RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘Minolta’

$20 film camera challenge: Minolta Riva Zoom 90EX – Dan Bracaglia

13 Nov

Intro – the challenge

Our ‘$ 20 film camera challenge’ is partly an acknowledgment that the universe is well-stocked with affordable analog cameras, and you don’t necessarily need to spend an arm and a leg on something trendy to get great shots. But it’s also a fun excuse to reassess the cool and often quirky camera designs of the not-too-distant past.

The rules are simple: Find a film camera for under $ 20, shoot a roll or two with it, and describe the experience. Film and developing costs do not count toward the $ 20, otherwise you’d have no money left to spend. But shipping and/or tax do count.

In our very first challenge, DPR writer Aaron Gold ended up falling in love with the surprisingly feature-rich Minolta Maxxum 5. In the second edition, DPR editor Dan Bracaglia pulls the trigger on another Minolta camera…

Read the first installment of the $ 20 film camera challenge here

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_6631296540″,”galleryId”:”6631296540″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”isMobile”:false}) });

Dan Bracaglia and the Minolta Riva Zoom 90EX

The hunt

I’ve been considering purchasing an inexpensive 35mm pocket zoom camera for some time now – something I can toss in my bike frame bag and bring along on adventures. As a kid, I remember shooting with our family’s Olympus Stylus Zoom and recall enjoying the experience and the photographs immensely. And so I figured the $ 20 film camera challenge was the perfect excuse to take to eBay and do a little shopping.

I also picked up an Olympus Stylus Zoom 105, as a sort of consolation if the Minolta didn’t work

The camera industry pumped out a ton of these autofocus-enabled ‘compact’ zoom cameras during the 1990’s. And I had no shortage of well-priced options from every major manufacturer. I’d never shot with a Minolta compact camera before, only an SLR, but a recent, glowing article about the Minolta Riva 110 over on 35mmc.com had me intrigued.

Priced at $ 15, the Minolta Riva 90EX (aka Minolta Freedom 9T) was my camera of choice.

I couldn’t find a Riva 110 for under $ 20, despite a strong desire for as much zoom as possible, but did I track down the a slightly-older Minolta Riva Zoom 90EX, priced to fit the rules of the challenge. Note: The North American version (which I picked up) is called the ‘Freedom Zoom 9T,’ which doesn’t sound as cool, so we’re going with Riva 90EX.

It had originally been listed at $ 20, but was subsequently lowered to $ 15 with free shipping. The seller noted it was in mint condition, minus a cracked hinge on the film door, which they were confident was a non-issue. I figured ‘what the heck’ and bought it for the asking price. Grand total: $ 16.52.

Full disclosure: I also picked up an Olympus Stylus Zoom 105, as a sort of consolation if the Minolta didn’t work. That one I splurged on and spent $ 49.10 with tax and shipping.

The ‘pick’

The Riva 90EX has a nice selection of features including a double exposure mode, landscape mode and even a continuous drive mode.

The Riva 90EX debuted in the early 90’s at a time when the ‘compact’ AF zoom camera market was blowing up and brands were churning out new models, with each generation offering more and more reach.

A mostly automatic camera, the Riva 90EX is built around a 35-90mm F3.5-5.7 lens and includes a nice selection of modes and features, some more useful than others. For instance, ‘Landscape mode’ locks focus at infinity and disengages the flash, something I found useful when shooting street photos on a sunny day toward the tele-end of the focal length. There’s also also a double exposure mode and even a continuous drive mode which, from my testing (without film), shoots at a zippy 1 fps.

In use

You ain’t a beauty but hey, you’re alright.

Upon unboxing my new/old Minolta Riva Freedom 90EX, I popped the film door to see how weak the cracked hinge really was: it fell off in my hands, with only the date cable keeping it attached.

“The first time the date imprint function was ever actually useful,” I thought as I grabbed some gaffers tape.

After loading in a battery I checked to make sure the flash, zoom and shutter worked, and all seemed to be functioning as intended. I then went to set the date on the back because why the heck not? It’s there. Much to my dismay, the year only goes until 2019, something that is actually mentioned in the instructions. Was Minolta foreshadowing a lack of faith and/or the ultimate demise of their camera business all the way back in the early 90s?

