Thoughts about the Dimage A2

[The PIT]

First real run today.

Positives very little lag when taking shots.

Optical zoom very good.

AF takes a little getting used too. Didn't realise it gave me three options. However thats not much when it's not focusing on the object in question.

Discovered how to overide the auto focus. When I got home.

Surprised to find F2.8 - F11 I thought it was F2.8 - F8 only. Reviews seem to reflect this.

WB seems a little out but that maybe becuase I need to get used to it.

The Electronic view finder tends to be too bright by default. So you end up darkening the image too much. Should be an adjustment for that somewhere.

EV adjustement doesn't work like it says in the book. In fact it only seems to work for the flash The button for this is badly placed as well.

Inside photos very good.

Hardly any noise.

Like histogram function as the electronic viewfinder is a very poor guide to what your shot is like.

Needs a nice pocket size manual and not one on the CD. Fujifilm do this which is very nice when you're out and you've forgotten how to set something.

Contrast seems a little weak as well.

I'll need more time to play with this but I still managed to get some good shots off even though I wasn't used to it.

[az]

There should be options to adjust EVF brightness and there should be flash and exposure compensation both, somewhere. You should also be able to change your preferred image color temp (some "filter" setting I believe).

Have fun

Tony also has one, maybe he can help you if you have any questions

AZ

[The PIT]

The evf doesn't work in manual mode works in all others. Seems strange that. Firmware bug or by design?

In manual mode you just have the flash adjustment.

I'll have another outing Thursday or Friday Weather permitting.

[az]

In manual mode you of course only have flash adjustment, because you compensate exposure by fiddling with exposure time and aperture - that's the point of manual mode

What do you mean the EVF doesn't work? It just stays black? I've never heard about that. Hopefully it's not another lemon...

AZ

[The PIT]

Originally posted by az
In manual mode you of course only have flash adjustment, because you compensate exposure by fiddling with exposure time and aperture - that's the point of manual mode

What do you mean the EVF doesn't work? It just stays black? I've never heard about that. Hopefully it's not another lemon...

AZ

Err nope my two other cameras had it in manual mode. 99% of time I didn't need it but sometimes you did.

I mean't EV by the way.

[az]

Now you have me confused. What did you mean by exposure compensation then?

By EVF I mean the electronic view finder.

AZ

[The PIT]

Well Minolta call Ev dunno what else you can call it. Basically I'm referring to adjusting the brightness of the photo.

[The PIT]

Had another paly today although the light was far from ideal.

Put the camera on the vivid setting which made the pictures look a lot better.

Focusing not as sharp as I expected whether this is due to the jpeg compression or not I don't know.

I need to get another battery as it ran out half way through my walk and went very suddenly. I also need another camera case.

The weak point of the camera is the EVF which is rather poor for making a judgement on the quality of the picture. I.E Too dark or too light.

[az]

There are two modes in the EVF, one makes it preview the photo, the other makes it always ideal to see through the finder, but doesn't preview the photo brightness.

Sharpening should be set to sharp, most people like this better. The Dimage Prosumer cams have a history of applying very little sharpening. Also, ISO100 is sharper than ISO64, strangely.

AZ

[The PIT]

Sadly the preview only stays on for a second which is far too short. Can't see any settings anywhere in the manual to adjust this or change the settings.

The sharpening is set to sharp and I've gone for an ISO of 100 anywayas this seems to give the best contrast as well.

Can't take the camera out today as theres fog on the hills so it would be fairly pointless.

Overall happy with it just the EVF niggle and I'm also finding the manual has a habit saying page 80 you go to page 80 and then it says page 40. Page 40 gives one sentance and very little info.

Had to buy a new case and I need to buy a spare battery and these seem rather expensive.

[az]

The 3rd party batteries have a very good reputation on the biggest german Dimage prosumer forum, you can get them on ebay for ~10 EUR.

AZ

[The PIT]

I don't use ebay though.

[The PIT]

Okay these are impressions of the camera.

The good points very fast shutter response and very good zoom. Both fast in response.

The default focus system is useless. Yeh having three options for focus is a nice but useless if they're not focusing on the target in question. The good thing you can turn this gimmik off. I presume it's included as other cameras have it.

Antishake doesn't seem to do anything. If you're going to get a blurry image you'll get a blurry image without any warning. Mmm.

Poor points and really the killer for the camera.

No proper option to preview the image before taking it. You preview the image after you took it and chose whether to keep it or not. Much better to have a preview before you take the shot.

The image displayed isn't quite what you get making it guess work to what your final shot looks like. Basically you've to guess. Histogram helps but even the book says it isn't accurate.

EVF and LCD saturate to easily when a light source is coming in from the side resulting in a pink lines or a pink display. The shot you actually take may be okay but again you're guessing.

The camera struggles between moderate light and darker scenery. This results in sky often being lost in the picture. Surprising in a camera in this price range.

Pictures taken at default settings look washed out and lack contrast.

Overall a poor camera and I'm surprised that it got so many good reviews with such obivous drawbacks.

Sadly I've got too keep it until next year and I'll be glad to get rid off it. Note to oneself When shopkeeper tries to sell you a Canon Digital Rebel listen to him.

Marks out of ten 4/10. Overpriced and overated.

Minolta need to look at Fujifilm on how to do evf they could learn a lot.

[The PIT]

Update. Just upgraded the firmware and I now do get a preview before taking a shot. This wasn't down on the fix list.