DCRP Review: Minolta DiMAGE Z1
by Jeff Keller, DCRP Founder/Editor Originally posted: October 15, 2003 Last Updated: October 20, 2003
The DiMAGE Z1 ($399) marks newly-merged Konica Minolta's entry into the growing ultra zoom camera market. Where Olympus used to be the only game in town, now the majority of the camera manufacturers in this space. That means a cameras has to be pretty darn good to be the best in the class. The Z1 may look like just another ultra zoom camera, but it has several features that set it apart from (most of) the competition. These include: Passive AF system Hot shoe for external flash VGA, 30 frames/sec movie mode Unique "switch finder" that you'll see later
How does the Z1 fare? Find out now! The DiMAGE Z1 has an average bundle. Inside the box, you'll find: The 3.2 (effective) Mpixel DiMAGE Z1 camera 16MB Secure Digital card Four AA alkaline batteries (not rechargeable) Neck strap Lens cap w/retaining strap USB cable A/V cable 115 page camera manual + software manual (both printed) DiMAGE Viewer Utility + ArcSoft software CDs
Minolta includes a 16MB Secure Digital (SD) card with the camera, which is barely enough to start with. I highly recommend picking up a 128MB or larger card right away. The Z1 can use SD cards, or the slower (and lower capacity) MultiMedia (MMC) cards. Another purchase you'll need to make is for more batteries. Minolta includes four alkaline batteries with the camera, which will quickly find their way into your trash can (or should I say, recycling bin). So go buy
two sets of NiMH batteries instead -- they'll last longer while saving the environment -- and your money -as well. Minolta estimates that you can take about 250 photos (with 50% flash use), or spend 300 minutes in playback mode using alkalines, so expect better results with high power NiMH cells. The nice thing about these AA-based cameras is that you can use alkalines in emergencies. Want more battery life, and don't mind carrying around a bulky battery pack? Then check out the Minolta EBP-100 battery pack kit ($275). It holds two lithium-ion batteries, which should provide you with hours of battery power (sorry, I don't have exact numbers).
Minolta includes a lens cap and retaining strap with the Z1.
Since the DiMAGE Z1 is equipped with a hot shoe, you can use a external flash. Keep in mind that you must use a Minolta flash, as its a proprietary hot shoe. Compatible flashes include the Program Flash 2500 (shown above), 3600HS, and 5600HS.
The only lens accessory for the Z1 is a wide-angle conversion lens available ($120). This lens will give you a wide-end of 28 mm. Other accessories include an AC adapter ($60) and leather neck strap. And I already mentioned the battery pack.
Image courtesy of Konica Minolta
Included with the camera is version 2.2.1 of the Minolta's DiMAGE Viewer software. It's certainly not a substitute for something like Photoshop Elements, but it does basic editing fairly well. The software is Mac OS X native. If you're just looking to connect your camera and transfer files, you'll be pleased to hear that the Z1 is Windows XP and OS X compatible -- and you probably won't have to install any drivers. The DiMAGE's manual is pretty good as well, with long explanations and not a lot of fine print. Much better than the average camera manual. The DiMAGE Z1 is a unique looking camera, with a silver plastic body. I'd rate the build quality as average, reminding me of the Toshiba PDR-M700. It's definitely not as well built as the plastic Kodak DX6490 or the all-metal Olympus C-750UZ. Something else I notices is that the lens rattles if you give the camera the slightest shake. I'm not sure if this actually affects camera operation, but it's food for thought. The Z1 is easy to hold, thanks to its large right hand grip. Let's take a look at the dimensions of the Z1, and how they compare with the other ultra zoom models:

