiMH ( Thomas Distributing )

Compactflash is my choice for media - some media has limitations of size (128MB max for Smart media) and it is standardized and cheap. Just make sure to research the brands. Viking and Kingston are my performance values right now at about $50 for 128MB or $100 for 256MB from Amazon and Buy.com. xD is a brand new format replacing Smartmedia but not backward compatible.

Size (or lack thereof) counts unless you want digital SLR. You are more likely to take a small camera with you to carry around on vacation than you would a large camera bag with all the gear you might need for a whole day away from your hotel room.

Don't pay for more pixels than you need. Many professional digital SLR cameras are only 2MP because they are effective at printing professional 5x7's and plenty enough for most people's 8x10. Choose a quality 3MP camera
over a not so great 4MP for example. Digital cameras are great because you can see the result right away. If it is junk, just snap another. Well, if 50% of the pictures are junk, that extra resolution doesn't get you a better picture, does it?

Based on the review sites above, I recommend a camera that takes great pictures in auto mode, but has all the manual controls you could need. There are a lot of great cameras that can be tweaked, but if 90% of the common shots take you 2-3 minutes just to set up the shot (or Photoshop afterwards), you will be sorely disappointed and less likely to use it in the first place.

Separate LCD is nice. Color primary LCD's use batteries very quickly so not having to use it to find out some of the more common information will help get you through a day.

Now for you. I'd stay away from that camera. Here is one reason from DPreview:
It's really not good news, the DiMAGE X recorded the lowest resolution measurements of any modern 2 megapixel digital camera. For horizontal resolution it's almost the same as Nikon's Coolpix 775 but vertical resolution is notably less. I'm afraid to say that the innovative lens system just can't deliver enough resolution for the 2 megapixel sensor.

Here is a direct comparision of the three tiny 2MP cameras.

In the 2MP market, I really like the Canon Powershot A40. A friend of mine got last years A20 after I recommended it to him. It takes amazing pictures in automatic point and shoot mode. No compensations, no editing afterwards. The A40 adds manual control of ISO. It only costs $299 at most retail places (can be found a little cheaper). It is larger than the Digital Elph sieries, but really not big at all. Regualar 35mm P&S size.

As for how many pixels do you need? 2-3MP is probably plenty for most people unless you are a professional or hobbyist. My friend says his A20 prints great 8x10's which was his primary concern with only geting a 2MP camera.

The difference is the detail. Use this comparator:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/IMCOMP/COMPS01.HTM

Look at the house shots between the A20 and G2. Look at the shingles for example. That's the power of more pixels. Not much you can do about that limit, but colors are very close. Wouldn't look much different if printing a 5x7 or scaling it down to 1280x1024 many people's screen.

You say you can't tell a difference between som cameras, but most pictures people put on the web are the best ones. Use that comparitor again on the indoors portrait of the A20 vs. the Kodak DC3800 (another 2MP camera) or any of the HP cameras. Notice the differences. The focus and colors can be drastically different.

Pay attention to night shots as well. A camera with an AF illuminator helps for those indoor people shots. A long exposure time helps the no flash shots such as these:

Compare: http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/a20-review/nightshot.JPG
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_g2-review/nightshot.jpg

If I were to buy a camera right now, G2 would be it. But that one is a little out of my price range now so the A40 is my next pick by far. Olympus is my next favorite line, but limited by 128MB Smartmedia.