Konica Minolta DiMAGE A1 Digital Camera

After a long cold wet and very unpleasant winter everyone in the Bluegrass State is eagerly looking for signs of spring. My friend (who sells new & used digital and analog photographic equipment) and I spent two recent weekends searching for the first signs of spring with the new Minolta Dimage A1.

The A1 is the latest incarnation of the original DiMAGE 7 (introduced in early 2001), the first five-megapixel prosumer camera. The A1 continues that cutting edge tradition with a very impressive collection of genuinely useful features and innovative improvements. If the newly released A1 (and its nifty little brother the Z1) are a dependable indication, then the recent merger of film/camera maker Konica and camera maker Minolta is going to be a real boon for consumers.

What's New?

The new Minolta Dimage A1 starts off with the proven 7x lens, five-megapixel sensor, and broad exposure options of the Dimage 7Hi and adds faster shutter speeds, a nifty (and very useful) Anti-Shake option, an improved A/D converter, a tilting LCD screen, a grip sensor that intelligently senses when users have the camera in-hand (for improved power management), and a new Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery.

The A1's most impressive feature is its genuinely creative approach to image stabilization. Minolta's design engineers developed a unique new system that neutralizes camera movement by stabilizing the CCD imager, rather than the lens. The system works by analyzing input from motion detectors in the camera body and producing a precisely equal and opposite movement of the CCD, which counteracts camera movement during exposure ensuring sharper images. Minolta claims that with anti shake enabled users can shoot at shutter speeds up to 3 stops slower than would be possible with conventional digital cameras (for example if a shutter speed of 1/125th of a second is required to avoid the effects of camera shake --- the A1 can snap that picture at 1/15th of a second). The anti shake system permits users to shoot sharp pictures at shutter speeds that would normally produce blurry images.

NUTS & BOLTS

Viewfinder/LCD

The A1's designers opted to go with a completely new EVF (Electronic Viewfinder), rather than use the weird (and widely disliked) reflective ferroelectric LCD/EVF from the 7Hi. Most long time photographers don't like EVFs because it is very difficult to actually tell when the subject is in sharp focus. Most EVF displays are chronically inadequate in low-light. Minolta's A1 EVF is substantially better than average and consistently works well even in low light shooting.

The A1's EVF/LCD retained the nifty auto-switching capability of the Dimage 7, so users can choose to have the display always appear on either the LCD or EVF, or they can switch between the two automatically. An infrared sensor detects your eye as it approaches the high eyepoint viewfinder automatically switching the view to the EVF and disabling the LCD screen (when the auto-switching option is enabled). The A1's viewfinder eyepiece tilts upward 90 degrees, to facilitate waist level and low angle composition and a Diopter dial allows those who wear eyeglasses to use the EVF without their glasses.

The A1's 1.8"TFT LCD screen lifts from the camera's rear deck and tilts up 90 degrees or down 15 degrees (like the Olympus C5050). The LCD is large, bright, and fluid with a full exposure/status display and a "live" histogram laid over the subject. Like the EVF the LCD automatically boosts gain in low light. The A1 also provides a top deck status screen that displays battery status, exposure/camera settings, etc.

Lens

The A1 uses the same f2.8-f3.5/28-200mm (35mm equivalent) all glass 7X zoom lens as the Dimage 7Hi. The zoom utilizes a rotating lens ring (coupled mechanically to the lens elements) for precise zooming control, just like 35mm interchangeable zoom lenses. The maximum aperture is a relatively fast f2.8 at the wide-angle setting and a very fast f3.5 at the telephoto end of the zoom range.
The A1's zoom provides optical performance that is well above average. Images are sharp as a tack with just barely noticeable corner softness. Barrel distortion is slightly higher than average at the wide angle end of the zoom range, but chromatic aberration (purple fringing) is very low and pincushion distortion at the telephoto end of the zoom range is very well controlled and there's no vignetting (dark corners) visible.

