Konica Minolta Dimage X50 5MP Digital Camera with 2.8x Optical Zoom

Rating:
Summary: Great Camera, useless software
Review: A great Camera, it's such a shame it is spoilt by the useless software. We have over 100 pictures we are unable to download. (Yes, we have an up to date PC and I'm head of design in a software company). Budget for and extra £100 to get the software working. and you will be on the phone to the help center for days

Rating:
Summary: Great take-along camera with AWESOME close-ups!
Review: Bought this camera during my trip to St Thomas in the Virgin Islands after my old Panasonic DMC-LC43 got washed down by a wave at the ocean. The main reason I bought it was the design and the super micro mode which lets me take extreme close ups (see my pic of a bee in the images section). Since almost all of my pictures are taken outdoors, the noise in dark pictures is not a factor; when I do take dark shots, I set the ISO to 50 and that gets rid of nearly all noise.

Pros:
-Sleek and small design
-Great for close-ups
-Customizable sounds (menu clicks, shutter, focus)
-Slideshow function
-WEBCAM function with decent quality video
-Good quality video recording for the full card capacity
-Good battery life
-Lots of modes (sunset, landscape, portrait, etc)
-Very quick start-up time
...more

Cons:
-Slight noise in dark pictures at auto ISO
-The internal zoom lens is a little loud and sometimes gets stuck for a split second in the middle of the 'zooming' (while the button is pressed). This started about a week after I bought it. Works but sounds as if it's about to break every time it reaches the max/min zoom point.
-Battery door is a lil wobbly.

Got it for $300 at the duty-free store + an extra battery and case at a discount, so I consider it a great cam for the money. Overall 9/10.

Rating:
Summary: Dimage X50 will do some serious "damage" to the competition!
Review: I just purchased this AWESOME ultracompact digital camera from my local camera store. I am by no means a novice to the world of digital photography. I bought my 1st digital camera (Nikon Coolpix 990) over 4 years ago for just under a thousand dollars. While it took great pictures, it was too bulky and a bit too easy to change the settings on the camera. My 2nd digital camera was a SONY Mavica-that one had TERRIBLE photo quality. My 3rd camera was the Canon S50 which is very highly rated. But, I had 3 issues with it: 1. too bulky to toss into my purse. 2. The toggle switches are a pain to operate 3. I was not blown away by the photo quality. To be honest, I think my Nikon Coolpix took better indoor pictures and it only had 3 (vs 5) mega-pixels! I have heard that Nikon utilizes some of the best photo lenses in the industry which result in great-looking pictures. I was thinking about getting the Nikon Coolpix 3200 BUT the shutter speed is way too slow! And it has a cheap, plastic body. Then I read Mossberg's review of the Dimage X50 in the Wall Street Journal and was very intrigued. So, I headed to my local camera store and purchased it (they have a 7 day return/exchange policy). I took a bunch of pictures of my baby both indoors and out, and I was EXTREMELY IMPRESSED with the photo quality. I can honestly say that it rivals the ones I have taken with my 35mm camera! Btw, I was so umimpressed with the photos taken with the Canon S50 that I reverted back to using my 35mm cameras for my baby pictures.

Besides the high photo quality, there is A LOT I love about my 4th digital camera. 1st, the price is GREAT esp. when you consider the picture quality, TINY size, and zoom capability. I think it's a STEAL! 2nd, the only thing I disagree with Mossberg is that he didn't think it looked very "sleek". I love the all metal design - aside from the viewfinder, you will not find any cheap plastic parts. Even the A/V out has a tiny metal door that slides up and down. Not to be anti-American made but it's obvious that this was made in Japan. It is also extremely EASY to use-the buttons are very intuitive. I have yet to crack open the manual. It also makes a soothing "ding" sound when the picture is in focus (not at all loud or annoying) so that you are assured a great picture! Even though it is very small, the lay-out is great and NO TOGGLE SWITCHES. And of course, having a 2" LCD monitor is very helpful (and fun). You don't have to squint into a tiny viewfinder! The combined 12x zoom is VERY COOL-I still don't know how it zooms without having a lens stick out.

The only thing I'm not crazy about is that it uses a proprietary battery but it's supposed to last for over a 150 pictures and I think it's just where the industry is headed. The battery is the
size of one "AA" battery which adds to its lightness.

I am THRILLED with this camera! I finally got EVERYTHING I was looking for in a digital camera-Awesome photo quality, ease of use, tiny size, and a very FAST SHUTTER SPEED at a great price. What more can you want? Well, maybe a bigger memory card :-)

Rating:
Summary: Takes great pictures but don't drop it
Review: I purchased this camera barely a month ago. It is easy to use and takes great pictures. But, it was accidently dropped the other day and the LCD screen broke. I realize cameras aren't meant to be dropped but it happens. I am disappointed in how easily the screen's crystal broke. I am wondering if this not a defect due to the compact size.