Upon unboxing the Minolta Riva Freedom 90EX, I popped the film door to see how weak the cracked hinge really was: it fell off in my hands

In-hand, the Riva 90EX feels large and plasticky, in fact I’d go as far as to say it’s much larger in life than the product photos suggest. But the 1990’s bloat also means there’s lots to hold on to and it’s quite comfortable to grip. The shutter button is nice and clicky, but the zoom toggle has almost no tactile response, which I found odd. The top of the camera offers a nice big (for the era) LCD with setting info. Annoyingly, some settings are saved when the camera is turned off, others are not.

‘Landscape mode’ conveniently sets focus at infinity and disables the flash. Annoyingly though the camera doesn’t save the mode selection when you turn it off and back on again.

I really enjoyed carrying this camera around. Its lightweight design made it easy to sling over a shoulder and its fat grip made it unlikely to slip from hand, though the bloated size meant it just barely fit in my bike frame bag.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by its functionality in most shooting scenarios. The little bit of control over the flash, i.e. the ability to turn it off (which can be done independently of ‘Landscape mode’) is much appreciated. And though I didn’t try to shoot any double exposures, it’s certainly a feature I might enjoy messing around with when the moment strikes.

Was Minolta foreshadowing a lack of faith and/or the ultimate demise of their camera business all the way back in the 90s?

The camera offers one central AF point, so focus-and-recompose is the name of the game. I found AF acquisition speed to actually be quite good, given the era. In operation it unsurprisingly sounds like an early 90’s camera, which is to say, it’s noisy. If you’ve ever sharpened a Ticonderoga (pencil) in an electric pencil sharpener, that’s what this camera sounds like when the film is advancing. The zoom action is also audible, though the zoom speed is pretty quick.

There’s really not much else to say about the Riva 90EX; it’s a $ 16 chunk-monster of a camera with just enough controls and some pleasant features to make me happy. And one I enjoyed bringing along on adventures, thanks to its functionality and low cost of replacement, should chaos ensue (I drop it). But how are the photos?

The photos

About a quarter of my images have a pronounced circular flare, a possible sign that optical coatings somewhere in the lens may have degraded.

The Riva 90EX is certainly capable of solid image quality, but my copy has one obvious and unfortunate issue/defect: substantial circular flaring when shooting at the wide end of the focal range. I shot a grand total of 50 images and roughly 1 in 4 shots have this issue. Sure, it looks cool and artsy for some of the more abstract images, but it’s just flat-out annoying in others.

At first I thought the flaring was a result of the flash, but it also appears in images shot in bright sunlight where the flash was disabled. Could a lens hood fix this? Possibly, but it also may just be the result of lens coating degradation. That’s the bad, now for the good:

At the wide end I’d call the lens satisfyingly sharp and at the tele, acceptably sharp; not bad for $ 16

I was pleasantly surprised with the rest of the images, though Kodak Gold 400 seems a bit greener than I remember (I mostly corrected this in Lightroom). The autofocus system proved fairly reliable; very few of my shots had missed focused. The metering also seemed pretty good, especially given some of the more dynamically complex scenes I shot. At the wide end I’d call the lens satisfyingly sharp and at the tele, acceptably sharp; not bad for $ 16.

The takeaway

I really like the versatility of the camera’s 38-90mm focal range, especially for street shooting. I also appreciate the camera’s design, handling and features. But persistent flaring when shooting the wide end of the focal length is a deal-breaker.

Ultimately, I suspected I would love this style of camera, especially the versatility of the focal range, and my time with the Riva 90EX confirmed my suspicions. I’ve long been both a fan of both digital pocket zooms as well as compact 35mm cameras (but with fixed focal lengths), and this feels like a natural category of camera to now explore.

Plus, the sheer number of 90’s pocket zooms available for cheap means you too can explore it, without breaking the bank. Of course, the next model I’ll be trying is my new Olympus Stylus Zoom 105. Here’s hoping for flare-free shooting!

The lens on the Riva 90EX is satisfyingly sharp at the wide end.

Who’s going to take the $ 20 film camera challenge next?

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on $20 film camera challenge: Minolta Riva Zoom 90EX – Dan Bracaglia

Posted in Uncategorized

 

The $20 film camera challenge part 2: Saved by the Minolta Maxxum 5 – Aaron Gold

19 Sep
Aaron ended up picking up a Minolta Maxxum 5 and 28-80mm kit lens for under $ 20.

Read: The $ 20 film camera challenge part 1: the hunt

A quick recap: In part one (see link above), I proposed a $ 20 film camera challenge, the goal being to find a working film camera for less than twenty bucks, shipping included. The search was fascinating: I found lots of point-and-shoot compacts, several intriguing vintage cameras and a surprising number of autofocus SLRs. I had been trolling the waters of low-end Minoltas and was just about to make an offer on a Maxxum 3xi and a zoom lens, when I saw… the camera.

