Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6 Digital Camera
- Digital Zoom: 4x
- Camera Type: Standard Point and Shoot
- Weight: 0.75 lb.
- LCD Screen Size: 2 in.
- Resolution: 6.4 Megapixel
- Optical Zoom: 12x
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Terrific Telephoto- Konica Minolta's (Now Defunct) "Grab & Go" DigiCam
Pros
Incredibly sharp images at all zoom ranges. Feels good, easy to operate the basics.
Cons
Manual Pull-Up Flash, Digital Zoom, Over Pixeled. No Lens Cover, No lens adapter. Price.
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
In spite of handicaps accumulated during 65 years of taking snapshots, this camera was easy for me to "Grab and get Going". Great and the Boss Paid for it.
(Revised 1/20/06 to correct actual price paid.)
(Revised 2/7/06 to emphasize best feature.)
(Revised 3/9/06 to mention lens adapter)
(Revised 4/30/06 to report that the company sold off all of their Digital Technology relevant to this product to Sony Corp. "They were too far behind..." (Sony, reportedly, will pick up Warranty problems and spare parts?)
REVISION: The available lens adapter finally arrived and I can recommend that device since, when used in conjunction with an Ultra-Violet Lens, the real lens is adequately protected. I have survived a couple of incidents, such as falling face down into a foot of snow, with the camera landing on my back. It survived also.
On the same outing, I continued to 'wear' the camera like a shoulder holster but not using the carrying case. Somehow, the door on the bottom snagged on something and all 4 batteries dumped out. Not good. A one inch piece of invisible mending tape fixed that flaw.
The Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z6 is a crowd pleaser, even with its odd name. It is, at 6 Megapixels, the proverbial "Cannon" with which one can destroy an ant. Or, the Z6 can be the answer to all those folks who have been crushed by the tide of scorn from those know-it-alls who so richly populate planet Earth. Yes, here is another view from Ground Zero; an enthusiast's view of a Hi-Tech Marvel that is forgiving of the innocent and demanding of the expert. You are about to witness what can happen when an amateur gets ahold of an expert's toy.
The full specifications of this 6 MP camera are available above: Press "View Details". I have thus been able to concentrate on those features that interest me and on my actual, albeit limited, experiences with this and other cameras.
My first contact with things photographic occurred when I was 5 years old. The object of my fascination was a 1930's Kodak Six 16 FOLDING Bellows camera. I had watched as my parents pointed it around and produced clicking sounds; also had noted how it was always folded up and put away somewhere. I found it one day and figured out how to open it up (Press & Sproing). It took longer to collapse it; in fact my mother interrupted my efforts. In a panic, I jammed the balky camera back into the desk drawer where it had been concealed and closed the drawer on it. When it was found, the ensuing uproar should have cured me but it did not. After only 8 years had passed, some chance enemy gave me a Kodak Brownie and I was off and running. The next door neighbor owned a Photography Store and Laboratory and he took me there one day and "Exposed" me to the chemical aspects of the Sacred Art. Not long afterward, I encountered my very first specimen of the species HOMO NERDUS MAXIMUS; who forever spoiled my attitude toward hi-tech. By the hour, this enemy of the people spouted f-Stops and exposure meters and any other trivia I might have asked about if only ......! About the only technical tidbit I ever absorbed was the notion of "FOGGING the FILM". I could do that, too.
Fast Forward 65 Years
In my business or trade, one takes snapshots of a house and buries the prints in a folder forevermore. I have done that since 1977. Lately, the required snapshots are captured on a Memory Card by means of a Digital Camera (see above). This non-challenging task has been done by me with a 1 MegaPixel HP, a 2 MegaPixel HP, and a 3 MP Canon A-75; all of which have belonged to me. Now, the boss wanted me to use his choice of camera. For reasons known to him only, he dispatched half of the department to Carson City to obtain the Boss's Choice: a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6 Digital Camera. After 6 hours of brutal shopping, our field team arrived back at the office with the prize. Cost, $500 plus. Where had they gone? WalMart! The very indignity of it all depressed me. Now, 3/4 of the department spent 3 days debating esoteric items like how to cover the lens, what resolution setting would work, who made the best NiMH Battery, etc. All I was allowed to do was to read the Operator's Manual. At last, after a suitable delay caused by serious doubts that I could ever use it; the 3/4 handed the Z6 off to the Novice 1/4.
