Konica Minolta Dimage A200 8MP Digital Camera with Anti-Shake 7x Optical Zoom

Average customer rating:

Great camera

1 year later and I'm still happy with it

How to solve the focus problem

my baby....

Good camera -- bad warrenty

Konica Minolta Dimage A200 8MP Digital Camera with Anti-Shake 7x Optical Zoom

Manufacturer: Konica Minolta
ProductGroup: Photography
Binding: Electronics

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Accessories:

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Product Features:

8-megapixel sensor captures enough detail to create photo-quality 16-by-22-inch enlargements

Konica Minolta 7X optical zoom GT lens combines with a 2x digital zoom and 4x interpolated digital zoom

Anti-shake feature for smooth photographic close-ups; flip-out, tilting 1.8-inch LCD

Store images on type I or II Compact Flash memory cards or Microdrive; connects to PC via USB 2.0

Powered by 1 NP-800 Lithium-ion battery

ASIN: B000683VIY

Product Description

Konic Minolta DiMAGE A200 8.0-megapixel Single Lens Reflex (SLR)-type high-performance digital camera is perfect for all levels of photography from advanced amateur to creative beginner. Equipped with Konica Minolta's Anti-Shake technology featuring a unique CCD-shift mechanism that offsets handheld shaking, it is easy to capture sharp images with the DiMAGE A200, even in low lighting and without the use of a tripod. With a high-performance built-in 7x optical zoom lens (28 to 200mm at a 35mm format equivalence) for landscapes, close-ups, at sporting events, and more virtually anywhere and anytime. In addition to high-res still images, the A200 enables users to record movies in VGA mode (640 x 480 pixels at 30 frames per second) for smooth, true-color playback that rivals TV quality, and SVGA mode (800 x 600 pixels at 15 frames per second), which is ideal for viewing movies or movie stills on large PC screens. A hybrid SLR format, it does not accept interchangeable lenses but, in addition to its built-in electronic-flash, you can add optional external Minolta autoflashes. With auto/manual focus and programmed autoexposure, this 8 megepixel digital-camera offers flexible memory storage for lots of pleasure and serious fun. Autofocus areas Wide focus area, 11 spot focus areas, Spot focus point, Flex Focus Point available when the spot focus point is active Exposure modes Auto, P (Program) with program shift, A (Aperture priority), S (Shutter priority), M (Manual), AE lock available Built-in electronic-flash with ability to accept optional external Minolta dedicated electronic-flash models QVGA and VGA movie capture modes Continuous shooting - 2.3 fps, max 5 frames / 2.0 fps, max 5 frames / 10 fps (640 x 480) NP-800 Lithium-Ion battery Unit Dimensions - 4.5 x 3.2 x 4.5 in / 17 ounces Windows Macintosh compatible

Amazon.com Product Description

A close cousin of the Dimage A2, Konica Minolta's SLR-style Dimage A200 offers a smaller, more rounded body design and is lighter by 2.1 ounces. But it's packed full of powerful features that will be appreciated by a wide range of photographers, from professional to advanced amateur. In addition to its 8-megapixel resolution and 7x optical zoom, the Dimage A200 features a movie mode with 800 x 600-pixel resolution, 1.8-inch flip-out LCD monitor, and Minolta's anti-shake technology to keep things smooth.

Optics and Resolution
The Dimage A200 has an 8.0-megapixel, 2/3-inch interlace scan CCD that can subtle, expressive images--even individual hairs or the stitches of a suit in sharp detail. It has the following resolution options: 3264 x 2448, 3264 x 2176 (3:2 aspect ratio), 2560 x 1920, 2080 x 1560, 1600 x 1200, and 640 x 480. The 7x optical zoom GT lens is designed specifically for digital photography with sharper, clearer images minus any color aberration, even when using the large aperture setting. It has a 28-200mm equivalency in 35mm photography and a focal range of f2.8 to f3.5. It also has two digital zoom options: a normal 2x and an interpolated 4x.

With its proprietary new advanced LSI engine and CxProcess III image-processing technology, the DiMAGE A200 provides high-speed and stress-free image processing with low power consumption. And, its ability to suppress noise and provide exceptionally accurate color reproduction means that users get high-quality images every time.

Dimage A200's CCD-shift assembly

The Dimage A200 features a CCD-shift mechanism, outlined above in green, to stabilize images by offsetting the shaking pattern of the user's hand. Below, a photo with Anti-Shake off (right) and the same subject with Anti-Shake on (left).

