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The Konika Minolta DiMage A 2

The professional feel of a highly skilled camera.

With enough power for the pros and the kind of ease of use automatic digital cameras have, this is a camera that is ideally suited for the serious photo enthusiast, or neophyte willing to get down and dirty with the details of photography.

Konika Minolta DiMage A 2 

Is this the ultimate camera?

www.konikaminolta.com 

Price: from $ 1,100 to as low as $ 800.00 see link on this page for purchasing information at Amazon.com 

Basic Specs

8 megapixel camera, 7 x Optical Zoom, 2.1 boot time, 1,600 lines of resolution.

Review 

Digital cameras are hot ticket items. Having seen then drop in price from some catastrophic heights, the new line of high end cameras have much to offer.  For end users and causal users, this is a great thing.  The down side is that it is really the upper end cameras like the Konika—Minolta A 2 that have the kind of features and produce the types of images most point and clickers want.   

Resembling a standard SLR camera, the digital A 2 resembles in size and feel any number of traditional cameras. Large, but not too much so, it  clearly was built along the same paradigm as many standard 35 millimeter cameras. The big difference is that there are assorted nobs, controls and other variable that make this a truly full featured digital. While this no doubt will intimidate the uninitiated, once you read the Konika Minolta manual and start to figure out where things go, the layout makes logical sense.  

The great irony about this camera is that the menu system, the plethora of controls and the general layout, are much easier in some instances that many point and shoot cameras. The newly formed company of Konka and Minolta have done a good job in this regard. 

As an over all camera, this one has a number of great features built into it that make the automated setting one of the best I have seen in a digital camera. In fact, you can use this camera as a point and shoot unit and obtain results superior to other cameras.  While some may say that the 8 megapixel resolution is solely responsible for this, that is not always the case. Unlike some smaller units, this one has a very sensitive monitoring system that makes taking a photograph, even with minimal knowledge, surprisingly easy. Plus the color and balancing are proof that you do indeed get what you pay for when it comes to photography. 

This is not to put down smaller cameras. But once you blow up an image from this camera, the results are amazing, that is if you happen to know what you are doing and have Photoshop on hand. 

By default, the anti shake is turned out and is one of the few, if not only, 8 megapixel cameras to have this feature. The lens has not only optical image stabilization, it is apochromatic, meaning it is corrected for all three primary colors. For manual focusing, the camera depends on focus by wire as opposed to focus through mechanical means. 

The 1,600 lines of resolution of the DiMage A2’s viewfinder is sharp. The ability for the camera to sense when you are viewing through the viewfinder as opposed to the LCD screen is not only an energy saver, it is a nice feature convenience.  

The memory card, and it is included, comes in at a decent 256 MB. While that is large, at the Raw setting, images can take up space quickly.  With the ability to save as Raw and Tiff files, that adds yet another layer of practicality to this already loaded unit. 

Summation 

While one could go on and on about the features, specs and other considerations, there is enough quality and enough precision here to fit the needs of everyone. With the exception of the highest end pro, the over all functionality and power of the system is such that serious photographers are not going to find too much lacking here. Battery life is very good, the included memory card is more than enough provided you are in the JPG format and the unit even has a well organized menu system. 

While the power of a camer like this one comes in understanding the configurability of the many settings, the irony is that out of the box this complex unit in auto can outperform all of the dedicated point and click units. 

For those looking for a unit with just the basics, this is definitely not the unit for you. If you have aspirations towards very serious photography in the digital realm, there is much to like in this unit.