SERIOUS PHOTOGRAPHY COMMENCES
As I pried the box open, another 1/4 (the pro of our group) grabbed the camera and started playing with it. "Here you go"; said he, with a condescending smile. "It is all set up." But I had misgivings. This went on and on. Finally, I got the opportunity to take the Z6 outdoors and to test the Optical Zoom. The Village of Markleeville lay before me. I pointed and shot it. I zoomed in to the hilltop where the ancient one-room schoolhouse was supposed to be but could not find it. Unzoom (?) look again - keep an eye on it, Zoom and there it was. Snap! A new house using pre-fab wood beam and peg structural framing caught my eye. Standing 50 feet away, I snapped. Then, I zoomed into a pair of barely visible 3/4" pegs that had not been driven home yet. SNAP!. Sensation!. As I was aiming with full Zoom, my heart shook the camera violently but I fired away and the shot came out. Image stabilization no doubt. I could see the cross-grain in the pegs from 50 feet across the street.
Next day, I brought in my (Wife's) Canon A-75, just in case the experts needed more time. Now, I went out into the country to capture the status of new construction as it was as of the first days of 2006. The day was not mine to choose. It was Friday and only 1/3 of the crowd of experts was on duty. The 12x Zoom helped enormously. I could not get close enough to the front of the first house because it was on a steep hillside and I had not brought my wings. I shot from the street below and filled the image with the house. Etc.
And now came to pass that it commenced to rain and snow. No more hillsides but I could drop the car window and shoot from the relative shelter inside the car by leaning over the passenger seat and firing away over my left shoulder at what I could see through the optical viewfinder. The 2" square LCD Display was useless for such a shot. At this point, I could really appreciate the Anti-Shake feature (turned on by the fourth 1/4). Of course the desired face of the house was always upwind and the contortions required of the aiming had me shaking - as was the chilly temperature and sleet.
Things I Liked:
Pinpoint Aiming through the eyepiece. Pressing the shutter release half-down locks the autofocus/exposure (a very small illuminated square guides the operator), onto an object with the desired light level. Continuing to hold the release, re-aiming at the true target will cause the camera to pick up a reasonable exposure. (Frankly, I found that simply pointing and shooting proved satisfactory in most cases.)
The mass of the camera made it easy to hold.
The shape of the camera made it very easy to hold.
The fact that it was the Boss's camera made it very, very easy to hold.
Review/Shoot/View with LCD can be selected by moving a small lever that points to the desired function. A nice touch.
The Telephoto application made possible some successful shots without which the photo would have been useless.
Native format is *.JPEG
Shutter Speed of up to 1/4000 second doubtless adds considerably to the "Anti-Shake" capability.
Resolution adjustment can make the included 16MB SD Memory Card last almost forever. We shoot at 1600 x 1200 Pixels (1.9MP) which produces 21 images on the 16MB Card. 680 x 480 really increases the capacity of the Card.
The SD Memory Card includes a tiny slide lock to prevent accidental erasures. Thus has evolved the 1.2MB Floppy Disk
Things I hate
Enclosed Software Everyone should learn to become independent of PROPRIETARY processes. Within this software, you will find hundreds of files, such as cute corner border images and other things the average user will never need, let alone use. So, "Don't install it"!.
