Minolta Dimage S404 4MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom

by Konica-Minolta

Product Details

Product Manual [1.42mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 2 x 3 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005Y1S2
• Item model number: S404
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,711 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 6, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

How do you make a good camera even better? With more pixels and more power. Think of Minolta's DiMAGE S404 as a "souped up" S304--there's a new 4-megapixel sensor, plus a faster processor for improved performance, but otherwise, it's virtually the same as their nicely designed 3-megapixel point-and-shoot.

An all-glass 7.15-28mm lens (35-140mm in 35mm equivalents) with 4x optical zoom offers more power than the 3x lenses found in most digital cameras. An anomalous dispersion element and twin double-sided aspheric elements work together to minimize chromatic aberrations and reduce curvilinear distortion, giving you crisp, accurate, edge-to-edge imaging. In addition to the optical zoom, the camera includes an additional 2.2x digital zoom. This feature merely crops the edges off your picture and blows up the remaining image, enlarging your picture at the expense of image quality. Most photo-editing software will let you do the same thing to your picture once you've transferred it to your home computer, so it's a camera feature that's not often used. To compose images, watch the 1.8-inch, 122,000-pixel color LCD monitor, or use the optical viewfinder for traditional image composition.

For professional results with the point-and-shoot operation of the S404, you can choose from five preset modes: macro, portrait, landscape, night portrait, and text. For more creative shooting, use a wide variety of adjustable features, including manual focus, selectable ISO, custom white-balance controls, exposure compensation and bracketing, and a digital-effects control that allows adjustment of color saturation, contrast, and sharpening. There's also a histogram function, a feature still found primarily on high-end digital cameras. A histogram is a graph displayed on the screen indicating the relative proportions of different levels of brightness in a shot you've taken, instantly letting you know if you've captured your shot with the correct exposure. A movable focus point allows for off-center compositions. Multisegment metering technology helps to provide accurate exposures. Four resolution modes cover the range from film-quality photographs to images for e-mail. Movie mode allows 60 seconds of live action and a voice-memo feature helps identify your work.

Four AA batteries power the camera (an optional AC adapter is also available if you're planning to do lots of studio photography). The benefit to using standard AA batteries instead of a custom proprietary battery is that AA batteries are widely available, so missing a once-in-a-lifetime shot due to dead batteries won't be an issue. The downside is that a digital camera will kill a set of alkaline batteries extremely quickly, especially if you're using the camera's LCD display. If you're an occasional photographer, you can get by with high-power disposables, but if you plan to take more than a handful of photos a month, a set of rechargeable batteries (scroll up to the Accessories section) is a virtual necessity.

For improved performance, the S404 has a 32 MB internal buffer for temporary storage of images. This improves shot-to-shot speeds and performance in continuous shooting mode.

The DiMAGE S404 comes complete with 16 MB CompactFlash card, A/V cable, USB cable, Minolta Image Viewer Utility CD-ROM, four AA alkaline batteries, lens cap, and neck strap.

Pros:

• 4-megapixel sensor captures filmlike detail in your photos
• Advanced features like shutter- and aperture-priority, plus histograms for more advanced photographers

Cons:

• No connection for external flash
• Included alkaline batteries are only a short-term solution

From the Manufacturer

The stylish and easy to use DiMAGE S404 features 4.0 million pixels for clear sharp pictures and enlargements, a 4x optical zoom, the large 32MB SDRAM buffer memory for faster shooting, built-in flash, video recording capability, USB interface and Compact Flash card compatibility. In addition, the DiMAGE S404 inherits some advantages from the award-winning Minolta DiMAGE 7 digital camera such as superior GT LENS technology, clear and natural CxProcessTM imaging and a high speed LSI.

Features:

High Resolution CCD
The new DiMAGE S404 is equipped with a high-quality 1/1.8 inch-type CCD with 4.0 million effective pixels (total of 4.1 million) for high-resolution images. At this resolution, prints of approximately 11 x 14 inches at 150 dpi can be produced.

High Performance all-glass 4x zoom Minolta GT LENS
The DiMAGE S404 features a Minolta GT LENS, a high performance lens class for digital cameras. It is a high-resolution, all-glass apochromat lens featuring both an AD (anomalous dispersion) element and two double-sided aspheric elements to ensure clear, sharp, and detailed images with minimum chromatic aberration at all focal lengths.

CxProcess: Minolta’s Image Processing Technology
The DiMAGE S404 features Minolta’s proprietary CxProcess, a new image processing technology that provides clear and natural images. In image processing, too much emphasis on natural color produces flat color pictures. Overemphasizing the color range creates an unnatural color scheme. CxProcess balances both extremes by controlling sharpness, color reproduction, tonal gradation and noise to produce pleasing photographs.

