Customer Reviews

Konica Minolta Dimage A200 8MP Digital Camera with Anti-Shake 7x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have had a Nikon Coolpix 4300 for about two and a half years and in that time have taken over 2500 pictures. One thing I definately wanted was a camera with a longer zoom. I travel by bicycle and like to carry my camera everywhere (that is why so many pictures!) so I did not want to go to the size and expense of a digital SLR. As I seached for cameras with longer zooms, there were two I liked the range of- both the Canon Pro1 and the Dimage A200 which was not released yet. The 28- 200mm (35mm equivelent) zoom gives me a great range from wide angle to telephoto. A very useful range making many different pictures possible. I also was attracted by the anti-shake feature. A camera with a long zoom (some go to 300mm on digital prosumer cameras) is not useful if you cannot hold it steady enough to get a clear picture. Despite the length of the zoom, the camera is surprisingly compact at about 4 1/2" by 4 1/2" and easily fits into my fanny pack which is exactly what I wanted.
Another great feature is the adjustable LCD monitor which is sharper than the one on my Nikon. This allows you to aim over your head or at a low angle and still see what you are shooting at. You can fold it in facing the camera body to protect it and also to shoot using the EVF viewfinder which means you are using less battery power. It will turn completely forward so you can do a self portrait using the remote control to trip the shutter. The remote can also be useful for long exposures on a tripod like night shots. For night shots, it even has noise cancelation where it will take a second picture with the shutter closed to record any "hot spots" from pixels and subtract them from the final picture so it is clearer and doesn't have white dots on it. I tried this and it takes great night shots- the best I have gotten with any camera I have owned. I used a tripod of course. This slows the time between pictures a little, but if you are taking this type of picture you are used to waiting.
The time between shots it pretty quick. Faster than my Nikon certainly. It has manual or auto focus (I used manual with it at infinity for my night shots since this like many auto focus cameras can have trouble focusing in low light situations). The macro can be used at either the wide angle or telephoto ends of the zoom. I have not really tried that yet. Nor have I tried the movie format which is said to be very good. There are two resolutions you can use for that. That is not what I bought this camera for anyways.
I thought my little Nikon 4mp camera took nice pictures,but the Dimage A200 blows that away. It is simple enough for a novice to use it on "Auto" but has enough features to please most professionals too. I have mostly used "Auto" so far and as I become more familiar with the camera, I will be able to take advantage of more of its features. I already have taken pictures with it that when I look at them I am amazed that I took them. They are very sharp- from the wide angle through telephoto. This camera fit my needs and then some- with the options available as I become more experienced with them. If you are serious about photography and yet want to keep it simple, this is a great camera! I don't need or want to carry all that other gear.
Notice I have not talked about the eight megapixels? That is because it was not a consideration for my purchase and enjoyment fo this camera. Four is a lot for most uses especially since most users will not be making prints larger than 8x 10. But this camera gives you that possiblity. I guess that sums up this camera the best- all the possibilities it gives you. All in one small package. I love this camera! Yes, the photo is what the eye sees, but this will definately help you to capture what you see. I very highly recommend it!

Let me be honest. I don't like digital cameras! I have a Canon F1 for 25 years that I have used to take pictures in Canada when it was -35c. When I want better quality, I have a Fuji 645zi. It will be many years before digital catches up.

However, I have realised for a while that I am missing many shots in my day to day life because I don't think they are worthy of committing to film. So at the end of 2004 I started reading the magazines to look for a digital camera. And what a lot of nonsense I had to read!

ANYHOW, YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO ANY HARD WORK - JUST BUY THIS CAMERA!!

What is great about it is it works on auto straight out the box and its sharp 28-200 image stabalised lens gives great results on default settings. After a few hours, I changed the default colour setting to Vivid and moved over to shutter priority and got even better results.

But this camera has over-rides for everything, including the ability to power the flash down to 1/8th power and use it to fire slave studio flash.

It has 8mp and can shoot in RAW, RAW+JPeg or JPEG. it uses compact flash cards and I have been using a Lexar 1GB card with fast processing between shots.

It also comes with a neat remote control unit, which allows self portraits etc.