Inexpensive photo editing programs are readily available and should be used instead. The only essential adjustments needed before printing your IMAGE are the RESOLUTION and the IMAGE SIZE ones. The typical printer does a good job at 150 DPI and the image size can be choked down to, say 6" x 4". If you plan to E-Mail an image, remember the numbers 640 x 480. Even if you use DSL or Cable Modem, your unsuspecting victim might still be using copper wire and may become your enemy because of such rudeness. Even Adobe has published such a program for us. Get one and learn how to use it. Every manufacturer stuffs its own program into the box nowadays but the Memory Card renders all of this silliness obsolete. I DO NOT recommend installation of this software because of problems with interchangability of the cable connections. Also, some manufacturers are fussy about moving the camera (& its software) around from one PC to another. Further, one camera maker's cable might not fit another's. To get around this limitation; purchase a good quality universal Card Reader. SanDisk makes a dandy one.
The 6 MP Design resolution is far too much for average needs. This measure only creates the ability to print enlargements that nobody can afford to print. (Note: the ads always show an 11x14 print emerging from the printers displayed. Why? Well, the ink is superbly profitable, of course.)
The Tiny Door in the base that conceals the SD Memory Card lacks a latch. True, the SD Card must be released by pressing it downward in its slot but the door tab is exposed to a lot of handling. Here's the place for Scotch Tape (not included in the box).
The Mode Selection Wheel up on top became caught up on the carrying case zipper and the desired setting could be changed unwittingly. Partly the result of an undersized carrying case and partly the knurls being on the wrong surface (edge instead of top); users should check to ascertain the correct position. Another place for Scotch Tape.
The Digital Zoom. On occasion, I could not see the subject because it was over-enlarged. The viewfinder reveals what is going on when zooming, first the Optical which is very fast; then the Digital, which is very, very slow. I don't think that the digital zoom is of much use.
The DIOPTER adjuster. Handy for me, since I am about blind without eyeglasses. However, I could not vary the setting without the eyeglass lens getting in the way. So, I wound up turning the diopter wheel to 50% and left it there.
Lens Cover Some reviewers report the existence of one "in the box" but ours did not have one. So, we used a stick-on foam tape one that tore off while I was removing the camera from the (too small) camera case selected by the purchasing committee. Do not shop small but allow extra space for maneuvering and for the fingers.
PRICE $398 is a lot of moolah, an extra $150 went toward Sales Tax, the Carrying Case, the alleged lens cover, and a spare SD Memory Card.
And so, dear readers: you have survived another report from Ground Zero out here on the Consumer Battlefront, by your iconoclastic layman amateur correspondent.
=================================================
(Revised 2/7/06 to emphasize best feature.)
(Revised 3/9/06 to mention lens adapter)
(Revised 4/30/06 to report that the company sold off all of their Digital Technology relevant to this product to Sony Corp. "They were too far behind..." (Sony, reportedly, will pick up Warranty problems and spare parts?)
REVISION: The available lens adapter finally arrived and I can recommend that device since, when used in conjunction with an Ultra-Violet Lens, the real lens is adequately protected. I have survived a couple of incidents, such as falling face down into a foot of snow, with the camera landing on my back. It survived also.
On the same outing, I continued to 'wear' the camera like a shoulder holster but not using the carrying case. Somehow, the door on the bottom snagged on something and all 4 batteries dumped out. Not good. A one inch piece of invisible mending tape fixed that flaw.
The Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z6 is a crowd pleaser, even with its odd name. It is, at 6 Megapixels, the proverbial "Cannon" with which one can destroy an ant. Or, the Z6 can be the answer to all those folks who have been crushed by the tide of scorn from those know-it-alls who so richly populate planet Earth. Yes, here is another view from Ground Zero; an enthusiast's view of a Hi-Tech Marvel that is forgiving of the innocent and demanding of the expert. You are about to witness what can happen when an amateur gets ahold of an expert's toy.
The full specifications of this 6 MP camera are available above: Press "View Details". I have thus been able to concentrate on those features that interest me and on my actual, albeit limited, experiences with this and other cameras.