12-bit A/D Conversion
The digital camera has a 12-bit A/D conversion that can provide a fine tonal gradation with deep shadows, brilliant highlights and millions of colors, up to 4,096 levels in each RGB channel, with more than 68 billion colors. Minolta’s 12-bit A/D conversion provides exquisite details in portraiture: smooth complexion, rich shadows and luminous highlights, as opposed to the standard 10-bit A/D conversion with its limited 1,024 levels per RGB channel.

High 4x Optical Zoom Ratio
The new DiMAGE S404 has a high power 4x optical zoom lens – a range equivalent to a 35mm-140mm zoom lens on a 35mm camera – that has the flexibility to capture pictures ranging from wide-angle landscapes to intimate portraits.

The One-Touch 2.2x digital zoom gives the Minolta DiMAGE S404 a zoom ratio of up to a 308mm focal length on a 35mm camera. The macro setting on the camera produces sharp close-up images of subjects as near 3.9 inches from the lens.

Highly Responsive Operation
A higher pixel count generally means slower operation. However, the DiMAGE S404’s high speed LSI with a 32-bit RISC CPU and the 32 MB SDRAM buffer memory ensures responsive and effortless operation.

The S404 is fast. The image capturing interval time of 0.8 second and brisk continuous advance speed of 1.3 frames per second with up to 7 frames (with full-size - 2272 x 1704 pixels – images in the fine image-quality mode) can transform a passing moment into a priceless memory. With a playback loading time of 0.2 second, images are previewed quickly.

High Performance Autofocus and Autoexposure
Using a wide focus area, the cross-hair main autofocus control accurately and quickly determines subject distance, regardless of the horizontal or vertical subject contrast. Focus Area Selection is a flexible tool that singles out a specific subject in the image area by selecting from five spot focus areas. With Minolta’s Focus Area Selection, photographers can move the focusing point to single out a specific subject from a number of objects at varying distances.

Users have the option of full-time autofocus, which continually adjusts the focus to keep the subject on the monitor sharp and reduce autofocusing time.

The multi-segment metering technology in the camera uses both light values and color information to accurately calculate the exposure. The DiMAGE S404 uses 270 segments for natural and well-exposed images. Spot-metering is also available for precise exposure control.

Easy-to-Use Control Layout
The camera’s controls are positioned and designed with a four-way controller and easy-to-read menu for ease of use. The mode dial allows the user to switch instantly between fully automatic recording and multi-function recording for more creative control. A shutter sound effect indicates the shutter has been released.

Sophisticated Design
The S404’s compact design features a lightweight aluminum body, and is designed to feel comfortable in the hands, making it the perfect choice for people on the go.

Diverse Functions
To give photographers the control they want, the Minolta DiMAGE S404 offers a variety of settings and functions. They include:

A new histogram display to show the luminance distribution of a recorded image

A new macro and text digital subject program to shoot small letters and business cards

A selection of exposure modes, including programmed autoexposure (AE), aperture priority and manual mode. Bulb exposure is also available.

High performance built-in flash

Digital effects control to control contrast and color saturation

Exposure compensation and bracketing

Automatic, preset (daylight, cloudy, tungsten and fluorescent) and custom white balance controls

Manual focus

Continuous advance

Movie recording with audio (up to 60 seconds)

Voice memo (up to 5 or 15 seconds) with still images

Built-in self-timer for self-portraits

Remote control (optional)

DiMAGE Image Viewer Utility Software
The DiMAGE Image Viewer Utility Software allows users to manipulate images using a simple graphics interface. It enables corrections to color, contrast, sharpness and more. The effect of the image controls can be displayed as a ring-around in the variation palette. Correction settings can be saved and applied to different images. The color matching is compatible with most image processing software for accurate reproduction. The software also shows image information such as date, size, file name, focal length in 35mm equivalent, white balance and exposure settings.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not to go over the top, but this is a great camera!, April 11, 2002

By 

Jennifer C (Sterling, VA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Minolta Dimage S404 4MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This camera is an upgrade for me and I'm embarrassed by how much I paid for so little camera last time around. So, I chose carefully and have not been disappointed.

Best shooting so far has been at the Tidal Basin last Friday just past the peak of the cherry blossoms. The camera took some amazing shots of the Washington and Jefferson monuments surrounded by the pink splendor. I displayed the shots on my big screen TV to the whole family without any problems. Color was perfect and the automation in this camera really frames the shots well. I'm a so, so photographer so this is a big plus.