This is a go-everywhere camera. Very light and compact. Will become my camera for business trips. And with 8mp, if I take a shot I want to enlarge beyond 8x10, it can be easily done.

Check this beauty out-you won't be disappointed

I was really undecided on whether or not to get this. I have a HP Photosmart 945 which is a decent but not great camera, and had recently gotten a DXG flash "camcorder" for shooting home movies and whatever. Some of my indecision was all the higher end cameras like this one use compact flash memory and proprietary batteries, while the "consumer" models get by on SD cards and AA's, rechargeable or otherwise. SD cards are darn cheap, and AA's are everywhere.

However, I really felt the limitations of the 945, the worst for me being very slow writing to the memory no matter how fast a card I used. It eventually came down to this or a Rebel XT. From the sample pictures I've seen the Rebel is a better camera, but it's much more expensive and to really take advantage of it you need to buy extra lenses. Plus, I had to admit to myself I'm not a professional photographer.

The selling points to me on the A200 were the anti-shake mechanism and an advertised movie mode of 30fps. I was a little skeptical of the movie mode, as the 945's "movie" was something like 233X200 at about 15-20 fps and poor quality, and I didn't expect much better.

So I ordered one and UPS delivered it a few days later. At first feel I thought I'd made a mistake, the A200 is plastic and feels like it. It's real little, much smaller than I expected. The manual zoom is just a sliding cylinder...I thought I'd bought a very expensive plastic toy. That is until I took the lens cap off, and thought, "That's a nice piece of glass."

To shorten my next few days the A200 is capable of great shots, but you can still take lousy ones if you're not careful. The focus and detail in the pictures are fantastic, as well as the color. But it does take time to learn to adjust the settings. While it does have an auto setting it's not a generic point and click, and you're wasting your money if that's how you take pictures. While the manual zoom felt cheap at first, now I positively love it over the push-a-button zoom most cameras have.

I was initially disappointed with the anti-shake, and wondered if it was even working. It will enable better quality pictures in dim light down to about three shutter speed settings below what you could otherwise. Setting my shutter speed on manual I got down to about 1/15 of a second. Telephoto shots in daylight is where it really shines, just remember to use the spot focus in the center of the image (normally it's predictive) and they'll come out sharp.

The movie mode, however, blew me away. I got the little DXG mostly because I could take movie clips of any length, and was willing to live with mediocre quality at 320X240. It has a very limited light range where it gets good results. The A200, however, is like going from grainy first generation videotape to HDTV, it's that much better. The movie length may "only" be about 10-15 minutes per clip, but unless you're putting your camera on a tripod and filiming an entire event, do you really need to take clips that long? The A200 lets you edit clips in-camera, and comes with movie editing software, plus for Mac users it saves to quicktime format. One caveat is to turn off the autofocus, otherwise the little typewriter noises will drive you nuts.

The only real weaknesses I've seen in this camera is the indoor white balance for natural light photos has to be manually set to tungsten, otherwise the pictures have a marked yellow cast. This to me is a minor problem as it takes two seconds to adjust it. What is very annoying to me is how small many of the buttons and controls are. In particular the main function ring, which has a control button in the center, makes it hard for me to press that button without activating something else instead. However, this seems to be the trend in cameras as they're all getting very-very small.

Overall for people wanting more than the average camera, but not wanting to go to all the expense of a DSLR, or wanting to combine a camera with a decent camcorder, this is a great buy.

I did a bunch of reseach before buying this camera. I wanted something that was more then a point and shoot but less then a dSLR which costs a bit more then I can afford these days. I knew going into it that the AF wasn't the best for the camera, but the Antishake and the ease of adjusting the ISO, Apeture, and Shutter Speed made it a worthwile purchase.

This thing shoots really really sharp low noise shots in even the darkest corners of rooms. Write times aren't that bad, only a bit long if your shooting RAW.

This Camera also has a really cool mode called Ultra-High Speed that shoots like 40 frames a second. Its great for capture really high speed moments in time.

I also really like the manual zoom. It really gives you the feeling of control over the camera.

