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Konica Minolta Dimage A2 8MP Digital Camera with 7x Optical Zoom

Konica Minolta Dimage A2 8MP Digital Camera with 7x Optical Zoom

List Price: $1,299.99
Your Price: $899.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great camera for the price
Review: I've owned my A2 for roughly 1.5 months. This camera performs like a champ and am glad that I ended up buying it. I originally had my eye on the A1, but as soon as I found out about the A2, I wasn't going back.

Due to that fact alone, I've been reviewing cameras for the last 7-8 months. I've looked extensively at the 8 megapixel camera arena. It really came down between the Sony F828 and the Minolta A2. In the end I picked the A2. The raw format is actually usable on this camera as well as the UHS drive mode (allows you to take up to 8 shots/sec). Another feature thats great on this camera is the anti shake. Allows you to save up to 2 FStops alone.

If you need further proof of this cameras superiority, just check out the reviews online (luminous-landscape, digital outback photo).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Ideal for serious photographer
Review: If you are interested in taking black-and-white photographs for creative photography, A2 is the perfect choice! As compared to other competitors at the similar price and resolution (8 MP), A2 has the following good features. 1. It has a black-and-white mode. 2. The file can be saved as TIFF for artistic editing without losing resolution after repeated saving. 3. The battery function is satisfied. 4. A2 has a rapid focusing and antishake device.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I own one
Review: Konica Minolta Dimage A2 with Anti Shake Optical Zoom.
I own this camera,it was an upgrade from a Minolta Dimage 404 and I love it.
I took a cross country trip in September and the the camera performed teriffic in numerous lighting contitions.
The Anti Shake feature alone is worth the price.
I recommend having several batteries,I carry 3 so that I can having one charging all the time.
I also have 512mg compact cards,big pixils you will need large media cards




Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Nikon vs. Minolta vs. Canon vs. Olympus, or d-SLR?
Review: Ok, this isn't one of my usual hands-on reviews. I ain't got the kind of money to buy all these cameras and test them. But I wanted to give potential buyers some help...

Should you consider an SLR-type EVF (electronic viewfinder) digital camera or an interchangeable-lens digital SLR for serious photography? I faced this question and agonized over it for months. I wish I had come across this brief and very helpful article by Popular Photography Magazine (I'm not affiliated with them in any way):

[...]

The article compares five current-model EVF cameras: Canon PowerShot Pro 1, Konica-Minolta Dimage A2, Nikon Coolpix 8700, Olympus Camedia C-8080, and Sony Cybershot DSC-F828. It's a very easy read, and at the end the writers give you a helpful checklist for the EVF vs. d-SLR decision.

As for myself, I'm going with a d-SLR since I want 1) high-quality lens, 2) lens choices, 3) little to no shutter lag, and 4) accessory choices. Good luck!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: lot of bells and whistle, but does not amount to much
Review: Pro: The camera itself is easy to use. Has a lot of bells ans whistle, which you may or may not need for everyday photography of ameteures. I don't think it is worth the price. If I were to buy one again, I would go for something simple. If you don't worry about every litttle detail in shooting a picture, then the numerous knobs and control will only contribute to your overall confusion. As far as the picture quality is concerned, I did not find it any different (good or bad) from much cheaper camera that my brother bought. The feature that is good is the anti Shake zoom. I have a lot of experience with SLR cameras, and if I compare the optics with those (particularly Nikon) the optics of this camera is only marginal.

The software simply stincks !! Minolta can not write a half way decent USB driver. The computer cannot see the camera, consequently I can not transfer the pictures from the camera to the computer.
Minolta's technical support is really a joke. Instead of listening to what my problem is , they want to tell me what my problem is!!! And they are so adamant about it.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Great ergonomics, but it's the resolution that counts...
Review: There is so much to like about the Minolta A2. Despite the large plethora of features, the learning curve is surprisingly easy, and before long using the camera feels very intuitive to use. Once the camera is set up you rarely have to use the menus as nearly all functions can be changed with buttons. The layout of these buttons falls so nicely that you can change many of them while looking through the viewfinder. Focus is fast and once I had set the camera to 'flex point focusing' I rarely encountered any focus issues. I did find that the flash default setting produced underexposed pictures so I had to compensate with 0.7+ flash exposure compensation. I also found that the auto white balance with flash did not work correctly and resulted in green or yellow pictures, but seemed to be easily corrected by setting the white balance to flash. The anti-shake feature really works and extends the usefulness of the camera. I was able to take reasonably sharp pictures even at 1/8 shutter speeds. To summarize, the ergonomics of the camera are superb and it really is a joy to use.

But..and it's a big but...the problem for me is that the resolution is just too poor. My previous camera was a Canon G2 so I was expecting (naively perhaps) similar resolution on images 2X as big. That was not the case. The A2's pictures are noticeably softer. Even when changing some internal settings such as contrast and in-camera sharpening the results were not much better. I also tried taking some pictures using Raw but could not match the sharpness of the G2. I tried some side by side tests of taking pictures with the G2 and A2. I was rather alarmed when I printed the pictures (at 8x10) only to discover that the unprocessed G2 was considerably sharper than the A2. There was detail in the G2 picture that just simply vanished in the A2. It was obvious too even with 4x6 pictures. There's always the possibility of doing post-processing of course but I feel that with a camera in this class that shouldn't be necessary on *every* picture.

So, relunctantly I'm returning my A2 for a refund which makes me feel very sad because it fulfills so many of my needs in a camera. But in the end it felt like driving a very nice and well-equipped car with every possible convenience but where the car couldn't drive faster than 50 mph! It is of course quite possible that I have a lemon. Judging by other people's experiences on various forums there do seem to be some quality issues with the A2. All this makes me even more reluctant to return this for a replacement.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Camera is 3 weeks old now - Oustanding Results
Review: Was debating between the fuji Finepix s7000 and this one. Nearly the same price. Made the right choice.
Anti-shake has outstanding performance, the twist zoom is excellent and so is battery life. Picture quality in 'sharp' mode is unbelievable. Read some reviews that images were too soft, but the sharp mode corrects that. Battery life is much better than competition but get a spare anyway. Very satisfied now.


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