Camera Minolta DiMAGE Z1 Fuji FinePix S5000 HP Photosmart 945 Kodak EasyShare DX6490 Olympus C-740 Ultra Zoom Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ10 Toshiba PDR-M700
Dimensions (W x H x D, Volume excluding protrusions) (bulk) 4.3 x 3.1 x 3.2 4.4 x 3.2 x 3.1 4.8 x 3.4 x 3.4 3.9 x 3.2 x 3.2 4.2 x 2.6 x 2.7 5.5 x 3.4 x 4.2 4.3 x 2.7 x 2.6 42.7 cu in. 43.6 cu in. 55.5 cu in. 39.9 cu in. 29.5 cu in. 78.5 cu in. 30.2 cu in.
Mass (empty) 305 g 337 g 389 g 310 g 295 g 550 g 298 g
As you can see, the Z1 is right in the middle of the pack in terms of size, but its plastic body makes it one of the lightest cameras in the bunch. And how about that Panasonic -- it's huge! Let's begin our tour of this camera now.
The DiMAGE Z1 has an F2.8-3.5, 10X optical zoom lens. The focal length is 5.8 - 58 mm, which is equivalent to 38 - 380 mm. The lens is threaded, and the camera supports the wide-angle conversion lens that I mentioned earlier. Directly above the lens is what Minolta calls Rapid AF -- basically a passive autofocus sensor. This sensor helps speed up focusing in good lighting, and also helps the camera focus in dim light. It's a similar concept as an AF-assist lamp, but it's useful in daylight as well. It's nice to see Minolta adding this feature to their cameras. Now if we could get everyone else to go along with it (the Kodak DX6490 had it as well). Continuing upward, we find the built-in flash. The flash has a working range of 0.75 - 6.1 m at wide-angle and 1.2 - 4.8 m at telephoto (with the ISO set to automatic). As I mentioned before, the camera supports several Minolta external flashes. The only other items of note on the Z1 are found toward the left side. These include the microphone and self-timer lamp.
The back of the camera has one of the most bizarre features I've seen on a camera. You're probably guessing that this is just another ultra zoom camera with an electronic viewfinder. Not so. Minolta has designed a contraption which mechanically flips a mirror in front of the LCD, projecting the image in the viewfinder above. This page shows how it works pretty well. The viewfinder has a diopter correction knob to focus what you're looking at. With the availability of perfectly decent electronic viewfinders, I have no idea why they did this. It's just another mechanical thing that can break. The LCD itself is brilliant, and one of the best I've seen. It's on the small size (1.5"), but it makes up for it in resolution (113k pixels) and especially its refresh rate. You haven't seen a camera LCD until you've seen one running at 60 frames/second -- it's wonderful. The camera also amplifies the image on the screen in low light, which is very handy. The LCD brightness can be adjusted in the setup menu.

Let's resume our tour by looking at the back of the camera with the LCD closed. Below the LCD is a switch which moves the camera between playback, record/LCD, and record/viewfinder mode. The power button is in the middle of all that. Switching between the LCD and viewfinder is bizarre the first time you do it,
with a noticeable "thunk" when the mirror moves. To the right of the LCD is the four-way controller, which is used for menu navigation, manual controls, and adjusting exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV, 1/3EV increments). The three buttons below that are for menu, QuickView/delete photo, and info. Pressing QuickView shoves you into playback mode, where you can review photos. The i+ button toggles what is shown on the screen -- it's basically the same as the display button on other cameras. To the right of those is the DC-in port, which is where you'll plug in the optional AC adapter or external battery pack. The final item to talk about is the zoom controller, located at the top-right of the photo. It takes about 2.9 seconds to move the lens from wide-angle to telephoto. Precise movements of the lens can be made by quickly pressing the buttons.
Now let's cover the top of the Z1. As I discussed back in the first section of the review, the camera has a proprietary hot shoe. So don't try to stick your Canon Speedlite on it. At the lower-right of the picture is the Z1's mode wheel. Items on it include: Auto - point-and-shoot, most settings locked up Movie mode - more on this later Program mode - still point-and-shoot, but with full access to menu options Aperture priority mode - you choose aperture, camera selects appropriate shutter speed; aperture range is F2.8 - F8, and will vary with focal length Shutter priority mode - you choose shutter speed, camera picks aperture. shutter speed range of 15 - 1/1000 sec Full manual mode - you choose both shutter speed and aperture Night portrait - these next five are scene modes Sunset Landscape Sports/action Portrait
Above the mode dial are two buttons and the speaker. The buttons are for macro mode and flash setting (auto, auto w/redeye reduction, fill-flash, slow sync, flash cancel).
On this side of the camera, Minolta has hidden the SD/MMC card slot and USB port. The sliding plastic door is nice, since you can't snap it off like on some other cameras. It is a little tight in there, making it hard to get the card out at times.
Nothing to see here. move along.