My first contact with things photographic occurred when I was 5 years old. The object of my fascination was a 1930's Kodak Six 16 FOLDING Bellows camera. I had watched as my parents pointed it around and produced clicking sounds; also had noted how it was always folded up and put away somewhere. I found it one day and figured out how to open it up (Press & Sproing). It took longer to collapse it; in fact my mother interrupted my efforts. In a panic, I jammed the balky camera back into the desk drawer where it had been concealed and closed the drawer on it. When it was found, the ensuing uproar should have cured me but it did not. After only 8 years had passed, some chance enemy gave me a Kodak Brownie and I was off and running. The next door neighbor owned a Photography Store and Laboratory and he took me there one day and "Exposed" me to the chemical aspects of the Sacred Art. Not long afterward, I encountered my very first specimen of the species HOMO NERDUS MAXIMUS; who forever spoiled my attitude toward hi-tech. By the hour, this enemy of the people spouted f-Stops and exposure meters and any other trivia I might have asked about if only ......! About the only technical tidbit I ever absorbed was the notion of "FOGGING the FILM". I could do that, too.
Fast Forward 65 Years
In my business or trade, one takes snapshots of a house and buries the prints in a folder forevermore. I have done that since 1977. Lately, the required snapshots are captured on a Memory Card by means of a Digital Camera (see above). This non-challenging task has been done by me with a 1 MegaPixel HP, a 2 MegaPixel HP, and a 3 MP Canon A-75; all of which have belonged to me. Now, the boss wanted me to use his choice of camera. For reasons known to him only, he dispatched half of the department to Carson City to obtain the Boss's Choice: a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6 Digital Camera. After 6 hours of brutal shopping, our field team arrived back at the office with the prize. Cost, $500 plus. Where had they gone? WalMart! The very indignity of it all depressed me. Now, 3/4 of the department spent 3 days debating esoteric items like how to cover the lens, what resolution setting would work, who made the best NiMH Battery, etc. All I was allowed to do was to read the Operator's Manual. At last, after a suitable delay caused by serious doubts that I could ever use it; the 3/4 handed the Z6 off to the Novice 1/4.
SERIOUS PHOTOGRAPHY COMMENCES
As I pried the box open, another 1/4 (the pro of our group) grabbed the camera and started playing with it. "Here you go"; said he, with a condescending smile. "It is all set up." But I had misgivings. This went on and on. Finally, I got the opportunity to take the Z6 outdoors and to test the Optical Zoom. The Village of Markleeville lay before me. I pointed and shot it. I zoomed in to the hilltop where the ancient one-room schoolhouse was supposed to be but could not find it. Unzoom (?) look again - keep an eye on it, Zoom and there it was. Snap! A new house using pre-fab wood beam and peg structural framing caught my eye. Standing 50 feet away, I snapped. Then, I zoomed into a pair of barely visible 3/4" pegs that had not been driven home yet. SNAP!. Sensation!. As I was aiming with full Zoom, my heart shook the camera violently but I fired away and the shot came out. Image stabilization no doubt. I could see the cross-grain in the pegs from 50 feet across the street.
Next day, I brought in my (Wife's) Canon A-75, just in case the experts needed more time. Now, I went out into the country to capture the status of new construction as it was as of the first days of 2006. The day was not mine to choose. It was Friday and only 1/3 of the crowd of experts was on duty. The 12x Zoom helped enormously. I could not get close enough to the front of the first house because it was on a steep hillside and I had not brought my wings. I shot from the street below and filled the image with the house. Etc.
And now came to pass that it commenced to rain and snow. No more hillsides but I could drop the car window and shoot from the relative shelter inside the car by leaning over the passenger seat and firing away over my left shoulder at what I could see through the optical viewfinder. The 2" square LCD Display was useless for such a shot. At this point, I could really appreciate the Anti-Shake feature (turned on by the fourth 1/4). Of course the desired face of the house was always upwind and the contortions required of the aiming had me shaking - as was the chilly temperature and sleet.