Long-ratio (7X-10X) zooms typically show higher distortion than short-ratio (2X-4X) zooms, but the A1's optical performance is consistently above average. The A1's zoom provides a 49mm filter thread (no need to buy an optional adapter) to permit the use of filters.


Auto Focus

The A1 uses phase-detection AF (rather than the ubiquitous) contrast-detection AF. Phase-detection AF technology allows the camera to quickly and accurately determine where (distance from the camera) the subject is and exactly how far out of focus and in which direction the lens elements need to be moved to achieve focus. What this means is that the A1 doesn't have to "hunt" as much for the perfect focus setting.

The DiMAGE A1 allows users to select the area of the image the AF system focuses on. Shooters can choose from Wide Focus Area, Spot Focus Point, and Flex Focus Point options. The A1's default AF option is Wide Focus area (marked by four brackets in the viewfinder frame). In Spot Focus Point AF mode (the focus area is marked by center of the frame crosshairs target) users can bias focus for the most important element in the image (like the eyes in a portrait) and then re-compose. Flex Focus Point AF allows users to move the focus point (the crosshairs target) anywhere in the frame.

The A1 also features Minolta's proven Subject Tracking AF (first seen on the Dimage F100). Enable the A1's Continuous Autofocus mode (users must press the shutter button half way after aligning one of the AF points with the subject) and the AF system determines subject distance, locks on the subject, and then tracks the moving subject continuously adjusting focus intelligently by predicting speed and direction. Subject Tracking AF is a super feature for action photographers because it continues to track the subject (and adjust focus) during the interim between when the shutter button is pressed and when the shutter actually fires. This may seem a superfluous feature (since the time frame is measured in hundredths of a second) but it can make the difference (when shooting moving subjects) between getting the shot and missing it.

The anti shake feature produces results that would be impossible to obtain with any other prosumer digicam, however this capability comes at a significant cost in terms of power consumption. Users who purchase this camera for the anti shake feature (and plan to shoot lots of action/sports images) should factor in the cost of a back-up battery. Pair the A1's nifty Subject Tracking AF with Minolta's new Anti-Shake System and this SLR-like digicam easily becomes the best choice imaging tool for Sports/Action and Low Light/Natural Light photographers.

Manual Focus

In Manual Focus mode the A1 displays a distance scale at the bottom of the LCD monitor (or EVF) and focus is adjusted by turning the focus ring at the base of the zoom. Most digicam manual focus modes are slow, cumbersome, and virtually useless, more an after thought than an asset. It is very difficult to tell when (or if) the image is actually in sharp focus (At 2X-4X magnification because LCD screens don't provide sufficient image detail) and the typically broad "back & forth" focus switch adjustments are imprecise. The center of the A1's LCD image can be magnified from 2x to 8x to ensure precise manual focusing. Kudos are due Konica-Minolta for one of the most useful MF modes currently available.

Direct Manual Focus (enabled via the A1's menu system) allows users to manually tweak AF without switching to MF mode, just press the shutter button halfway and rotate the focus ring to fine-tune focus.

Metering

The A1's default metering is a 300-segment evaluative system that reads numerous areas of the frame and instantly evaluates brightness and contrast in each of those areas to determine the best overall exposure. More advanced users can select Spot or Center-Weighted metering modes (via the Function Dial) for more control in tricky lighting situations. The Spot mode allows users to align the center of the frame with the most important compositional element (like the face in a portrait) and bias the exposure on that very small area and then re-compose. Center-Weighted metering is useful for re-creating the retro look of "classic" golden age photography or ensuring that the exposure is based on the central area of the frame.

Users can hold or lock the exposure reading for a particular part of the image by pressing the AE Lock button on the back panel. The AE Lock button can be programmed to act as either a "hold" (holds the exposure/focus setting until the button is released) or "toggle" (allows users to toggle through multiple areas of the frame by pushing the AE Lock button to lock the exposure/focus setting for each successive area as it is checked). The exposure/focus setting can also be locked by pressing the Shutter button halfway, but only in AF mode.