Clock tower with and without Anti-Shake

Movie Mode
The Dimage A200 offers a true VGA (640 x 480 pixels) movie mode, enabling you to record video at TV-quality 30 frames per second (fps). You also have the option to shoot at a larger resolution (800 x 600, SVGA) at 15 fps, good for viewing on a PC screen. Unlike many digital cameras, the Dimage A200 allows use of both the optical and digital zoom while recording movies, and the Night Movie function makes subjects highly visible even in dark settings. You can shoot a maximum of 15 minutes of video with audio.

Anti-Shake Technology
The Anti-Shake feature provides a highly effective way to deal with camera shake--a major cause of substandard images, especially with telephoto shots and when shooting in dim lighting. The Dimage A200 features a CCD-shift mechanism to stabilize images by offsetting the shaking pattern of the user's hand, providing stability at up to three shutter speeds slower than on digital cameras without an Anti-Shake function.

Storage and Transfer
Images are stored on CompactFlash cards (Type I/II), and it supports Microdrives. The Dimage A2 does not come with a memory card. It connects to Macs and Windows-based PCs via USB 2.0 connectivity.

Direct Printing
By directly connecting the Dimage A200 to a PictBridge-compliant printer, you can easily create prints without going through a computer--just choose your image directly from the LCD monitor.

More Features
The camera's 1.8-inch TFT Vari-angle LCD monitor rotates 270 degrees vertically and 180 degrees horizontally, allowing you to get a clear viewpoint for shooting artistic angles or taking flawless self-portraits.

Other features include:

In addition to JPEG images, the Dimage A200 can also save captured images to RAW (12 bits per pixel), RAW+JPEG, and TIFF formats.
The Ultra High Speed mode captures images at a continuous advance of 40 frames at 10 frames per second.
Automatic or manual popup flash has a five-second refresh and fill, red-eye reduction, slow sync, and rear flash sync modes.
Sure-grip, ergonomic body makes it easy to carry and use anywhere.

Power and Size
The Dimage A200 is powered by a proprietary rechargeable Lithium-ion battery (NP-800), which provides power for approximately 260 images or 330 minutes of continuous playing time. It measures 4.49 x 3.15 x 4.53 inches (W x H x D) and weighs 17.8 ounces without battery or media.

What's in the Box
This package includes the Minolta Dimage A200 digital camera, rechargeable Lithium-ion battery (NP-800) and battery charger (BC-900), USB and AV cables, lens cap, accessory shoe cap, lens shade, wireless remote control, and CD-ROM with Dimage Viewer and ULEAD Video Studio 8 SE software.

Customer Reviews:

Great camera.......2007-08-04

This is a great camera for the money.. a well designed camera with a superior owners manual.

1 year later and I'm still happy with it .......2007-02-06

To start I with I have to say that I couldn't agree more with the Jan 3rd 2007 review. I purchased this camera a year ago now (Wow, has the price dropped!).I had thought about a DSLR at the time. However, I still do mostly shoot film, especially black & white prints and color slides. I decided that a DSLR was going to be way more money then I wanted to spend on a camera that I wasn't going to use constantly. I did some research and came upon the A200. Now bearing in mind that the A200 is my first digital camera, I do have to say that I was, and still am very happy with it. The auto focus is dreadfully slow on the default setting in low light situations. However, I took the advice of the Jan 3rd 2007 review, and have eliminated that problem. The pics are noisy ISO 400, however I think I've used that setting 2 times in the year that I've owned it, not a problem for me. One more pro and one more con. First, this camera has a EVF or electrical view finder. This is opposed to a optical view finder that DSLRS have, or better yet, like all of the film cameras have / had. This can make composing pictures with movement a bit difficult. You're not viewing the scene in real time, so there is a bit of a lag in time between any movement in the scene and what you see through the view finder. Not anyhting that would make me not use the camera, just a little tricky in certain situations. Another pro about this camera is the fact that is has a ISO setting of 50. Most camers do not include a ISO this "slow," the slowest end ISO's on most cameras range somewhere bewtween ISO 100 and ISO 150. This isn't a feature I use constantly, however I do use it, and I like knowing that the option is there when I do want to use it. I have taken some really nice pics with this camera, now, they don't (and digital pics never will) compare to a beautiful color slide or contrasty B&W print. Still, this camera delivers,I have had some excellent prints result from using it. You really just have to read the owner manual and learn how to fine tune it. To this day (like the auto focus fix as an example) I am still learning how to improve on using it. It might not techinically be considered a "Professional camera," but you can definitely get "Professional" quality results from it.

