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"Overall excellent camera" on by shoomkloom
Pros: Very fast! lightweight and elegant and full of features
Cons: Needs fast card for high quality movies
Summary: What I like most about the Z5 is that it is very fast: from "On" to saving a picture in about 2 seconds!
Plus you have various continuous modes that allow you take many frames per second.
It is also very lightweight and compact with an easy comfortable grip.
What got in the way of rating it as a "10" were 2 things:
1. The card I got with the camera is a 128MB Transcend SD card and at some points it seemed like it was too slow for the camera, for example I started recording a movie at 640x480 30fps and although initially the camera said I had 2 minutes recording time left, after about 30 secs the counter turned red and the recording stopped. When I tried the same thing with lower resolution movies or lower frame rates, it continued recording as it should. I will need to get a faster card like the SanDisk Ultra and hope it solves the problem.
2. In my previous camera, a Casio EX3500, I had 3 buttons that I could use with shift that gave me almost all the camera settings in buttons instead of menus. I guess this is a merit of Casio rather than a shortcoming of the Z5.
All in all I really recommend the Z5 - great value for money!Updated
Well I went out and bought me a fast Sandisk 1GB Extreme and sure enough - no more problems with the high resolution movie mode.
I saw many people complaining that it is difficult to take low light photos with the Z5, and they are mostly correct.
The good news is that after experimenting for a while with the full manual M mode, I got good night photos by playing around with the exposure settings.
Three months later I still recommend the Z5 - although we need to wait and see what the new kid on the block - the Canon S2 - has to offer
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"Not perfect, but, still a good camera" on by growler
Pros: fast focus (stills), high speed still capture, 12x optical zoom, image stabilization
Cons: slow focus (movie), some noise evident in movie mode, aperature size ranges from 2.8 - 4.5 (zoom out to zoom in)
Summary: Movie mode:
a) 640x480 30fps in fine mode will function with a Sandisk 1GB SD card. I've recorded 3 minutes of video at that resolution with no signs that the card was too slow. Therefore, no need to purchase a Sandisk Ultra.
b) Though the zoom in/out is fairly quiet in movie mode, due to the reduced motor speed, if I listen carefully using headphones to movies that I've taken, I can hear a whining noise coming from the motor. Also, at times, I can also hear some other mechanical noise when the camera is not being zoomed. I think that it might be coming from the anti-shake mechanics. But, the noise is minor and doesn't detract one from using the movie mode.
c) The other issue is that when zooming in, I find that the autofocus isn't fast. It takes about 3-5 seconds for the camera to figure out to focus the image. What strikes me about this is that you would think that the Minolta engineers would continuously adjust the focus when zooming in/out by using the assumption that the camera is still focused on the same object. I mean how often does one zoom in/out while moving the camera when in movie mode??? So in movie mode, zooming out and getting a quick focus isn't a problem, it's only when zooming in.
Digital camera mode:
a) Fast focus, long reaching flash capability, UHS mode, image stabilization works great, little chromatic and spherical distortion at 12x zoom.
b) Can't focus well in low light. Best to use manual focus at that time.
c) Focus indicator is on the bottom right of the EVF or LCD display and is indicated by a white dot. The engineers should have had the focus bars turn white when in focus and have it turn red when not in focus.
d) Photo review. Information displayed is comprehensive, but, doesn't indicate the focal length used to capture the image.
Minolta software comment. The 640x480 movies are recorded from about 1 - 1.5MB/sec. It would be nice if the Minolta software could support concatenating movies and also to recompress the movies using a different codec. Especially since DIVX/XVID codecs are quite 'viewable' when 1 hour of video is on a 700MB file. Storing 1 hour worth of video using the default .mov file would require ~4-6GB of disk space!!
Overall not a perfect camera, but, a good camera nonetheless. I don't regret my purchasing decision. -
"Fantastic camera" on by ryangassxx
Pros: 12x zoom is great. Anti shake works extremly well.
Cons: 2 issues.Video mode eats up so much space, and the battery life is poor.
Summary: Overall, this is an excelent camera. People complain about the quality of the images but I dont see it. I guess you have to be a digital imagry guru to see the flaws, because to me they look as crisp and clear as can be.. It's a 5 MP camera, so even if it's a low 5, it still beats a 4 or a 3.
The anti shake is great! That alone is going to allow you to create above average pictures. No longer do you have to hold your breath and think still thoughts in order to keep images from bluring.
The 12x zoom is amazing as well. As a test, i found an airplane in the sky and snaped a shot of it. Not until I downloaded my images onto my pc did I realize how powerful 12x is. I could not believe how close up the image was. I was able to read the "southwest" on the tail, and I could count the windows. It's funny because it doesent even seem like much when you're viewing it through the camera, but take my word for it, the 12x zoom gets you CLOSE.. You'll see that when you've downloaded the images.. -
"Super especially with addeded lenses .45 and 2X" on by bobtrav
Pros: I can't say enough good about this camera bought at ABES of Maine
Cons: Sound problems with movies and 30fps looks like 15 to me Others have said it needs a special fast SD media No photo stitching that I can find but fish eye is good
Summary: I would love to know if a faster card would releive the jerniness of the video and sound. I found a free standing photo stitch program I wonder if it would help I used Canon's on about every 4 picture. If a faster card would work then this camera is all you would ever need took it to Rome last week it out prefromed my friends Sony by leagues. Especially in low light. However the mov files were really jerky I have 2 lexar 1 gig cards hope I did not jump in to soon got them cheaply at SAMS Looked at the Minolta site and they really dogged Kingston media so I sent the ones I got off the internet back very happy with Buy.com
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"Picture quality good / equipment quality questionable" on by baldburke
Pros: Very easy to use
Cons: Back cover for LCD pulling away after only 2 months
Summary: When I saw the Minolta Z5 I was so excited about its features and capabilities that I pre-ordered one from Amazon. But now less that two months after having the camera the piece of plastic on the main body of the camera has begun pulling away and may eventually separate from the camera potentially rendering it useless. I am concerned about the over all quality of the product. Amazon has been a nightmare to deal with and apparently does not stand behind the products they sell after 45 days. I do not know if I am alone in my problem, but I would suggest consumers think twice about the quality of this product.
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