Flash

The A1's multi-mode (Auto, Red-Eye reduction, Fill-flash, Slow-Sync) built in flash is noticeably more powerful than average. Flash output can be adjusted +2/-2 EV (in 1/3 EV increments) and the unit throttles down very nicely for macro work.

The DiMAGE A1 provides users with flash metering options. The default mode is ADI (Advanced Distance Integration), which bases flash exposure on lens aperture, distance measurements from the AF system, and light reflected back from a pre-flash. The second flash metering option, TTL Pre-Flash (used in conjunction with spot AF) bases flash output on a small metering flash fired before the primary exposure.

The DiMAGE A1 also provides a dedicated (Minolta only) hot shoe allowing photographers to mount Minolta Maxxum Program 5600 HS, Program 3600 HS, and 2500D external speedlights. An external PC style flash sync terminal allows the use of third-party flash units (manual operation only), studio strobes, and slaved units. The A1's manual flash option allows users to set flash power to full, ?, ?, 1/8, or 1/16 power.

Image File Storage/Memory Media

The A1 stores images to Compact Flash cards types I & II (and microdrives). A 16MB CF type I card ships with the camera. A substantially larger (minimum 256MB) memory card should be considered a required purchase.

Image File Format(s)

RAW, TIFF, & jpeg

Connectivity

USB 1.1, A/V (NTSC / PAL)
out, and DC in

Power

The A1 draws its power from a Minolta proprietary NP-400 lithium-ion rechargeable battery, the most powerful digicam battery currently available. Minolta claims users can get about 330 images (depending on flash use—and image review frequency) from a fully charged battery, easily enough power for a heavy full day shooting session or a short vacation.

My friend and I used one NP-400 for two weekends of moderate shooting and never exhausted the battery. The included charger needs about two and a half hours to fully charge the battery.

EXPOSURE

The DiMAGE A1 provides serious shooters with lots of exposure flexibility, including: Auto, Program AE, Scene (Minolta calls these Digital Subject Programs) modes, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Memory Recall, and full Manual modes.

In Auto (point & shoot) mode, the A1 makes all exposure decisions. In Program AE mode, the camera selects the aperture and shutter speed, but the user is free to choose all other exposure variables. In Aperture Priority mode, shooters select the lens aperture and the A1's CPU selects the appropriate shutter speed. In Shutter Priority mode users select the shutter speed and the A1 selects the proper lens aperture. Users can also choose one of the Scene modes -- Portrait, Sports, Sunset, and Night Portrait scene (Minolta calls these Digital Subject Programs) modes -- and the camera optimizes all exposure parameters for the specific type of scene selected. In Memory Recall mode users can save up to five sets of personal camera settings to memory. In Manual mode users have complete control over all exposure parameters.

Macro Mode

The DiMAGE A1 has a somewhat unique macro mode. Users must lock the lens at either the wide-angle or telephoto end of the zoom range. The minimum focusing distance (measured from the CCD imager rather than the front element of the zoom lens) is 11.8" at the wide-angle end and 5.1" at the telephoto end---more than tight enough for impressive "bugs & flowers" close-ups.

Color is accurate, and close-up subjects are sharp, but there is some very minor noise visible. There is also some noticeable corner softness at the macro setting, but this is fairly typical with long zoom digicams.

Movie Mode

The A1's movie mode is fairly unimpressive, not anywhere nearly as flexible or creative as the Z1's. A1 users can record video clips (with audio) @ 320x240 at 24 fps. Filmmakers can choose between Auto, Standard, Night, and Time Lapse movie modes. In auto mode the A1 selects between standard and night movie modes based on available light.

Voice Memo Mode

Users also have the ability to record short audio notes (5 to 15 seconds) to accompany still images, but this option must be selected pre-exposure.

Exposure Compensation/Exposure Bracketing

Very bright or very dark subjects can trick light metering systems into underexposing or overexposing images. The A1's base exposure can be adjusted from +2/-2 EV in 1/3 EV increments to compensate for difficult lighting/subject reflectance problems or to compensate for environmental exposure variables.