Finally, here is the bottom of the DiMAGE Z1. Here you'll find the battery compartment as well as a metal tripod mount. The door over the battery compartment has a lock, so it doesn't accidentally spring open. The door itself is quite flimsy. Record Mode For a big zoom camera, the Z1's 2.5 second startup time is impressive. When it wanted to, the camera focused very quickly, in half a second or less. I wasn't impressed with its low light abilities, even with that passive AF sensor. The camera could not lock focus on many objects around the office, even with the lighting at 50%. My first set of night shots all came out blurry, so I had to reshoot them all with manual focus. Shutter lag is very short when a fast shutter speed is used, but you'll definitely notice it when a slow shutter speed is used. You'll want to use the flash or a tripod in those situations.
No histogram in record mode
Shot-to-shot speed is excellent, with a little over a second of lag before you can take another shot (assuming instant playback is turned off). If you're using instant playback, you can half-press the shutter release to go back to shooting immediately. To delete a photo after it is taken, you must first enter QuickView mode. (Updated 10/16/03, 10am) Now, here's a look at the resolution and quality choices on the DiMAGE Z1:
Quality Fine Resolution 2048 x 1536 Approx. File Size 1.1 MB # images on 16MB card 9
1600 x x x x 1536 Standard 1600 x x x x 1536 Economy 1600 x x x 480
770 KB 550 KB 160 KB 720 KB 450 KB 310 KB 130 KB 430 KB 280 KB 200 KB 90 KB
The DiMAGE Z1 does not have a RAW or TIFF mode. The camera saves images with a name of PICT####.JPG, where #### = 0001-9999. The camera will maintain the file numbering, even as you erase/replace memory cards.
The DiMAGE Z1 uses a pretty standard menu system, that users of other Minolta cameras will be familiar with. The menu is divided into three "tabs", each with its own set of options. Note that most of the options below are locked up in the auto and scene modes. The menu options are: Drive mode (Single-frame, self-timer, continuous, UHS continuous, progressive capture, UHS progressive capture, bracketing) - see below Image size (see chart) Quality (see chart) Auto DSP (on/off) - essentially an automatic scene mode feature; available in auto record mode only White balance (Auto, custom, daylight, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, flash) - custom mode lets you shoot a white or gray card in order to get perfect color in any light Flash key function (Flash mode, drive, white balance, focus mode, color mode) - redefines the function of the flash button on the top of the camera Focus mode (Auto, manual) - see below Full-time AF (on/off) - camera is constantly trying to focus (and you'll hear it, too) Flash mode (Auto, auto w/redeye reduction, fill flash, slow sync, flash cancel) - for changing the flash mode when you've redefined the flash button Flash compensation (-2EV to +2EV, 1/3EV increments) - adjust the flash strength Metering mode (Multi-segment, center-weighted, spot) Sensitivity [ISO] (Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400) Digital zoom (on/off) - using this will reduce the quality of your photos Color mode (Natural, vivid, black and white, sepia) Sharpness (Hard, normal, soft) Contrast (Low, normal, high)

Some things up there need some major explanation. I'll start with the drive modes. Continuous advance is your standard sequential shooting mode. The camera takes photos at 1.5 frames/second, and the maximum number of photos depends on the image quality. At the highest setting, it's five photos. UHS continuous advance takes up to ten 1280 x 960 photos at 10 frames/second. Progressive capture works in a different way. You keep the shutter release button held down, and the camera saves the last images that were in the buffer at the time you release the button. Standard progressive capture saves the last six images (which were recorded at 1.5 frames/second), while the UHS progressive mode saves the last 10 images (same 1280 x 960, 10 frames/sec as above). Auto bracketing takes three shots in a row, each with a different exposure. You can set the exposure interval using the four-way controller. All-in-all, the Z1 has one of the most impressive burst modes out there.
Manual focus mode lets you use the four-way controller to focus the lens. A guide is shown on the LCD displaying the current focus distance, and the camera will enlarge the center of the image so you can verify that your subject is in-focus.
Manual focus (sorry for the crappy picture)
Let's move on to the setup menu now: LCD brightness Power save (1, 3, 5, 10 mins) Instant playback (Off, 2, 10 sec) - how long photo is shown on LCD after it is taken Lens accessory (None, wide converter) Language (Japanese, English, German, French, Spanish) File # memory (on/off) Folder name (Standard, date) - choose the naming system for folders Audio signals (1, 2, off) - menu beeps Shutter FX (1, 2, off) - fake shutter sound Volume Reset to defaults Noise reduction (on/off) - used to reduce noise in exposures 1 second or longer Date/time set Date imprint (on/off) - print the date on your photos Video output (NTSC, PAL)
What I liked: 10X optical zoom lens Full manual controls Hot shoe Supports wide-angle conversion lens VGA movie mode, 30 frames/second One of the best LCDs I've seen Passive AF system (though I had trouble focusing in low light) Good redeye test performance Several burst mode options
What I didn't care for: Too much purple fringing / chromatic aberrations Colors seem dull at default saturation Mediocre low light focusing (night shots did not come out, difficulties around the office) Sound in movie mode appears to be out of sync with video (640 x 480, 30 fps only?) Lens rattles, plastic battery door is flimsy Concerned about durability of switch finder So-so bundle
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KONICA MINOLTA DiMAGE Z1 3.2 MEGAPIXEL DIGITAL CAMERA

