Konica Minolta Dimage Z5 Review

The stand out feature of the Konica Minolta Dimage Z5 is its 12x optical zoom lens. At the time of writing this is the longest zoom lens available on a compact digital camera. The Dimage Z5 is a five megapixel model and has a number of controls that will appeal to the more experienced photographer, although there is also a fully automatic mode available for anyone looking for greater ease of use.

Likely buyers are people who are more serious about their photography than the average casual photographer and are perhaps interested in types of photography such as sports or wildlife where a long lens is essential for getting in close.

Overall the Dimage Z5 produced a fairly typical set of shots. The camera clearly performs better indoors than out and as with the majority of extended zoom digital cameras purple fringing was evident when the lens was fully extended or near to full extension. Purple fringing is a purple line that appears at the edge of very light objects. The fringing was average and I have reviewed cameras where it has been far worse.

Another problem highlighted by a couple of my test shots is a tendency to underexpose shots. This produces photos darker than is ideal. I managed to get around this by switching to manual mode and setting the aperture and shutter speed myself, but this may not be an acceptable solution to everybody.

Walking through the outdoor test shots there is not too much to report. The camera coped fairly well when there were a lot of light and dark colours in the shot although some of the detail was lost from white objects such as the boats. I was happy with the colours produced with each photo offering a fair reflection of the scenes at the time they were photographed. My favourite shot is the outdoor portrait. I especially like the warm colours and skin tones that were captured in the picture.

Indoors was a little disappointing. These pictures were taken in very poor light admittedly, but many other cameras have produced much sharper pictures in these conditions.

The two specific tests for colour and macro shots produced fairly good results without being exceptional. The colour shot is an example of the picture being a shade or two darker than it should be.

Shutter lag is the time it takes to take each picture. A constant criticism of digital cameras is the delay in between clicking the shutter button, the picture being taken and also the camera being ready to take the next picture. From a pure shutter lag view the Dimage Z5 took a picture and recorded it in 0.32 seconds. This is an average time.

In terms of recycling times I was able to take five pictures in the space of 11.08 seconds. That works out at a rate of 2.22 seconds per picture. I am not claiming that this is the most scientific tests, but it should give you an indication of the recycling speed of the camera. This again is an average time. My test is carried out indoors under standard conditions and it is possible that you would see better results outside.

This is a five megapixel digital camera. The 12x optical zoom lens has a focal length that is the equivalent of 35 - 420mm in 35mm format. The camera has anti shake technology. This is especially useful for cameras with this length of zoom. The idea of this technology is to compensate for any small movements you make when you are taking a shot. It should lead to sharper images. For close up work the macro mode can get you in as close as 1cm.

To back up the automatic shooting mode there are a small number of preset scene modes. These help the camera to take the best possible photograph covering a variety of different photo opportunities. The scenes are Portrait, Sports action, Landscape, Sunset and Night portrait.

Photos can be composed by using the electronic viewfinder or the 2" LCD screen. The viewfinder has diopter correction. This helps to focus the viewfinder to suit your eyesight.

The pop up flash unit can be set to fire automatically, always fire, never fire, fill in flash, automatic with red eye reduction and slow synchro.

For when you would like to appear in the picture there is a self timer. By using the menu you can change the self timer's default time to either two or ten seconds.

To add something different to your photos you can shoot in black and white, sepia or vivid colour. The contrast and sharpness levels can be adjusted before you take a picture.

The movie mode is about as good as you can get. You can record TV quality movies at a resolution of 640x480. These have a top speed of 30 frames per second. You can zoom in while taking a movie and recording time is only limited by the capacity of the memory card.

For the more experienced photographer there is a fully manual exposure mode. This is supported by aperture and shutter priority modes and a program auto mode as well. Exposure compensation is available ± 2 Ev with 1/3 Ev step as well as exposure bracketing.

Shutter speeds can be selected within a range of 4 seconds to 1/ 1000 seconds and apertures between f2.8 and f8. You can choose between multi segment, spot and centre weighted metering. ISO sensitivity can be set to automatic or 50, 100, 200 or 320. There is also an automatic white balance setting as well as Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Cloudy and Flash.

There are a number of focusing modes to select from. These are Autofocus: Single-shot AF, Continuous AF (with predictive focus control), Full-time AF and Manual focus. Focus lock is available in Single-shot AF.

Konica Minolta supplies all the cables and software required to connect the Dimage Z5 to a PictBridge compatible printer, computer and television set.

All in all I found the Dimage Z5 to be straightforward, especially when you consider the manual exposure controls it has. The main control dial sits on top of the camera and I found the zoom very easy to control with my thumb. This can save time when composing a shot. There are few buttons to contend with and the menu system is also fairly intuitive and easy to find your way round.

You can pick up a Dimage Z5 for around £270. This compares to around £365 for a Panasonic DMC FZ20, £355 for a Canon Powershot S2 IS and £300 for a Sony DSC H1. These are all five megapixel models with 12x optical zoom.

The Dimage Z5 is styled on similar lines to a 35mm SLR camera. There is plenty to get your hands on and the camera design incorporates a good sized grip to help you hold the camera steady when taking a shot. The pop up flash unit positions the flash well away from the lens, so red eye problems should be kept to an absolute minimum with this camera.

I would recommend picking up a bag to go with the camera as it weighs in at 340g and has dimensions of 108.5 x 80 x 84 mm .

Four AA batteries are required to power the Dimage Z5. To keep running costs down I would recommend using a set of rechargeable batteries. The advantage of AA batteries is that you can pick up a set of spares more or less anywhere and they are relatively cheap when compared with the cost of a spare Lithium Ion battery.

Images are recorded on SD cards. A 16mb card is supplied by Konica Minolta with the Dimage Z5. In a test I was able to take 12 shots before the card was full. Therefore you are advised to pick up a high capacity card to go with the camera. Click here to save money on SD Cards.

12x optical zoom gets you in close
Advanced movie mode with zoom
Pop up flash well positioned

Photos have a tendency to be dark
Shots indoors in lowlight lack sharp focus

The Konica Minolta Dimage Z5 offers a value for money entry into digital cameras with a 12x optical zoom lens. It does have clear strengths and weaknesses, being much better outdoors than inside when the light is not so bright. To get the most out of this camera you will need to get used to working with the manual controls.

Konica Minolta Dimage Z5 Front View

Konica minolta DIMAGE Z5 Back View

Konica minolta DIMAGE Z5 Top View

Sample Menus

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Konica Minolta Dimage Z5