The only drawback is the AF, but you can overcome that with the Direct Manual Focus feature, which lets you override the AF by turning the focus ring.

If you can afford it, buy it, it won't let you down.

Overall, this is a very nice camera. I bought it because a few weeks ago I used a friends Canon EOS Digital Rebel to shoot some pictures of his son's baptism. I really realized how much I missed a zoom ring and an a manual focus ring on a camera. I did some research and decided the DiMAGE A200 was the most modern camera in its class, had the best feature set of any SLR-like camera at the best price and had a manual zoom ring on the lens.

These reviews probably tend to be overly positive since the author just invested a bunch of money in the product and would be unlikely to trash it. But I am genuinely very pleased with this camera. I am by no means an advanced photographer. But I am simply not attracted to the small one-dimensional point-and-shoot cameras. I guess I am the absolute intended target of the A200. My initial impressions, based on one day of playing, is that this is a very advanced camera. The feel of the camera is excellent. The weight and size are just enough to give a solid feel while still compact. Controls are very intuitive and reading the manual for a few minutes lets you jump right in to some very advance, but easily programmable features. Basic guidance in terms of navigation etc. are supplied at the bottom of each screen. Particularly nice are the 5 sets of programmable image settings. These then are available on each startup on the `MR' setting. Very easy and excellent feature that I have not seen mentioned too much in the more formal reviews. Consistent with comments in some of the more detailed reviews on the web, colors were a bit muted on the `native' color setting, and the AF was a tad slow indoors or at high zoom. Color can be either enhanced by selecting the `vivid' setting or offline in the supplied software. Oddly enough, color seemed better on the tele-macro setting than on the regular setting. The DiMAGE viewer software is simple and straight forward. What I really like is that it does not look like a product of the Disney company. It is clean and professional looking and is clearly intended for a pro-sumer audience. Anyway, back to the camera. In general this is a really nice camera and I am certain that as I become more familiar with it I will take better photos. However, I would mention that one immediate point that struck me, and that I have not yet seen in online reviews, is the quality of the auto white-balance indoors. It consistently gave very yellow images. This was very easily remedied with a few buttons to set the white balance to either the pre-set `tungsten' setting or by measuring it and saving in one of two memory settings. However, I was surprised that this was necessary. Outdoors, automatic white balance was fine. This may prompt me to stick with my Olympus 3040Zoom for indoor shooting and use the DiMAGE primarily for outdoor shooting where it really shines. A few minor odd-bits: I can't seem to understand what the reason for the `control wheel is' in that every function it serves is redundant to other control options on the camera. For some reason the designers felt it necessary to build in artificial shutter sound effects when you take a picture. I suppose it is a good thing to have sound verification that the exposure has taken place, but is a little juvenile. Luckily, all system sounds are easily changed, turned down or off.

Pros: Excellent fit, finish, feel and dimensions. Excellent documentation. System firmware is simple to navigate and full-featured. A welcome return to a manual zoom ring. Easy to use features and intuitive navigation. Very useful preset image settings. Practical and functional software package with an adult user interface.

Cons: Disappointing auto white balance indoors. Lens cover has no attachment strap and will likely be lost within a year. EVF is a little grainy, I would never use it for manual focus. The LCD is much higher resolution and more suitable for manual focus.

I bought my Dimage A200 about 6 months ago based on extensive research for a prosumer point-and-shoot camera. I own a Nikon D70, and was looking for an alternative to lugging around my D70 and all of my accessories. At the time, I was torn between the Dimage A200, Canon Pro1, and the Nikon 8800. In the end I found an incredible deal at my local store and got the Dimage A200. Since then I have found so many features on this camera that the only accessories that I find necessary to bring with me is a Circular polarizer (49mm.), extra battery, and the supplied Lens Hood and remote control. If you already own this great camera, the Lowepro Rezo TLZ 10 is the PERFECT camera bag for the minimalist photographer.

The features that I discovered include the ability to control Filter Level on camera at a range of +-5. Although not perfect, this allows me to leave all of my warming and cooling filters out of the bag. In addition, when switched to Black and White image capturing, you can select from 10 different color filters and levels that include red, blue, green, purple but no yellow (oh well).