Very minor exposure differences can affect the dramatic appeal of an image. A1 users can virtually guarantee that they'll capture killer images consistently with the camera's auto bracketing function. The A1 shoots either 3 or 5 exposures in rapid sequence (with one press of the shutter button) varying the exposure between shots from 0.3 to 1.0 EV. Most digicam auto bracketing programs provide only the basics, but the A1 offers users a wide range of additional bracketing options including Continuous-Advance Bracketing, Single-Frame Advance Bracketing, and Digital Effects Bracketing (which brackets either Filter, Contrast, or Color Saturation settings). Kudos to Minolta, the capability to bracket hue, contrast, and color saturation is a genuinely useful feature that will appeal strongly to advanced shooters.

In-Camera Image Adjustment

The A1 provides a genuinely professional range of In-Camera Image Adjustment Options allowing skilled photographers to really fine tune images to precisely suit their individual preferences for color and tonality. In camera image adjustment is a very important tool for overcoming minor exposure problems, ensuring tack sharp resolution, tweaking white balance, balancing contrast, and fine tuning color saturation. Flexible and genuinely useful "fine tuning" capabilities are one of the things that separate the wheat from the chaff for serious camera users. Kudos to Konica-Minolta for getting this important capability right.

Color Saturation

A1 users have an incredibly broad range of color intensity/color balance options to choose from including Natural or Vivid sRGB color modes, Adobe RGB, Embedded Adobe RGB, Black and White, and Solarization settings. Color Saturation can be adjusted over in 11 steps and there is also a color filter setting (on the Digital Effects dial) that allows users to adjust the overall colorcast of an image (also over an 11 step range) from blue to yellow to effectively balance color temperature with lighting. Positive adjustments warm the image, while negative adjustments produce a cooler color balance. In Black and White mode, the color filter option allows users to produce monochromatic images in red, green, magenta, and blue.

Contrast

The A1's image contrast can be adjusted through an 11 step range ( 5/-5 steps) allowing users to balance, enhance, or reduce image contrast for better mid tones, improved shadow/highlight detail, and a broader tonal range.

Sharpness

The A1's images can be tweaked through a three step sharpness range (soft, normal, & hard) permitting shooters to slightly sharpen or soften images.

White Balance

The A1's White Balance system provides very flexible control over white balance, color balance, and tonal range including TTL Auto WB and pre-sets optimized for Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Shade, and a Custom (manual setting for adjusting color balance with a white card) setting. With the Custom setting, the camera adjusts color balance to render a white card (or a white wall/ceiling) as hue neutral and then saves the reading as a Custom setting. Up to three Custom settings many be saved, which is very useful for shooters who need to switch back and forth between different lighting (bright sun-shade outdoors, multiple indoor settings, or indoors-outdoors) situations quickly.

Sensitivity

The A1's light sensitivity can be set to TTL Auto or is adjustable in user selected ISO (35mm equivalent) values of 100, 200, 400, or 800. Typically, image noise is relatively high at the ISO 800 setting.

Noise-Reduction

The A1's Noise Reduction System utilizes standard dark-frame subtraction technology to automatically minimize image noise in high ISO shots, low-light images, and long exposures. When NR is engaged the camera captures a second exposure with the shutter closed and this "dark frame" (with no image noise) is compared to the primary exposure and the noise subtracted. Noise reduction processing noticeably lengthens shot to shot intervals.

Drive Modes

The DiMAGE A1 provides a very nice range of continuous shooting modes (via the "Drive" setting on the Function dial) including Continuous (2 fps until the buffer is filled), High-Speed Continuous (2.8 fps until the buffer is filled), Interval (users can automatically capture up to 240 images in a sequence at specific intervals ranging from 30 seconds to 60 minutes), and Time-Lapse Movie modes. In the Time Lapse movie mode the A1 will record video clips at 640x480 (no audio) @ 4 fps. Auto Exposure Bracketing and the Self-Timer are also enabled through drive mode settings.