Things I Liked:
Pinpoint Aiming through the eyepiece. Pressing the shutter release half-down locks the autofocus/exposure (a very small illuminated square guides the operator), onto an object with the desired light level. Continuing to hold the release, re-aiming at the true target will cause the camera to pick up a reasonable exposure. (Frankly, I found that simply pointing and shooting proved satisfactory in most cases.)
The mass of the camera made it easy to hold.
The shape of the camera made it very easy to hold.
The fact that it was the Boss's camera made it very, very easy to hold.
Review/Shoot/View with LCD can be selected by moving a small lever that points to the desired function. A nice touch.
The Telephoto application made possible some successful shots without which the photo would have been useless.
Native format is *.JPEG
Shutter Speed of up to 1/4000 second doubtless adds considerably to the "Anti-Shake" capability.
Resolution adjustment can make the included 16MB SD Memory Card last almost forever. We shoot at 1600 x 1200 Pixels (1.9MP) which produces 21 images on the 16MB Card. 680 x 480 really increases the capacity of the Card.
The SD Memory Card includes a tiny slide lock to prevent accidental erasures. Thus has evolved the 1.2MB Floppy Disk
Things I hate
Enclosed Software Everyone should learn to become independent of PROPRIETARY processes. Within this software, you will find hundreds of files, such as cute corner border images and other things the average user will never need, let alone use. So, "Don't install it"!.
Inexpensive photo editing programs are readily available and should be used instead. The only essential adjustments needed before printing your IMAGE are the RESOLUTION and the IMAGE SIZE ones. The typical printer does a good job at 150 DPI and the image size can be choked down to, say 6" x 4". If you plan to E-Mail an image, remember the numbers 640 x 480. Even if you use DSL or Cable Modem, your unsuspecting victim might still be using copper wire and may become your enemy because of such rudeness. Even Adobe has published such a program for us. Get one and learn how to use it. Every manufacturer stuffs its own program into the box nowadays but the Memory Card renders all of this silliness obsolete. I DO NOT recommend installation of this software because of problems with interchangability of the cable connections. Also, some manufacturers are fussy about moving the camera (& its software) around from one PC to another. Further, one camera maker's cable might not fit another's. To get around this limitation; purchase a good quality universal Card Reader. SanDisk makes a dandy one.
The 6 MP Design resolution is far too much for average needs. This measure only creates the ability to print enlargements that nobody can afford to print. (Note: the ads always show an 11x14 print emerging from the printers displayed. Why? Well, the ink is superbly profitable, of course.)
The Tiny Door in the base that conceals the SD Memory Card lacks a latch. True, the SD Card must be released by pressing it downward in its slot but the door tab is exposed to a lot of handling. Here's the place for Scotch Tape (not included in the box).
The Mode Selection Wheel up on top became caught up on the carrying case zipper and the desired setting could be changed unwittingly. Partly the result of an undersized carrying case and partly the knurls being on the wrong surface (edge instead of top); users should check to ascertain the correct position. Another place for Scotch Tape.
The Digital Zoom. On occasion, I could not see the subject because it was over-enlarged. The viewfinder reveals what is going on when zooming, first the Optical which is very fast; then the Digital, which is very, very slow. I don't think that the digital zoom is of much use.
The DIOPTER adjuster. Handy for me, since I am about blind without eyeglasses. However, I could not vary the setting without the eyeglass lens getting in the way. So, I wound up turning the diopter wheel to 50% and left it there.
Lens Cover Some reviewers report the existence of one "in the box" but ours did not have one. So, we used a stick-on foam tape one that tore off while I was removing the camera from the (too small) camera case selected by the purchasing committee. Do not shop small but allow extra space for maneuvering and for the fingers.
PRICE $398 is a lot of moolah, an extra $150 went toward Sales Tax, the Carrying Case, the alleged lens cover, and a spare SD Memory Card.
And so, dear readers: you have survived another report from Ground Zero out here on the Consumer Battlefront, by your iconoclastic layman amateur correspondent.
=================================================