One of the reasons I chose this camera was because I can have the ability to have near total manual controls. When I set my A200 on manual, I set the viewfinder to "Exposure Priority" and with the use of the Live Histogram, I can look for the exact effect before I release the shutter. This puts the guesswork out, but I also have the ability to use the Exposure and Filter Bracketing function when necessary.

With the different combinations in options a photographer has with the A200, it would be irresponsible for me not to mention the "Memory Recall" mode. In any mode, i.e. manual, shutter priority, aperture priority etc. I can save all of my current settings via the "menu" into any one of 5 slots. As a reminder for myself I make a note on a standard Post-it note that fits perfectly in the LCD cut out. This feature is such a lifesaver especially when shooting in that little window of time during the dawn and dusk hours of the day. Not only are all of your setting saved in the Memory Recall mode, but any setting that you leave in the "creative" modes, will be recalled upon selecting that mode even after you power off and change batteries.

The "White Balance" set to auto and the preset white balance selections are decent, but the ability to save 2 custom white balance settings gives a notch above the competition especially useful when moving between two different lighting situations. Just have to remember to bring a white index card in you bag.

"Color saturation" and "Contrast controls" give yet another creative options to your pictures. Most cameras that I've run into only give you a High Medium Low settings for color and contrast. The A200 instead gives +-5 degree levels.

"Second Curtain" flash sync is a selectable feature that controls when the flash fires being at the beginning or the end of a long exposure shot.

The flip monitor as mentioned in other reviews is such a big seller for me, being a previous owner of the Canon A80 and now the Canon A620. An unmentioned ability of this variable angle monitor is to shoot "around the corner" having the camera 90 degrees left or right not just above or below as mentioned in other reviews.

I know I haven't mentioned all the features of this camera, but I figure you could get that from reading other reviews. By no means am I comparing the A200 to my Nikon D70, I am merely suggesting that the A200 is my Compact and especially Lightweight alternative (19.5 oz with battery). I gave the Dimage A200 a 5 star because of the loaded features and the ability to have complete manual control over your shots. All of the features I've mentioned can also be accessible in Program mode (virtually AUTO mode) for those that just want to point and shoot.

UPDATE: Another year later.

Now that a year has passed since I wrote this review on the A200 I feel the need to update this thread. Unfortunately Konica Minolta has left the digital camera market and has sold to Sony. The Sony Alpha that has been released in recent months is in essence KM's 5D with some improvements.
My A200 is still serving me well but the new cameras being released are starting to outdate my camera. Startup time, time to first shot, refresh rate and low light of the new cameras on the market has significantly been reduced. Anti-shake and anti-blur are finally starting to show up in new cameras, where not even a year ago, the A200 was one of only a few that possessed this function.
The movie function on the A200 is still right up there having the ability to shoot at 640 X 480 @ 30fps and even goes as far as 800 X 600 @ 15fps.
With all the improvements in digital camera technology, I am disappointed in the fact that manual zoom barrel did not catch on. Shooting in full manual mode (that includes exposure and focusing) is still pleasure with this camera. After shooting over 22GB worth of photos from this camera, all of the buttons, screens, and all the moving parts are still in great shape. The only sign of wear to me is the rubber grip for the thumb is starting to loose its stick to the camera.
I noticed that a number of users have mentioned a concern regarding the difficult to find battery replacement. With little research one would notice that the Nikon EN-EL1 is the identical battery, and is very common. I have been using 2 additional EN-EL1 batteries that I bought off of ebay since I bought this camera 2 years ago and they have served me well.
It's almost time for me to move on from this camera. When I do make the plunge, I may go to a DSLR, if not, then I would seriously consider the Panasonic DMC-FZ50.

The GREAT:

This camera has absolutely AWESOME image quality. I and my wife have used the macro feature on flowers, spiders, lady bugs, kids toes.... anything. The level of detail this camera can get with macro controlled AF + 10x optical zoom is just great.

The exposure controls are easy to get to with a quick-menu button that gets to only white balance, exposure, ISO, and whatnot. Other buttons are laid out intuitively when you get your hands on it. Program mode allows you to adjust f/ after AF-half press with a simple wheel behind the shutter release. Great preset modes. Quick preview button is a cool feature if you don't want the images to pop up every time you snap one off, but want to see the last one easily when you please.