Too good to be true?

It was a Minolta Maxxum 5, a camera that, quite frankly, I had never heard of. It came with what I assume was its kit lens, a Minolta AF 28-80 F3.5-5.6 painted in matching silver. The lens hood was present but the lens cap was missing. The seller was here in the Los Angeles area, so shipping was only six dollars.

Asking price: $ 12 or best offer.

The description didn’t indicate if it was working, just the standard Ebay ‘Used’ boilerplate, which does include the phrase ‘…is fully operational and functions as intended.’ I figured that was my out if the camera turned out to be broken.

The asking and shipping price were already within my $ 20 budget, but I am the son of a used car salesman, so I had to try to do a little better. I sent the seller a $ 10 offer, and it was accepted!

A high-feature camera for a super low price

While waiting for my new cheap camera to arrive, I fired up Google to figure out exactly what I’d just bought. I learned that the Minolta Maxxum 5 came out in late 2001 (well after I’d tuned out the 35mm SLR market, which explains why I’d never heard of it). The Maxxum 5 was part of that market’s last gasp. It sat in the middle of Minolta’s lineup, but the features sure made it look like a high-end camera to me. It was as if Minolta was shoveling every feature they could into their 35mm SLRs as film was on its way out the door. Retail price for the body was $ 403, which is $ 587 in today’s dollars. I wasn’t able to find any contemporary ads, but I imagine at the time, you could get it with the 28-80mm for just a bit more dough.

The Maxxum 5 was part of the 35mm SLR market’s last gasp. It sat in the middle of Minolta’s lineup, but the features sure made it look like high-end

I’ll spare you a laundry list of the Maxxum 5’s features, because it’ll waste too many words and no one will care, but the highlights include 14-segment exposure metering, off-the-film flash metering, 7-point switchable autofocus, and a shutter speed range of 30 sec to 1/4000 sec. It has a depth-of-field preview (yay!), 3-exposure auto-bracketing, and – especially important to me – automatic and manual ISO settings. (I bulk-roll my film, so if the camera has no DX override, I’m stuck.) And the film advances at the lighting-fast rate of three frames per second.

I stopped paying attention to the 35mm SLR market in the late 90s (after all, how could I need anything better than my Canon EOS Rebel 2000?), and frankly I was amazed at the Maxxum 5’s features and configuration options. Cripes, I thought to myself as I skimmed the 127-page manual, who needs a Nikon F100 when you can get one of these?

A sample from the Maxxum 5, shot on Ilford HP5+.

The realities of my sub-$ 20 camera

Two days later, my camera showed up, and it looked brand new. The lens cap was missing, but there was a UV filter installed, and the glass underneath was spotless. It still had batteries and they had just enough juice to turn on the camera on and fire the shutter. Everything seemed to work – but would it take decent pictures?

I loaded up a new pair of CR2 batteries and some film. I started with a roll of deep-discount Ultrafine Xtreme 100, then splurged on a roll of Kodak Ektar, and followed up with my old favorite, Ilford HP5+. It’s worth noting that these three rolls of film together cost more than I paid for the camera.

It’s worth noting that three rolls of film together cost more than I paid for the camera

Shooting with the Maxxum 5 is good fun. The body and lens barrel are made of plastic, as were many SLRs of the era, and the upside is a light weight. With a strap, cap, and no film, it weighs 612g (21.6 oz), a little heavier than my Sony a6000 and quite a bit lighter than my Pentax ME Super. The autofocus is quick and accurate and there’s minimal shutter lag. Aside from the clicks and whirrs of the autofocus and winding motors, the experience wasn’t entirely unlike shooting with my a6000 – no surprise, I suppose, since the Minolta is, technically, the Sony’s not-too-distant ancestor.

But were the photos any good?

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_9270722206″,”galleryId”:”9270722206″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”isMobile”:false}) });

When I developed my B&W and picked up the color film from the lab, I was rather pleased with the results. I shot primarily in aperture-priority or program mode, and the Minolta’s built-in meter nailed the exposure on pretty much every shot. As for image quality, well, it’s what you would expect from a kit lens: reasonably sharp, but I’ve seen better. Actually, I’ve seen better from other Minolta AF lenses, which are ridiculously cheap – you can get some damn fine Minolta lenses in the $ 10 to $ 40 price range. (I was tempted to fit them to my new Maxxum 5, but that would go against the spirit of the challenge.)