Next I tried it out at the Dolphin show up at the National Acquarium in Baltimore. The results were excellent, especially the zoom. I caught the dolphins in the midst of almost every trick including the huge leap to the top of the auditorium to touch the ball. I also took some incredible photos through the glass of the seahorses. The exposure took some tweaking but I was able to figure it out with less than 10 shots. The family oohed and ahhed when they saw them.

For those of you who own Minolta and have grown used to the interface and quality of features, this is a no-brainer. For the price, I expected a bit less and have been consistently amazed by the quality of pictures it takes, especially in automatic mode. My SLR has been sent to the cabinet until I really need it for more complicated shots.

Be sure to have at least 2 sets of batteries and keep them in your bag. Each trip I exhausted the batteries and had to change them. Also, for the $$$, I recommend a 256MB card so you can take 100+ high quality images. That's what 4.0MP is all about.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great camera, May 7, 2002

By 

J. Bianco (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minolta Dimage S404 4MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I am completely sold on this Minolta. It takes fantastic photos, is simple to use and a pleasure to work with. I have been taking photos seriously for over 15 years and have owned over 30 camera, from Canon 35mm to large format cameras. I have not been impressed with digital cameras, though I have used them, until now. This camera delivers crisp, clean images, comperable to a 35mm film camera, and features all the benefits of a digital camera. If you are thinking of a new camera give this one a shot. You can preview your shots, delete them, tweak them on your home PC, it offers it all. I have compared this camera to the Canon G2 (at almost 2x the price) and remain impressed with the Minolta. A few shortcomings - battery drain and a hard-to-see backpanel (in FULL daylight that is - otherwise it is fine) moderate my review from raving to complely impressed. Definately buy the rechargable batteries, Monster, the company that makes Monster Cable, makes some which are very good. I have seen people in these reviews complain that the digital cameras are not 'up to film' in the images they create, but that is a bit of a non-sequitar to me, if you want a film camera, get one. If you want a digital camera you cant do better than this one - literally - for the price.
Enjoy it...

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Camera for what I want to do..., June 1, 2002

By 

M. Loomis "mloomisgeo" (richmond, va USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minolta Dimage S404 4MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

First of all know what you want from your camera... I wanted to be able to print at least 4x6 prints of every picture I took with this camera. That put me in the 4 mega pixel range. I was looking at the Canon G2, Canon S40, Olympus D60, and the Olympus C4040. I'd gone to the local retailers and tested them all out. Then the Minolta S404 came out and hit my personal price sweet spot -> [price]. All the other ones I was holding off on because I knew I would need to spend more money on extra memory and probably an extra battery pack. That put the others out of my price range.
I'm at best an amatuer photographer and this camera turns out to be a very good match for my skills. Most of the time I use the all auto feature, but I've many of the more sophisticated features including macro (real good close ups of plants and small animals), night shot, and portrait. I've worked with some of the more manual features such as black & white and the exposure settings. The camera is extremely easy to use including the menus one uses on the LCD. I'm a computer programmer, so using some of the features is almost second nature.
The photos have come out absolutely wonderful both on the computer screen and in print. I've had 4x6 and 5x7's made. There's an 8x10 on the way in the mail. I've taken this camera to a school field day, a company picnic, Baltimore (Inner Harbor and Aquarium), and Mount Vernon, Virginia. I've also taken it on tour of the neighborhood, where I used the macro function exclusively. I've kept the image settings mainly on 2272X1704 pixels (size)-fine (picture quality) and 1600x1200 pixels - super fine . From time to time I'll use 2272x1704 - super fine.
Using the biggest picture and the highest quality settings produces an 11 MB file. The image capture is excellent, but it takes 15-20 seconds to save the image to the compact flash. I thought I'd broken the camera the first time I took one of these large pictures. I don't consider this a draw back, just something to keep in mind.
The look and feel of the camera -- it's all there. It comes in a silver metal case and definitely does not feel like a light weight piece of trash. The brightness of the LCD can be changed by the user. All the way from off to super bright. When using the camera in bright sunlight don't expect to see the LCD too well. That goes for any machine with an LCD.
Batteries... This camera eats the alkaline batteries it comes with. They last long enough for you to test it out and decide whether or not this camera meets your needs. Buy at least 8 rechargeable AA batteries (the camera takes 4, so you'll have two sets). Get the highest rating possible - I have 1600, but I've seen 1800 too.
When I bought the camera, I also bought a 128 MB compact flash card. If you take pictures like I do, you'll need it. I also bought a compact flash reader. I've found it easier to use than the camera when downloading pictures to my computer. Not to mention, it saves the camera batteries.