DESIGN, CONTROLS, & ERGONOMICS

The Magnesium alloy and polycarbonate bodied A1 looks, feels, and handles like a modular 35mm SLR. This camera is a substantial package, definitely too big and heavy to drop into a pocket or purse. The A1's user-friendly controls are logically laid out and come easily to hand and the menus are well-organized and fairly easy to understand. The A1 is a very complex camera and even experienced digicam users will need some pretty substantial hands on familiarization in order to maximize the A1's impressive capabilities.

Technical Specifications

Resolution: 5.0 megapixels (2560 x 1920)
Viewfinders: EVF & 1.8"LCD
Lens: f2.8-f3.5/28-200mm (35mm equivalent) all glass (16 elements in 13 groups including two AD elements and multiple aspherical elements) zoom lens
FilterThread: 49mm
Auto Focus: Phase-detection AF
Manual Focus: Yes
Exposure: Auto, Program AE, Portrait, Sports, Sunset, and Night Portrait scene modes, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, Memory Recall, and full Manual modes.
Metering: Multi Segment Evaluative, Spot, and Center-Weighted
Flash: built-in multi mode and hot shoe for external flash units
Shutter speeds from 1/16,000th of a second to 30 seconds White Balance: TTL Auto and Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Shade, and a Custom setting.
Sensitivity: TTL Auto and 100, 200, 400, and 800 (ISO equivalent)
In Camera Image Adjustment: Yes (Sharpness, Contrast, Color Saturation)
Noise Reduction: Yes
Image File Formats: RAW, TIFF, & Jpeg
Image Storage Format: CF types I&II
Connectivity: USB 1.1, A/V out, & DC in
Power: NP-400 lithium-ion rechargeable battery

Street Price Range - $499.00-$599.00

Included

16MB CF card, neck strap, lens hood, lens cap, accessory shoe cap, AV/USB cables, software CD-ROM, NP-400 lithium-ion rechargeable battery and charger, users & software manuals

Optional

BP-400 battery pack (2 NP-400 batteries or 6 AAs), Remote shutter release, Minolta AC adapter, soft case, Minolta Maxxum Program 5600 HS and Program 3600 HS external speedlights.

In the Field/Handling & Operation

One of the first signs of spring in Kentucky is the annual Carl Casper Custom Car Show. My friend and I spent a recent Saturday afternoon at the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center shooting snazzy road rockets, flashy hot rods, and shiny custom cars. Casper stores his massive collection of custom cars in the Louisville area and the annual show here is the last of its kind (at one time there were dozens of Custom Car Shows around the U.S. every year).

Casper (along with George Barris and Ed "Big Daddy Roth) helped to inspire the muscle car (Pontiac GTO, Plymouth Road Runner, Shelby GT350 Mustang) craze of the sixties and seventies. Casper has designed and built custom autos for the movies (the Batmobile from Tim Burton's "Batman" film and the 1966 GTO from "XXX") and television (the General Lee from "The Dukes of Hazzard").

There were hundreds of classic custom cars and thousands of people so we had plenty to shoot. The A1 performed like a champ easily handling whatever we tried (even the crazy mix of daylight and fluorescent lighting inside the cavernous exhibition hall). The A1's low-light capabilities are well above average, especially with the nifty Anti-Shake feature enabled and I really liked having the ability to manually tweak the white balance settings and adjust the camera's sharpness, saturation, and contrast settings. After we finished at the car show we stopped at the Bambi Bar to grab a cheeseburger and review the images we'd shot.

We got together the following weekend at Louisville's Extreme Park to shoot skateboarders. Skateboarders gravitate to the park at all hours and in all sorts of weather to hone their skills in the twenty-four foot full pipe, the eleven-foot bowl, and the six-foot quarter pipe. The bowl and pipes are perfect for capturing action shots of skateboarders "catching some air" in gravity defying leaps.