The anti-shake really does help taking pictures with the 10x zoom. (please, for the love of all things holy, DO NOT use digital zoom! You can crop later and get the same image!!) Actually, i turned on the AS as soon as I took it out of the box and never looked back (feature also has a button to easily turn on/off to save battery)

The camera also comes with the Full version of Quicktime for video editing, and a basic photo viewer/editor. The DiMage viewer is O.K., but not as feature rich as a Photoshop nerd like me would like, and not user-friendly enough for a beginner. I would rather Konica struck a deal with Paintshop/PS-Pro from Corel than pay software developers to make mediocre software.

The could-use-work:

The cycle time with the flash on is not great, 3-5 seconds maybe (didn't get a stopwatch out), cycle time with RAW is atrocious, but I think would be better if I had a pro CF type II high speed card instead. The internal RAM gets past the write time on smaller files, but can't keep a full 12mb RAW image and

The really annoying:

This is not an action camera. This is not a low natural light without a flash camera. This is not a low light AF camera. HOWEVER: When I can get it to focus in lower light/indoor levels, the Anti-Shake made better pictures without a flash than my Canon A75 ever thought of.

Also: The only camera in this class I've heard of having great low-light AF is the Sony DSC-V3 because it uses a laser to find the subject. AND: If you want precision-fast AF, get a Digital SLR. Overall though, I feel the AF on this camera is sub-par even with my little caveats no matter what light level. Konica-Minolta really should work on this in their next camera in the A series.

Conclusion: (...) I still have some reservations that I should have gone with the Sony DSC-V3, or the Panasonic DMC-FZ20k. But I'm in love with the zoom/macro/features/megapixels/image quality/buttons-buttons-buttons of this camera. I think I would have been more at ease if I had had a chance to get my hands on these models, which you usually can't find in a store. If you're a photo-buff on a budget, get this camera. If you're looking for a party/family camera with great resolution but only 4x zoom, I'd go with the Sony. The Panasonic is similar to the A200, has better reviewed AF, a Leica 12x lens, but the features/buttons aren't as cool and useable (i've read). There are other cameras from Kodak and Such, check out as many as you can to find YOUR camera. Make it fit what you're taking pictures of. BTW- if you're not planning to print over 8x10 size photos and stick with 4x6 and 5x7 prints from wally-world, get a 4-5 megapixel camera. You don't need 8 megapixels for that.

(ps - if you want a 1300 mAh battery for this, Sterlingtek.com has one. Haven't ordered one yet. but pricegrabber has good reviews of them.)

This is soooo different for me. I have a Canon Powershot G2 that I absolutely love. I wanted to try a camera with an optical zoom and didn't feel like spending $1,000 for a Rebel that I didn't have any extra lenses for. I also wanted to be able to use Compact Flash. This camera takes some getting used to, but I can already see the potential for great shots. My best advice is READ THE MANUAL. It is very well written and easy to understand. With 8 megapixels to work with, it is easier to fix shots that leave something to be desired.

I have had mine for several months now & like it overall. It doesn't have everything I want, & more than I need. It's just under a DLSR & much better than a point & shoot. The features are easy to use, once you remember to set them. Change the battery, lose your settings. There isn't an internal battery, so you have to reset everything.
One BIG problem with this camera that I didn't notice till I needed it. Shooting in the darkness of night! Man what a pain!! It doesn't like night shots, even with the night portrait feature! If you want to take a shot of the moon, you MUST use a tripod. Even than it's not exact. Any movement & the shots is blurred. The camera takes forever to focus enough to take a shot at night, & you can't hold it that long.

I've heard people talk about indoor shots. Yes, they suck! Especially if the lighting is with halogen lamps! Even shooting in RAW mode, the pix come out harsh. You can manipulate the shots when in raw, which is great! So don't be discouraged.

Unless Minolta/Konica updates the firmware so it can shoot better, I'd look at other cameras if you're going to take any pix at night (moon, fireworks, Chritmas decorations etcc).