The more I shot with the Maxxum 5, and the deeper I delved into its features, the more I realized that it is, by far, the most comprehensive, feature-rich film camera I own

The more I shot with the Maxxum 5, and the deeper I delved into its features, the more I realized that it is, by far, the most comprehensive, feature-rich film camera I own. Not bad for something that cost me sixteen bucks!

Yes, you can get a great camera for $ 20 – or less

I set out on this little experiment to see if it was possible to find a decent camera for less than $ 20. I was pretty sure the answer would be yes, but I never expected to find such an advanced camera in such good shape. Did I just get lucky? At $ 16, maybe a little. But it only took me a few days of shopping to unearth this gem, and as I speak there are a bunch more Maxxum 5s on eBayfor $ 30 or less. And I have no doubt there are even better bargains to be found.

Who’s going to take the $ 20 Film Camera Challenge next?

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on The $20 film camera challenge part 2: Saved by the Minolta Maxxum 5 – Aaron Gold

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Minolta DiMAGE V hands-on review

02 Apr

Introduction

In the DiMAGE V, Minolta combines point-and-shoot simplicity, modular lens design, thoughtful touches such as (literally) flexible storage media and the convenience of AA battery power to create a truly compelling photographic package for photographers of all types. From landscapes to family gatherings, the DiMAGE V is up to the task to help you capture the most of your moments in stunning 0.33MP detail. Younger photographers in particular will appreciate that the lens can swivel back towards you, making selfies just as easy as they are with your smartphone.

Key specifications:

  • 1/3 inch, 0.33MP CCD sensor
  • 34-92mm (35mm film-format equivalent) F5-5.6 manually zoomed detachable lens
  • Smart Media 5v storage (approx. 32 ‘Fine’ images per 4MB card)
  • Zero autofocus points (manual macro engagement)
  • ISO range of 160 to 160
  • 1.8″ 71.8k-dot rear screen
  • Powered by four AA batteries, with a battery life rating of ‘not good’

Body, handling and controls

The DiMAGE V sits comfortably in the hand, thanks to a ridge on the front of the camera and an indent for your thumb on the rear. The rotating lens does, of course, encourage two-handed operation, and the smooth action of the manual zoom lever is a joy. A small door on the bottom of the camera prevents accidental operation of the ‘Format,’ ‘Date’ and ‘Self-Timer’ options, because we all know that accidentally enabling the self-timer results in many a photographer hurling their camera into the nearest body of water in frustration.

The rear screen does an excellent job of giving you a general idea of what your photo may look like, without giving you enough detail to ruin the ‘moment of discovery’ when you load it up on (preferably) an old Trinitron CRT.

The ‘+’ and ‘-‘ buttons not only control exposure compensation, but also navigating images in ‘Play’ mode. This door prevents accidental operation, and will never, ever break, just like all of these little types of doors on ’90s electronics.

Operation of the camera is as straightforward as can be. The shutter button is in a nice spot, and the plus and minus buttons on the top give you control over exposure compensation and let you scroll through your images in playback mode. The built-in flash will be especially handy for when the light starts to drop, and the camera’s 1/30 maximum shutter speed won’t quite cut it. And to keep you focused on the actual process of taking pictures, there is no provision for manually selecting exposure settings.

So, does anyone out there have a Smart Media reader compatible with older 5v cards? Asking for a friend.

Lastly, the DiMAGE V runs on easy-to-find AA batteries, a blessing as you’ll be going through quite a few of them. It uses Smart Media storage, and will only accept cards up to 4MB – this thoughtful touch keeps you from over-shooting and having far too many images to go through on your OG Pentium-powered machine.

Performance and autofocus

In terms of performance, the DiMAGE V start-up time helpfully gives you plenty of time to think about the shot you’re going to take, and whether you really do want to take it. Likewise for shot-to-shot times. This careful slowing-down of the photographic process does, of course, encourage comparisons with Leica’s lineup of digital rangefinders, though we think the DiMAGE is the more practical option for most people.

This brings us to autofocus. There isn’t any. (Also like a Leica rangefinder!)

Image quality and usability

Ah, the moment I know you’ve all been waiting for. Unfortunately, this is just a hands-on review. We weren’t able to retrieve files from our DiMAGE V, owing to the scant availability of compatible card readers, but we’ve done the next best thing – we’ve photographed the rear of the camera so you can get an idea of how effective its screen is. Once we source a card reader, we’ll update the story so you can have your own ‘moment of discovery’ and see the full, glorious 0.33MP files that you crave.