Specifications

Number of effective pixels CCD Camera sensitivity Focal length Lens construction Maximum aperture Minimum focus distance 3.2 million 1/2.7-type interline primary-color CCD Total pixels: 3.3 million Auto and 50,100, 200, and 400 ISO equivalents 5.8 - 58mm (35mm equivalent: 38 380mm) 10 elements in 7 groups (includes two elements with three aspheric surfaces) f/2.8 f/3.5 Wide: 1.6ft. (0.5m) from front of lens Telephoto: 6.6ft. (2m) from front of lens Wide: 1.9ft. (0.57m) from CCD Telephoto: 6.8ft. (2.07m) from CCD Super Macro Standard macro Telephoto Focal length: 9.7mm* Wide From front of lens: 1.6 in. (4 cm) 3.9 in. (10cm) 47.2 in. (120cm) From CCD: 4.3 in. (11cm) 6.7 in. (17cm) 50 in. (127cm)

* at 9.7mm only

Minimum macro distance
Maximum magnification Area covered at maximum magnification LCD monitor
0.12x (1: 8.33) Equivalent to 0.79x (1: 1.27) in 35mm format 1.3 x 1.73 inches (33 x 44mm) 1.5 inch (3.8cm) low-temperature polysilicon TFT color with antireflection coating Total number of pixels: 113,000 Automatic monitor amplification Viewfinder: Approximately 98% LCD monitor: Approximately 100 % Viewfinder display, LCD-monitor display Switch Finder system allows the monitor to be viewed directly or through the viewfinder. 3 ~ +1m-1 18.8mm CCD electronic shutter and mechanical shutter 4 - 1/1000 second in programmed-AE and aperture-priority modes. 15 - 1/1000 second in shutter-priority and manual exposure modes. 2 - 1/1000 second in auto-recording and Digital Subject Programs Bulb (maximum 30 seconds) Rapid AF: a combination of a passive AF sensor with the video AF system Wide focus area Spot focus areas with Focus Area Selection

-more-

Field of view Display-mode switch
Diopter control Eye relief Shutter Shutter speed range
Autofocus system Autofocus areas
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z1 Digital Camera Specifications (contd)
Focus modes Focus lock Metering Multi-segment metering Exposure modes Digital Subject Programs Exposure compensation AE lock Flash metering Flash range

Flash modes

Flash recycling time Flash compensation Flash-sync speeds External flashes Continuous advance
Single-shot AF, Full-time AF, Manual focus. By pressing shutter-release button partway down. Multi-segment, Center-weighted, Spot 256 segments Programmed AE, Aperture priority, Shutter priority, Manual Portrait, Sports action, Landscape, Sunset, Night portrait. Automatic and manual selection. 2 EV in 1/3 increments By pressing shutter-release button partway down Pre-flash TTL Wide: Approximately 0.ft. (0.23 6.1 m) from CCD Telephoto: Approximately 3.9 15.7 ft. (1.2 4.8 m) from CCD (Camera sensitivity: auto) Autoflash, Autoflash with red-eye reduction, Fill flash, Slow-shutter sync. Autoflash not available with aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual exposure modes. Flash cancel by pushing the built-in flash down. Approximately 7 seconds 2 EV in 1/3 increments All shutter speeds Auto-flash metering with Program/Maxxum Flash 2500 (D), Program/Maxxum 3600HS (D), Program/Maxxum Flash 5600HS (D) - UHS (Ultra High Speed) continuous advance: Approximately ten 1280x960 frames in one second - Standard continuous advance: Approximately 1.5 frames per second
* Actual speed may vary depending upon the subject and camera settings.

