Home > Digital Camera Reviews > Konica-Minolta Digital Cameras > Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 Easy Camera Review
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 Easy Camera Review
by Editorial Staff
In February 2005, the Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 joined the growing market of super zoom digital cameras equipped with Image Stabilization. The Z5 offers 12x optical “Mega-Zoom” and a 5 MP 1/2.5-inch CCD. The camera also has a hot shoe for an external flash, conversion lens compatibility, and audio recording in its superb movie mode of 30 or 15 fps at resolutions of 640 x 480 or 320 x 240—with both anti-shake and optical zoom. Like all the cameras listed in the comparisons section, the Z5 retails for under US $500.
Unfortunately, the DiMAGE Z5 struggled through most of the color spectrum when attempting to reproduce color tones. The Z5 over-saturated not only red (which is common and deliberate, to soften skin tones), but also yellow, green, blue, and orange. The Z5’s resolution was good, and users should be able to get crisp, clean images. So you’ll get nice sharp pictures of your unnaturally orange-tinted in-laws--provided they’re taken in bright light; noise was abundant in images taken in low light, whether the camera was using its auto ISO or manual ISO range of 50-320.
The camera body generally conforms to the typical pseudo-SLR design, but the right-hand grip is too big, putting some controls out of reach for small hands. Another inconvenience is the built-in flash, which must be pulled up manually. The camera weighs 12 oz. without batteries—a camera bag is a good idea. The few external controls on the Z5 appear undersized, as though overwhelmed by the size of the camera body and submarine-like lens barrel. Live views are offered in several of the manual mode submenus (like white balance), allowing users to immediately register image changes.
There are several autofocus settings, but they don’t work very quickly (especially in low light), which is what causes the Z5’s 0.46 second shutter to shot lag time. There are a series of white balance presets and a manual setting available, which is fine, but the stunted ISO scale (no 400 setting on a $500 compact?) is not. Exposure can be controlled manually through a standard -/+2 scale with 1/3 step increments, though oddly, exposure becomes inaccessible when the camera is set in manual mode. Metering modes offer three pre-set modes of multi-segment (judges overall light), center-weighted (center emphasized light metering), and spot metering (pinpointed center of the center frame). The shutter speeds, between 4 and 1/1000th of a second, are not as diverse as the ones offered by many of the cameras listed below, and low light situations may be hard to capture because of this minimal range—especially when coupled with the truncated ISO. The offered presets (portrait, sports, portrait with landscape, beach, night portrait) are somewhat skimpy. On a positive note, aperture has both a manual control setting and a live view screen for observation of image alterations. This is a great addition, especially considering the somewhat minimal offerings of other controls. Aperture can be set from f/2.8-f/8 in the widest setting and f/4.5-f/8 in telephoto.
Burst mode for the Z5 shoots at 2.2 frames per second for only three frames at the max resolution of 2560 x 1920. The camera can however achieve 10 fps at 1024 x 768 in progressive mode, which saves the final twenty images.
The viewfinder on the Z5 runs autonomously from the 2.0” 140,000 pixel LCD, which eats batteries like nobody’s business. Both options display excessive grain and swirling, hypnotic noise patterns. A 16MB memory card is included with this camera, and the Z5 is PictBridge compatible.
Basically, the Z5 is a camera with some notable flaws, but also notable strengths. The noise in images and viewing devices, poor color accuracy, and the truncated ISO range are unexpected in a $500 compact—but so is the distinguishing external hot shoe and amazing movie mode. If a great movie mode and a little versatility are important to you, you should definitely check the DiMAGE Z5 out.
| Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5- THE BOTTOM LINE.... Rating: 302.90 |
     |
| Likes |
|
-image stabilization on 12x optical zoom lens
-external flash shoe with cover -perhaps the best movie mode I’ve seen on a digital camera -10 frame per second progressive mode |
| Dislikes |
|
-the lens takes too long to focus
-slow continuous shooting mode -viewfinder diopter is stiff -eats through batteries |
Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5 Compared to the...
| Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z20 Rating:295.70 |
Canon PowerShot S2 IS
Rating: |
Fujifilm FinePix S5100 Rating:312.15 |
Panasonic Lumix FZ5 Rating:323.23 |
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H1 Rating: |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Better | Better | Better | Better | Better |
|
-Lower Price
-Larger Shutter Speed range
-Higher Resolution/ Sharpness scores 4.1 out of 5 MP
-Lighter and Smaller in frame and weight -Faster Start up to First shot times |
-Larger ISO range
-Larger Shutter Range -Stereo Audio Recording -More Image Preset Modes -"My Colors" mode -Flip screen LCD monitor |
-Larger ISO scale
-Larger Shutter Speed range -Quick and precise focal set-up -Lower Price -Low manual noise levels -Color accuracy scores |
-Higher color accuracy throughout
-Larger ISO scale (ISO 200 and 400 struggle with noise) -Better results for noise in Auto ISO -White balance adj. by degree Kelvin -More preset mode options -Shutter speed range |
-32 MB internal memory included (memory card needed for higher quality video)
-60 fps movie mode requires opt. mem. card -2.5 inch LCD screen -Flashy design -Larger Shutter Speed -64-400 ISO range -Faster (manufacturer reported) burst mode |
| Equal | Equal | Equal | Equal | Equal |
| -Movie Mode resolution and frame rates -Exposure Compensation -Manual White Balance -5 MP CCD -Manual Focus -Exposure and Shutter Speed priority modes -Low accuracy with color reproduction -Extreme amounts of noise in auto mode -Better noise levels in manual, still poor results overall -External control layout -Viewfinder layout -PictBridge compliant -Conversion Lens |
-Frame rate in Movie Mode
-5 MP CCD -Electronic color viewfinder -12x optical zoom lens -Image Stabilization -PictBridge compatible printers -16 MB memory card -Shutter and Aperture Priority modes -EV Compensation scale -Manual White balance -Similar price range -Conversion lens -Zoom in Movie Mode |
-30 fps with Audio
-Camera weight -More limited AF range, however, Manual focus is still possible -Shutter and Aperture Priority Modes -Electronic color viewfinder -EV Compensation scale
-Manual white balance -Awkward Microphone placement -Metering settings -16 MB memory card included -Limited preset scene modes -Conversion lens |
-Price Range |
-"Manual focus" |
| Worse | Worse | Worse | Worse | Worse |
|
-Smaller 1.5 inch LCD screen
-14.5 MB internal memory -Fewer AF mode options -No Image Stabilization -No external hot shoe for flash -No Audio recording -Slower Burst mode settings -Longer delays for shutter to shot times -8x optical zoom lens -Viewfinder relies on LCD for images through a series of mirrors (low image quality) |
-1.8 inch LCD screen (w/115,000 meaning higher resolution w/less noise) -No hot shot for external flash -Heavier camera body -Fewer AF settings |
-10x optical zoom
-4 MP CCD -1.5 inch LCD (with higher resolution however) -Lower max. image resolution -71% use of 4 MP CCD, lower quality images -No hot shoe for external optional flash -Auto ISO noise scores were abysmal |
-No manual focus -Smaller, 1.8 inch LCD (higher pixel count, 130,000) -Lower Resolution for Movie Mode -No zoom in movie mode -Slower start up to first shot -Slower shutter to first shot times |
-Sony lens rather than Carl Zeiss -Limited AF settings with less specificity -Falsely advertised as "prosumer" -No hot shoe adapter for external Flash ("slave" flash option only) -Limited Metering modes |