We mounted the A1 on a favorite (1971 vintage) Leitz Tilt-All tripod to check out the camera's shutter lag, AF lag, and action/sports shooting capabilities. The A1's Auto Focus is among the fastest that I've seen on any prosumer digital camera and absolutely incredible for a 7X zoom digicam, which was a real benefit since skateboarders move at amazing speeds. Shutter firing is almost instantaneous if you pre-focus and only requires about half a second (at high shutter speeds in good light) if you don't. Still a bit slower than comparable 35mm SLR's, but a skilled photographer can manage optimal timing on action shots by anticipating the critical moment and tripping the shutter just before everything comes together.

We checked out the A1's Subject Tracking AF at the Extreme Park and the camera did indeed track subjects fairly well, over the central three quarters (but not along the edges or in the corners) of the frame. The A1 tracks subject movement nicely from a fixed position (like with the camera mounted on a tripod) but when panned rapidly it often loses the subject.

The A1's images were consistently excellent. We printed two 8X10's (one from the Carl Casper Custom Car Show and one from the Extreme Park) with an Epson Stylus Photo 2200 (on Epson photo paper) and both showed accurate color, excellent resolution, and a wide dynamic range.

PERFORMANCE

Image Quality

The A1's images show accurate color and very good skin tones. White balance is very precise, easily managing even difficult indoor lighting situations. Resolution and apparent sharpness are very good, especially at lower ISO settings. Noise levels remain low up to ISO 200. ISO 400 shots aren't too bad, but ISO 800 shots are very noisy. Action shots are consistently and impressively better than average and Red-eye is very well controlled.

Timing/Shutter Lag

The A1's boot-up cycle is about 1.5 seconds, which is very fast. AF lag is the shortest of any five megapixel unit I've used to date, in fact the A1's 7X zoom snaps into focus faster than many 3X and 4X zooms (less than one second in good lighting). Shutter firing is equally impressive and shutter lag is virtually non-existent (at higher shutter speeds) with pre-focusing and less than one second without. Shot to shot times are also remarkable (about 1 second at the highest resolution). With many prosumer digicams the camera is locked for up to 30 seconds while TIFF files are saved to memory, but the A1's write to card times are the best I've seen to date.

A Few Concerns

Actually, I have very few concerns about the Minolta Dimage A1. The A1's lens shows mild to moderate barrel distortion at the wide-angle end of the zoom range. Noise levels are slightly higher than average at the auto ISO setting and image noise at ISO 800 is unacceptably high. The A1 is a very robustly built digicam so I don't understand the uncharacteristically chintzy plastic flap over the memory card slot. The A1's major drawback is complexity. Users will be obliged to spend some quality time with the A1's owner's manual, this is not a camera that can be used right out of the box.

Conclusion

The Minolta Dimage A1 is a genuinely creditable successor to 7Hi and one of the best prosumer digital camera choices currently available. This camera is the only five megapixel digicam I've tested that challenges the "best in class" status of the Olympus C5060. The A1's impressive collection of nifty "one of a kind" features, substantially above average performance, and remarkably broad "tweakability" quotient should appeal to serious amateur photographers, student photojournalists, budding "street" shooters, and part time pros.

Links

Check out my review of a bargain priced and very capable photo quality ink-jet printer.

Epson Stylus Photo 785 EPX ink-jet printer
http://www.epinions.com/content_60776812164

For definitive advice on How to Choose a Digital Camera please see my review:
http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-2E46-17B174E2-39A418E3-prod1

For information about comparable/competitive Digital Cameras you may find the review links below helpful


Canon

Canon Powershot G5
http://www.epinions.com/content_104580419204

Fuji

Fuji Finepix S7000
http://www.epinions.com/content_120479321732

Nikon

Nikon Coolpix 5700
http://www.epinions.com/content_70131814020

Olympus

Olympus Camedia C5060
http://www.epinions.com/content_125810871940

Sony

Sony Cybershot DSC F828
http://www.epinions.com/content_124605206148