Studio scene

Daylight

Low light

As you can see, the DiMAGE looks like it’s exposing the daylight scene fairly well without having to use exposure compensation. Colors look a bit cool, but we can’t say for sure whether it’s the screen or not – and certainly, there is no provision for custom white balance, to keep things simpler for the user.

Switch over to low light, and… well, perhaps it’s best to just not to shoot in low light.

Zoom range, selfies

The DiMAGE’s zoom range is fairly flexible, ranging from 34-92mm equivalent. Though the start of its zoom range isn’t all that wide, fans of Fujifilm’s X100 series – with its fixed 35mm lens – will likely see no problem with this.

Wide-angle

Telephoto

And thanks to the unusual design of the lens, you can even use the optical zoom while taking selfies. This is going to be great for those looking to spice up their Instagram feed with some more avant-garde compositions.

Wide-angle

Telephoto

Finally, we are big fans of the exposure compensation option on the DiMAGE. It really does give you wide latitude to adjust your exposure to your liking, particularly if you’re looking for a more silhouetted look. Though it’s difficult to see on the rear screen, it did help to bring back the Seattle wheel through the windows for this shot.

Automatic metering

Negative exposure comp

The detachable lens

It does detach, and you can even then use the camera itself as an off camera flash. This is something I was really looking forward to testing, but unfortunately, connector cables from the lens to the camera are harder to find than 5v Smart Media readers.

Conclusion

So, who is the Minolta DiMAGE V for? Well, while it’s tempting to say it’s great for anyone with fifty bucks and an eBay account, you may actually spend more money on and have a harder time finding the requisite memory card reader. But that said, we have to say we find the concept to be a bit of fresh air, even in 2019. There’s no denying that cameras these days are ludicrously more capable and more responsive, but designs are nowhere near as neat as some cameras seen in the early days of digital imaging. Today, the DiMAGE remains a fun-to-use novelty thanks to the detachable / swiveling lens design.

And later in the week, we promise we’ll get back to some reviews of, well, modern cameras.

Happy April Fool’s day, and H/T to our newest developer for generously loaning me his first ever digital camera.

Editor’s note – an earlier version of this article claimed incorrectly that the DiMAGE V has 3.3MP of resolution. It actually has 0.33MP – we regret the error.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Minolta DiMAGE V hands-on review

Posted in Uncategorized

 

The clockwork lens: Lensrentals tears down famed Minolta 40-80mm F2.8 Gearbox Zoom

27 Sep

Lensrentals tears down famed Minolta 40-80mm F2.8 Gearbox Zoom

Photograph by Tom Leonard

The Minolta MC Rokkor X 40-80mm F2.8 zoom is a unique lens, which uses a gearbox for controlling focus and zoom. The advantage of this design? It’s pretty small for an F2.8 zoom, especially one made in the 70’s, and more precise than a conventional helicoid. The downside? It’s fiendishly hard to take apart – as Roger Cicala and Aaron Closz at Lensrentals recently found out…

Lensrentals tears down famed Minolta 40-80mm F2.8 Gearbox Zoom

Image courtesy of Lensrentals

Roger and his team started by removing parts of the rear lens assembly, including the aperture ring. So far, so conventional. In Roger’s words: “We were starting to feel a little confident now. That confidence, as you will see, was entirely misplaced.”

Lensrentals tears down famed Minolta 40-80mm F2.8 Gearbox Zoom

Image courtesy of Lensrentals

Removing the leatherette that covers the lens barrel revealed several screws which – once unscrewed – allowed the gearbox housing to be removed, revealing the complicated mechanism for controlling zoom and focus.

Lensrentals tears down famed Minolta 40-80mm F2.8 Gearbox Zoom

Image courtesy of Lensrentals

Inside the housing, you can see the macro selection and focusing mechanisms, both of which move what Roger is calling ‘The Magic Slot’ (indicated with a red arrow). If this looks complicated, that’s because it is. In Roger’s words, “this is a mechanical art of the highest order”, ensuring that even when the lens is zoomed, the focus point remains unchanged. That was impressive stuff for the 1970’s (and even today).

Lensrentals tears down famed Minolta 40-80mm F2.8 Gearbox Zoom

Image courtesy of Lensrentals

Back to the lens barrel, and things are getting even more complicated…

Here, the green arrow is pointing to the zoom stem, while the red arrow indicates a heavy duty brass post covered with a white bumper. Since “normal lens terms like helicoid and cam don’t work here” Roger is calling this ‘The Golden Post’.

