Konica Minolta Dimage X60 Review
The Konica Minolta Dimage X60 is an ultra compact digital camera. It has five megapixels and a three times optical zoom lens. In terms of features it is a fairly typical of this type of camera. The emphasis is on ease of use rather than including a host of controls and features likely to appeal to an experienced photographer. Combined with its pocket size the Dimage X60 is likely to appeal to anyone who is looking for a straightforward digital camera that is small enough to take with them anywhere they go. It is also one of the cheapest ultra compact cameras produced by the major brands.
Image Quality
There was one theme that ran through just about all the test photos I took with the Dimage X60. Overall I would have liked to have seen more depth of colour in each shot. Depth of colour is in many ways a subjective issue and you could be perfectly happy with the level of colour each photo shows.
Putting to one side my view on colours the set of images produced by the camera are fairly typical of this type of digital camera. The landscape type shots show a greater level of detail in dark areas than I normally see though. This is especially noticeable in shady areas under trees. This is a plus point. Set against this I felt the images tended to become soft towards the edges. This is likely to be more of an issue if you are planning to make large prints of your photos.
Indoors there are problems with focusing in lowlight. This is less apparent with the indoor portrait than with many digital cameras, but the picture is not as sharp as I would like to see. The indoor portrait also affected by red eye. This is despite using the red eye reduction setting with the flash. The lack of focus is highlighted in the test shot of bottles. This photo is produced in more or less total darkness, but again there are digital cameras that cope with this shot better than the Dimage X60 manages.
Not surprisingly the test shot for colour is not one that I really like. I think it underlines the lack of warmth in the colours. Unfortunately the camera does not have a vivid colour mode that may have helped to overcome the problem. It is possible that through working with the white balance settings the problem can be overcome to some degree.
Finishing on a brighter note I was happy with the macro test shot and it stands up well against the results produced by other cameras.
Shutter Lag and Recycling Times
The Dimage X60 managed to take a single shot in 0.48 seconds. That time is slower than average. It took 9.03 seconds to take five consecutive shots. This works out at a rate of one photo more or less every 1.8 seconds. This is a fairly fast time. Therefore you should get a good response from this camera if you wish to reel off two or three pictures in a row.
You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.
Features
The 3x optical zoom lens has a focal length equivalent to 38-114mm in 35mm format. The maximum aperture of the lens is f3.3. There is a 4x digital zoom feature as well. For close up photography the camera is able to focus from 5cms away in super macro mode.
For composing and reviewing images and also accessing the menu system there is a 2.5" LCD screen. This is made up of around 115,000 pixels. There is no viewfinder.
In addition to being able to shoot in automatic mode there are a small number of preset scene modes. These help you to take the best possible photos in differing photographic conditions. The available scene modes are: Portrait, Sports Action, Landscape or Sunset, Night portrait and Text. You can also take pictures in black and white and sepia.
There are four flash modes available to you. These are Autoflash, Autoflash with red-eye reduction, Fill-flash (always on) and Flash cancel (always off).
Short movies can be captured. These can be recorded at a resolution of 320x240 and at a speed of either 15 or 30 frames per second. You can zoom in and out while shooting a movie. This is a feature that is not widely available with digital cameras. The duration of each movie is only limited by the capacity of the memory card. There is also a night movie mode that helps the camera shoot movies when the light is low. On top of this there is a feature that allows you to edit movies by cutting unwanted portions.
A couple of further features worth a mention are the ability to copy an image so it is the optimum size to send as an email and a ten second self timer.
More advanced features include exposure compensation (±2Ev in 1/3 increments), multi segment and spot metering, sensitivity (ISO 50, 100, 200 and 400) and shutter speeds in the range of four seconds to 1/1000 seconds. Continuous shooting is available too. This allows you to shoot up to four frames at a rate of 1.6 frames per second. There are a number of white balance settings to help you get the colour right. These are Automatic, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten and Fluorescent.
Konica Minolta supplies all the necessary cables and software to connect the Dimage X60 to a television set, computer and PictBridge compatible printer.
Ease of Use
All in all the Dimage X60 is easy enough to use. There is a slider on the top of the camera. This is used to select the shooting mode (i.e. automatic mode, scene mode or movie). The back of the camera contains buttons to control standard functions such as zoom, macro and flash. The layout is simple and you will not become daunted by an overload of buttons and dials. When you need to use the menu you should be able to find the option you are looking for without too much trouble.
Cost
You can pick up a Konica Minolta Dimage X60 for around £165. This compares to around £255 for a Sony DSC T7, £185 for a Nikon Coolpix S1 and £180 for a Pentax Optio S5z. As you can see the Dimage X60 is a fair bit cheaper than other ultra compact digital cameras with a similar specification. Therefore if you are on a budget and this is the type of camera you would like the Dimage X60 is an option worth considering.
Style
The Dimage X60 is a very slim digital camera. It has dimensions of 83.5 x 56 x 22 mm. In fact it feels small even for an ultra compact model. Weighing 115g it is also lightweight. It is a typical rectangular shape. On the front of the camera is a sliding lens cover. This is used to turn the camera on. It comes in a choice of colours, silver, red and blue.
Batteries and Memory Cards
A rechargeable lithium ion battery provides power to the camera. Konica Minolta supplies both the battery and a charger with the Dimage X60. Konica Minolta claim that around 150 shots can be taken before the battery needs to be recharged. I am not sure exactly how they carry out the test, but it could be that this is with the LCD screen and the flash turned off.
The camera comes with 15mb of storage built into it. Therefore no memory card is supplied with the camera. I was able to take 16 pictures using the default setting before the memory became full. As you can see it is advisable to pick up a high capacity memory card to go with your camera. The Dimage X60 is compatible with SD memory cards.
Click here to save money on SD cards.
Points I like:
Ease of use
Compact shape
Where it is not so hot:
Lack of depth to the colours
Summary
The Konica Minolta Dimage X60 offers you the chance of buying an ultra compact digital camera at a fairly low price. Not surprisingly it doesn't quite match up to more expensive models when it comes to picture quality. It is also easy to use.
Konica Minolta Dimage X60 Front View
Konica Minolta Dimage X60 Back View
Konica Minolta Dimage X60 Top View
Sample Menus