Approximate number of frames that can be captured at one time with the continuous-advance drive modes: UHS continuous advance (1280x960) Fine: 10 frames Standard: 10 frames Economy: 10 frames Standard continuous advance 1280x960 2048x1536 1600x1200 Fine 5 frames 8 frames 13 frames Standard 10 frames 16 frames 24 frames Economy 19 frames 30 frames 42 frames Progressive Capture
640xframes 67 frames 94 frames
* Actual number of images may vary depending upon the subject and camera settings.
Exposure bracketing Self-timer Movie
Maximum number of images that can be recorded with the Progressive Capture mode: UHS: 10 frames Standard: 6 frames Three frame bracket in 1.0, 0.5, 0.3 EV increments Approximately 10 seconds Recording time dependent on memory card capacity, image size, and frame rate. Frame rate: 15 frames per second, 30 frames per second Fast forward and rewind control. With and without monaural audio with playback volume control. Jogging
White balance control Digital Effects Control Contrast compensation Sharpness settings Color modes Noise reduction Digital zoom Copy function E-mail Copy function Date imprinting Key customization Image-quality modes Number of recorded pixels (Still images) Number of recorded pixels (Movie clips) Storage capacity
Movie frame capture Night movie (automatic selection or disabled) Automatic, Preset (Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Flash), Custom Contrast compensation, Sharpness Three levels (Low, Normal, High) Three levels (Soft, Normal, Hard) Natural Color, Vivid Color, Black and White, Sepia User selectable dark noise reduction Maximum 4x in 0.1x increments To copy single or multiple images to the same or another memory card. Creates a compressed 640x480 or 160x120 JPEG image for transmission. Year/month/day (Format can be changed.) Imprinting can be disabled The function activated by the flash-mode button can be changed. Fine, Standard, Economy 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 640 x x 960 in UHS continuous-advance mode 640x480, 320x240, 160x120 Approximate storage capacity of a 16MB SD (Secure Digital) Memory Card: Still images 1280x960 640x480 2048x1536 1600x1200 Fine 9 frames 14 frames 22 frames 69 frames Standard 17 frames 27 frames 39 frames 100 frames Economy 32 frames 47 frames 69 frames 150 frames Movie clips 320xseconds 41 seconds

30 fps 15 fps

640xseconds 26 seconds
160xminutes 22 seconds 2 minutes 30 seconds
* Movie clips recorded with audio. * Actual number of images may vary depending upon the subject and memory card used.

File formats

Folder name formats Printing output control Recording media Computer interface Direct print AV output Batteries Battery performance (Playback) Battery performance (Recording)
JPEG, Motion JPEG (MOV) DCF 1.0-compliant DPOF-compliant (Supported by printing functions in version 1.1) Exif 2.2 Standard, Date Exif Print, PRINT Image Matching II SD (Secure Digital) Memory Cards, MultiMediaCards Full-speed 12Mbps USB USB DIRECT-PRINT NTSC, PAL (selected on the camera) Four AA batteries: Alkaline, Ni-MH Approximate continuous playback time: 300 min. with alkaline batteries. Approximate number of recorded images: 250 frames with alkaline batteries, LCD monitor on, Full-size images (2048x1536), Standard image quality, No instant playback, No full-time AF, Flash used with

External power source Dimensions (WxHxD) Weight Operating temperature Standard accessories

Optional accessories

50% of the frames. 6V DC with specified AC adapter (sold separately) 4.31 x 3.05 x 3.15 inches (109.5 x 77.5 x 80mm) Approximately 10.8oz. (305g) without batteries or recording media 32-104F (0-40C) Neck Strap NS-DG5000, Lens Cap LF-242, Accessory Shoe Cap SC-1000, AV Cable AVC-200, 16MB SD (Secure Digital) Memory Card, USB Cable USB-500, DiMAGE Viewer, ArcSoft VideoImpression CD-ROM, Four AA Alkaline batteries AC Adapter AC-1L, Leather Neck Strap NS-DG1000, External High Power Battery Pack Kit EBP-100, Wide Converter Kit ZCW-100

System Requirements

IBM PC/AT compatible computers with Windows XP Home, Windows XP Professional, Windows Me, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 98*, or Windows 98 Second Edition* and with a USB port as standard interface.
Apple Macintosh computers with pre-installed Mac OS 9.0 9.2.2, Mac OS X v10.1.3 10.1.5, and v10.2.1 10.2.6 and with a USB port as standard interface.
The computer and operating system must be guaranteed by their manufacturers to support USB interface.
Problems may be encountered depending on what other USB devices are being used in parallel with this product.
Only a built-in USB port is supported. Problems may be encountered when the camera is connected to a USB hub.
Normal operation may not be possible even when all the system requirements are met.
Users with Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition must install dedicated driver software included in the DiMAGE Z1 package.
Specifications, accessories and system requirements are subject to change without notice.