Lensrentals tears down famed Minolta 40-80mm F2.8 Gearbox Zoom

Image courtesy of Lensrentals

For a full explanation of exactly how all of this works, we’d recommend heading over to Roger’s original blog post, which explains things in fascinating detail. In the meantime, here’s a picture of the mechanical zoom and focus assembly, removed from the lens barrel.

Lensrentals tears down famed Minolta 40-80mm F2.8 Gearbox Zoom

Image courtesy of Lensrentals

With this assembly removed, the 40-80mm starts to look rather more like a conventional lens. To completely disassemble it, though, the team referred to ‘Aaron’s Second Rule of Disassembly’. Specifically – All leatherette must be removed. Because underneath leatherette, you’ll invariably find screws.

Lensrentals tears down famed Minolta 40-80mm F2.8 Gearbox Zoom

Image courtesy of Lensrentals

Finally, after “about an hour of time and a thorough and complete use of our full lexicon of unprintable words”, Roger and Aaron managed to get the inner barrel out of the outer casing.

Lensrentals tears down famed Minolta 40-80mm F2.8 Gearbox Zoom

Image courtesy of Lensrentals

With the front optics taken out, the aperture blades were revealed. After such a complex disassembly, Roger and Aaron “were glad to see something that looked familiar”.

Lensrentals tears down famed Minolta 40-80mm F2.8 Gearbox Zoom

Image courtesy of Lensrentals

And here is the 40-80mm F2.8, reduced (almost) to its component parts. Roger’s final takeaway, from one of the most complex disassemblies he’s ever done?

“There were some slick engineers working on things at Minolta back in the 1970s, thinking way outside the box”.

If this article whetted your appetite, we’d encourage you to head to Lensrentals for a full explanation of the entire process (including MTF charts!) and read more about the unique 40-80mm F2.8 in Tom Leonard’s article, ‘A forgotten solution: Why this strange 1975 zoom lens is so sharp’. See links below.

Read the full article on Lensrentals.com

Read Tom Leonard’s writeup of the Minolta MC Rokkor-X 40-80mm F2.8

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on The clockwork lens: Lensrentals tears down famed Minolta 40-80mm F2.8 Gearbox Zoom

Posted in Uncategorized

 

Throwback Thursday: Minolta DiMAGE X

27 Apr

There were many ‘races’ in the compact camera market back when they were selling like hotcakes. From resolution to zoom, manufacturers were constantly trying to one-up each other. Another area in which they were competing was just how small a camera could be. One of the smallest was the ultra-thin Minolta DiMAGE X, released way back in 2002.

The DiMAGE X’s dimensions were 84 x 72 x 20mm (3.3 x 2.8 x 0.8in) – yes, less than an inch thick – so it easily fit into a shirt picket. How did they do it? Folded optics.

While we’re not 100% certain, it’s likely that the DiMAGE X was the first digital camera to use folded optics. Light comes through the lens, hits a 90-degree prism and then heads downward where it passes through the various elements until it his a 2 Megapixel CCD. As you can probably tell from the design of the camera, all of the zooming and focus takes place in the ‘downward’ portion of the lens.

As noted in Phil Askey’s review, two other things that allowed the DiMAGE X to be so thin was its compact lithium-ion battery and ‘tiny’ MMC/SD cards (which is funny, considering that the way-too-small microSD format was just a few years away). One tradeoff to having such a compact body was the camera’s tunnel-type viewfinder – you might as well just use the 1.5″ LCD.

While the camera was a snappy performer, its image quality was less impressive. Phil Askey noted that photos were very ‘video like – soft with some visible ghosting artifacts.’ Vignetting was also an issue. Its measured resolution was the lowest of any 2 Megapixel camera DPReview had tested at the time. Phil suggests that most of these issues are due to the folded optics design that made the DiMAGE X so unique.

Despite its unique optical design and ultra-compact body, the DiMAGE X didn’t win over Phil (mainly due to image quality), earning it a ‘Below Average’ award – a rarity on DPReview.

Did you have a DiMAGE X or its successors? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Read our review of the Minolta DiMAGE X

Sample Gallery

$ (document).ready(function() { SampleGalleryV2({“containerId”:”embeddedSampleGallery_5736402335″,”galleryId”:”5736402335″,”isEmbeddedWidget”:true,”standalone”:false,”selectedImageIndex”:0,”startInCommentsView”:false,”isMobile”:false}) });
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Throwback Thursday: Minolta DiMAGE X

Posted in Uncategorized