How to solve the focus problem.......2007-01-04

Pros
Wide Angle Lens is best in class. Natural colors. Manual zoom. Threaded lens barrel.

Cons
A bit slow, but do often you need fast shot to shot speeds?

The Bottom Line
Consider this trade off for a wider than usual wide angle, but less than usual zoom. You'll get more use out the wide end of the lens.

Full Review
KonicaMinolta was bought by Sony, who discontinued making Minoltas, but says they will honor the warranties. This means this camera is falling quickly in price. You can get it for almost half its original price.

It has been knocked by reviewers for two reasons...poor autofocus and noise problems. The noise doesn't seem to be an issue, unless you need ISO 400 . Unless its almost dark, or the subject is moving quickly in low light, the anti-shake system means you can take almost any shot with ISO200 or even lower. You do get some noise with ISO400, but its still good for 4x6 prints. ISO800 is really noisy, but lets you photograph in near darkness without a flash, and the pictures look brightly lit. In short, I don't find the noise to be any more of problem than other digicams, and if you compare professional reviews, neither do most reviewers.

As for the focus issue, the camera's default mode is the wide area focus. For some reason, the camera will often focus on the closest object in the scene, which may not be what you want. This is especially common indoors. I don't know what the advantage of this wide area focus is, but it certainly causes problems with low light focusing. You need to get into the camera's menu and change it to Spot Auto Focus mode. This mode will let you select one of eleven spots for it to focus on. Select the spot in the middle. The camera will now behave like any other autofocus camera, and will not have any focus problems.

Once the focus problem is solved, there is plenty to make this camera my favorite. The best feature is the 28mm equivalent wide end of the 7x zoom. Most digicams have a 35mm wide end. The difference is noticable in landscape shots, and in indoor shots. You will really appreciate this wide lens. Sure, other zoom cameras have 10x/12x zooms, but much of your photography will be done with the wide end of the zoom. My old camera had a 10x zoom, and I found I hardly ever used the high end, but often wished for a wider wide angle. With 8 MPs, you can zoom and crop on the PC if you need better telephoto.

The anti-shake feature really works. This camera replaced an Olympus C2100UZ with image stablization, which for its time was top of the line in big zoom digicams. I can say I'll never buy a camera without an image stablizer/anti-shake feature. It lets you take handheld pics in low light with low ISO. It also lets you take pics from a moving platform, like a car or boat. Its not perfect, but it works most of the time.

The custom white balance works just a bit better than the camera's auto white balance does, and you can save two custom settings and easily switch between them. This is good if you are moving around between different types of lighting. Speaking of saving settings, you can save all your resolution/white balance/exposure/color settings into one of 5 memory spaces. This lets you set the camera up for five different situations, which are quickly accessed. This is much easier than changing many settings settings as you move indoors/outdoors and through different lighting situations.

The controls are arranged nicely, and there's even a nice rubber thumb pad that helps you grip the camera. The manual zoom ring works better than an electric zoom lever found on most cameras. The manual focus ring is useless, because the monitors are not high enough resolution to judge focus. Luckily, if you make the above change in the autofucus, you won't need the manual focus, except in extremely low light. The manual focus can then be used to set the focus for the approximate distant to the subject.

The A200 has a threaded lens barrel, which lets you leave a UV or polarized filter on it, without the cumbersome adapter tubes that most cameras use. The lens cap is high quality, and won't fall off, unlike many cameras. It also has a flash hot shoe.

The picture quality is very good, especially after you learn to use the menu settings for exposure and white balance. Color is natural, instead of overblown. Canon is the biggest offender at overblown colors. Notice how much red is in a Canon photo. The A200 pictures will have accurate color, especially if you use the right white balance setting. Of course, if you like the overblown color look, there's a menu setting to turn it on. The camera's auto white balance is ok in a pinch, but if you have time, the colors look a little better with the custom white balance. If you like to play with Photoshop, the A200 can shoot in Raw, which lets you adjust white balance and other settings on your PC.