Rating:
Summary: Great little camera for everyday use!
Review: I researched cameras for about 2 months before finally deciding on the DiMage X50. I went to a camera store to check them out and found that the camera I really wanted hasn't been invented yet. (I wanted a large LCD screen (2-2.5 inch), and more than 3X zoom, and all in an ultra compact camera!) It all came down to the Dimage X50 but I also looked at the Casio Exilim EX-Z55 which had a nice 2.5 inch LCD (but you need a dock to connect to a computer), and the Canon SD300. The viewfinder on the Canon was in the middle of the camera and was uncomfortable, as it hit my nose. (and I must say I have a small nose!) The DiMage X50 came the closest to meeting all my needs. I also liked the non protruding zoom lens and the metal cover that protects the lens and also acts to turn the camera on and off.

My criteria was: a small camera I can keep in my purse, large LCD screen, optical viewfinder, fast startup and no/short lag time between pictures, USB connection to computer and connection to TV, movie with sound ability, easy to use, good picture quality, zoom (could be better - although you can zoom in on pictures using photo software).

I am extremely pleased with my purchase. I was very surprised when I took my first pictures in a dark restaurant. The couple sitting across from us came out clear and without red eye!! The camera is very easy to use. I was taking pictures and movies before I even read the instructions, which I eventually did to find out how to use the camera correctly. The pictures indoors as well as outdoors came out great. Downloading them onto the computer was very fast and easy.

I've been keeping the camera in an eyeglass case (men's vertical type) with no problem. It's easy to carry in my purse without worrying that it will be damaged. I did order the Minolta casual case for it and will see which works better when I receive the case.

I can definitely recommend this camera with no hesitation!!

Rating:
Summary: A camera to keep
Review: Just got my X50 today and I can't put it down. I wasn't sure if I needed 5MP, but this is selling for cheaper than Minolta's older 3MP x-series cameras, so I thought I might as well go for 5MP.

PROS: - Real thin, < 1 inch - fast power-on < 1 second - 2-inch LCD screen is sweet - above-expectation image quality - 5MP in a small body - 3x optical zoom - optical viewfinder (great for stabilizing your shots) - stylish - rechargable battery - looks and feels good - uses SD - 5MP at a good price

CONS: - prop battery format

Rating:
Summary: Nice design, noisy pictures
Review: The good: the camera was well made and very tiny. The menus were well designed. The all-internal lens was a neat idea. The use of an industry standard SD card made this camera the choice over the comparable Sony T1.

The bad: Picture quality was a complete disappointment. The photos from this 5-megapixel camera were worse than my old 2-megapixel Fuji. As another reviewer indicated, the pictures are extremely noisy. Unfortunately, noise is apparently a problem in ultralight cameras like this one (a friend also reported unacceptable levels in the T1.) I returned this model and will get a larger camera - while the tiny design was neat, I personally feel that it's not worth sacrificing picture quality.

Rating:
Summary: Nice package, noisy images
Review: This is one cool camera...it has all the buzzwords and is -physically - a dream. I wish I had known that the images would not quite be up to snuff. Before you disregard my post as flamebait or trolling by a camera snob, let me say that my last digital camera - which has very good image quality - was a $199 Fuji Finepix 1.3MP bought 4 years ago.

The images are quite noisy in low contrast areas, especially in indoor lighting conditions. The only way to mitigate the problem is to manually set the ISO to its lowest value - 50 - which will cause a lot of flash work on a camera with an f/5 telephoto lens. At the lowest setting, however, the pictures seem very nice. Although this workaround does allow it to produce acceptable images, you'll need to be more interested in the "coolness" of this super-mini camera to feel that its worth $350.

I have a post over at steve's digicams forums which shows the noise problem. Just in case Amazon checks for links, you'll have to cut and paste this link into your browser:

(...)



Rating:
Summary: I LOVE it!
Review: This is the first digital camera have ever owned. The camera is pretty easy to use and the graphics are really good. I LOVE the small size, as I am able to stuff it in my purse and I always have it available for this or that. I purchased a camera case here on Amazon that holds the camera and a spare battery.

I really like this camera and I hope you do too :)

Rating:
Summary: Should be a winner in the super-compact class
Review: This isn't a hands-on review as are my other Amazon.com reviews. The X50 hasn't been released yet as of today (9/18/04), but I just wanted to call your attention to a review in the Wall Street Journal written by Mossberg. He compared four upcoming super-compact cameras and found this to have the best picture quality (although the least style). I have owned half a dozen Minolta digital cameras and I think this will be another winner. As I recently lost my job I guess I won't be buying anything for a while. :( But be sure to check out the WSJ review from 9/15/2004, page D1.

(Konica and Minolta used to be two separate companies but they merged recently to form Konica-Minolta.)