The bright side. You really don't need the additional lenses. On full back (normal position), the shots are quite wide, & zooming out is great too! I have the monster wide angle, it offers more, but only for vast landscapes, bigger than a house.
Macro or close up shots, WOW! I bought a fake flower to practice on, & you can see the thread lines. I have their macro lens & am buying additional lenses for close ups.

When shooting people, be careful. This camera doesn't miss anything (except where to focus). Every blemish shows up, it's an 8MP that's what it does.

High speed shots, this thing is wild. It's like an old movie clickety clickety. Keep in mind though, the shots are quite small on the fastest setting. You can catch a bird flying, but movie mode will too (at a better resolution).

All in all, I love this camera. I have some accessories & a few bags for it. It's light (plastics help), turns right on & goes to town. Keep in mind though. Battery life is small. I have two batteries & keep an auto converter handy for the charger. Also, Ultra or Highest speed CF cards are the way to go. Especially on RAW+JPG. RAW is 11.5 megs plus the jpg shot. You can get an update from Minolta for using 4gig plus cards, when you want to shoot more. That's about it. I'd suggest buying it, even with the flaws. It's fantastic, quick to use & light. You can carry all of the pieces on a hike & not be greatly concerned. One more thing! The buttons are sensative! When it's on, you'll change things quickly when you pick it up & touch a button.

I spent hours researching the many digital cameras on the market and their reviews. I decided upon the Minolta A200 because I previously owned some Minolta film cameras and liked the image quality. I'm unsure what my expectations were with the A200. For the first week I had it, I despised it. I had even called Minolta Customer Service but it was a Saturday and they weren't available. I read and re-read the manual. I searched on the internet and learned additional information about aperture settings, ISO, and shutter lag. By week two, it wasn't the broken camera I thought it was. By week four, I had taken some really nice photos and learned a lot about its many features. I have a long way to go, but I've had this camera for five weeks now and am really quite attached to it. It has some shutter lag between the RAW shots and in low light, but with a little patience and some creativity with the controls, the photos are quite good. After having talked with friends about auto focus and low light, it appears that it exists with most digital cameras. Still, I've taken photos with the A200 in extremely low light situations with minimum movement, of course, and the photos were very good. I recently took pictures at a birthday party for a two-year old. I didn't use a flash at all and the party was indoors due to rainy weather. 95% of the photos were without any blur. I have often found that flash pictures, at least when I take them, leave the subject bright and washed out so I try to avoid flash pictures whenever possible. I also used the A200's video capabilities recently. I forgot to change the video setting back to the picture setting when taking a family photo so I ended up with a video of everyone saying "Cheese." Some mistakes are blessings in disguise. The video auto-focus at the smaller setting makes a clicking noise, but at 800 x 600 I haven't noticed any noise at all. The zoom can also be used while taking video though it takes just a couple of seconds to refocus on the subject(s). The color pictures (natural setting) are true-to-life, the black and white setting is really fun, and the macro is adequate. I rarely use the "Vivid" setting. I did purchase the close-up lens, but have learned that the wide angle macro is fine and crops nicely. From my findings, it appears that the close-up lens must be used at a determined length to be in focus and the center of the subject is in fine focus but the outer area can be fuzzy. I will probably not use it enough to have justified its purchase. I did purchase the Konica Minolta step-up ring (49mm-62mm), the Konica Minolta Circular Polarizer (62mm recommended by KM to prevent vignetting which it does) and a 62mm metal screw-on lens cap for the filter to protect it. These were NOT inexensive filters but in my opinion a worthwhile purchase. There is very little grain at ISO400 so I am pleased about that. I'm still learning about photographing action shots. My success has been minimal in that area but it probably means learning more about its many settings. My only wish for this camera is that it had a 300mm zoom. Still, with 8MP, cropping works just fine. I have become very attached to this camera. It has been and continues to be such a rich learning experience. It is NOT a camera for someone who is expecting a point and shoot. It will certainly disappoint. It will not have the shutter speed of a dSLR. It requires some patience in low-light, but the results are really nice. I am quite happy about this camera and what it can do.