There simply isn't a better combination of resolution, lens, automatic settings and manual controls out there, unless you go to a digital SLR. An SLR with enough lens to duplicate the A200's would cost much more than the A200. For most folks, the A200 will be more than enough camera, yet it's still simple enough for a novice to use. A novice could start taking pics right away with this thing, and then develop his craft by experimentation with all the manual settings available.

my baby.... .......2006-12-24

In English

she is my favorite... . it enchants to me. it is small cofashion, practices. the screen is helpful since I am very short. and I can raise camara or to remove... or to remove photos from the floor with no need from tirarme.. to do it... I have removed photos at night with triprunes and without. they very leave or those that remove in very slow slow speed. or in bulb. they enchanted to me... very recommendable. but I have found out that konicaminolta this letting do them... is a true pain. because it is by much very good... for my anything that to envy to other used marks but. excellent. I recommend it.

Good camera -- bad warrenty.......2006-10-12

I've been using Minolta equipment of some sort for over 20 years now. Had a 7Hi which is a good camera but this a200 is even better. 8 Mega pixels is way better than 5.1 -- the movie options are better (800x600) -- the anti-shake feature is a lot better than the 7Hi. Limitations however are as others describe--battery is difficult to find, if you use the RAW format (which why would you NOT use the maximum capacity of the camera) it becomes a storage hog. I routinely convert the RAW file to TIFF to use with iPhoto and suddenly a 11 MB file jumps to over 45! Ouch!

I am currently in the middle of switching computers and I hope that using Apeture will create a lot of hard drive space that was otherwise soaked up by this supersize TIFF's.

Durability--the 7Hi is a durable day to day camera--dropped it a lot--finally had to buy a new camera because the power switch broke internally. The a200 is a tempermental camera--I'm on my second because my first one got dropped gently onto pavement from a car seat--no big deal I thought until I turned it on and it was clearly out of whack -- couldn't focus properly and there was a slight vignette on one side. Sent it off to be repaired--this was March--months later (July?) Sony says they won't fix it (no parts etc--) I insist they do have parts and to send them. Meanwhile I bought a new one for less than I spent on the first one and it's been dropped twice and it doesn't seem to mind. Sony has agreed to reinburse my cost of the first camera but I can't get either the repair place or Sony to write me a letter. Sony is very bad in my book these days. Camera wise anyway.

I use my a200 as a day to day haul along in the car to take pictures of whatever as I see fit. It is great for this sort of thing--flowers, fall leaves, people, cars, whatever. It is a good all rounder without spending thousands of dollars. I'd give it 5 stars if it weren't for my bad experiences with Sony trying to get them to honor the warrenty. Bad Sony! =(

Things I have that I'd get more of--more than one spare battery, a spare charger, at least 1 GB flash card -- haven't tried a faster type of card to see if that improves things but it does get slow with the RAW setting--but the movie option makes up for that.

I'd get a high end camera like a Canon but they don't offer a movie feature--nor do they have a swivel view finder (really do use that feature regularly).

For $500 or so--it's a good deal--especially if your'e like me and just don't want to invest big bucks in something that is too easily damaged, lost, or out right stolen.

Average customer rating:
Orion 20mm Expanse 1.25" Eyepiece

Manufacturer: ORION
ProductGroup: Photography
Binding: Electronics

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Orion Aluminum Accessory Case, Aluminum-Clad

Orion Deluxe 6-Piece Optics Cleaning Kit

Orion Set of Four Expanse Eyepieces

Orion Microfiber OptiCloth

Orion Basic Set of Four Color Filters, 1.25"

Product Features:

This 20mm eyepiece offers a wide field of view and superior optical performance at a bargain price

Great eye relief so eyeglass wearers can view the entire field without removing their glasses

Delivers sharp images with good color correction and contrast

Aluminum barrel is internally blackened to eliminate internal light scattering

One-year limited warranty

ASIN: B0000XMXZM

Product Description

With their 66-degree apparent field of view, our Expanse wide-field eyepieces will definitely turn up the Wow! factor in your deep-sky observing experiences! Imagine taking in objects like the Andromeda Galaxy, the Double Cluster, or the star clouds in Sagittarius in one sweep! With an Expanse in your focuser, you can! Expanse oculars have big eye lenses and great eye relief (13mm to 17mm). Eyeglass wearers can view the entire field without removing their glasses. All eyepiece elements are fully coated, with the outer lens multi-coated for additional light transmission. Each 1.25" aluminum barrel is threaded for filters and internally blackened to eliminate internal scattering. And their fold-down rubber eyeguards enhance contrast by blocking stray light. With our Expanse eyepieces you get a super wide field of view and superior optical performance. And check out the price. You also get a bargain!

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