Minolta Dimage G600 Review
The Minolta Dimage G600 is a six megapixel digital camera with a 3x optical zoom lens.
It is a small, slim digital camera that can fit into a pocket. It is also very stylish. Its main feature for a camera in this range is the fact that it has six megapixels. That is certainly well above average for the category.
So what type of person should be considering buying the Minolta Dimage G600? As digital cameras go this one is fairly easy to use, takes good pictures, but its main target group are those of you that are style conscious. It will slip into a jacket pocket or small bag and it will look good when you take it out and start taking pictures. It is aimed at the casual photographer rather than the enthusiast.
Before you can use it you will need to charge the battery and load the supplied memory card, but once that is done you can start taking pictures straight away, as it is very easy to use.
For someone that is looking to take snaps and doesn't want to have to spend hours with their head in the instruction manual it is ideal, but for someone who is looking for a little control over the final picture then there are enough features to help you to do that too.
Image Quality
Outdoors, the Minolta Dimage G600 coped well with the different tests that I ran the camera through. Images were sharp and the colours were good too. If you like to take close up pictures of flowers or other subjects the camera's macro facility works well and the final images are perfectly acceptable.
Indoors in poor lighting the camera did appear to struggle though. The biggest problem was the focusing. Once the light drops the camera appears to find it difficult to focus accurately. Don't get me wrong you don't get heavily blurred pictures, but there is definitely room for improvement. If you are planning to take a lot of indoor pictures, for example if you visit museums, then I would advise you to look for another camera.
Features
This is a well balanced camera in terms of features. Turn it on in automatic mode and it will make all the key decisions for you relating to exposure, but there are controls that allow you to adjust the white balance and exposure compensation settings. These help you to overcome problems set by different lighting, i.e. sunny weather as opposed to cloudy days or indoor shots, and shots where there is a high level of colour contrast in the scene.
In addition to white balance and exposure compensation the Minolta Dimage G600 also has a number of pre programmed scenes to help you take pictures in different conditions. These include scenery, portrait, sports and night photography. Unless you are serious about your photography then you are unlikely to need much more than this camera offers.
You also have control over the ISO setting. These vary between 50 and 400. Different ISO are used for differing types of photography. A portrait taken on a sunny day for example should produce the best results at ISO 50. Action pictures with a lot of movement such as sports generally require a much higher setting.
If you are looking for something a little different then you can also set the camera up to produce black and white images or pictures with a sepia tinge. Continuous shooting is available. This allows you to take a small burst of pictures one after another.
Another option you have is to change the picture size or resolution. This is useful if you would like to take pictures that can be emailed easily or if you are just trying to conserve space on the memory card.
Pictures can be reviewed as soon as you have taken them on the LCD screen. You can review pictures either as a single full screen image or as nine small thumbnails. You also have the facility to use the zoom so that you can home in on a selected area of the image so that you can check the detail.
Deleting images on the Minolta Dimage G600 is also easy as there is a dedicated delete button that is clearly marked. One problem that I did have is when I deleted an image the camera would return me to the last image that I had shot. This wasn't a problem when there were half a dozen images on the memory card, but it became a problem when there were a greater number and I wanted to delete a couple on the middle or towards the beginning.
I had no problems with the start up and shutter response times. Both were very good for this type of digital camera.
One complaint though was that the LCD screen becomes very dark when you are shooting some indoor shots or shots in relatively poor lighting.
Ease of Use
This is an area where the Minolta Dimage G600 scores highly, especially when you are getting started and just want to shoot your first pictures. One thing to be aware of is that the camera doesn't have an on/off button like most digital cameras. To turn the camera on slid back the lens cover. On the back of the camera the control buttons are well laid out. Each major function seems to have its own dedicated button which adds to the simplicity.
The menu system is also to find your way around.
One point worth noting is that you do not get a full printed instruction manual with the Minolta Dimage G600. I think that's a shame. The full manual is available on the accompanying CD, but having the hard copy can make it easier, especially for anyone who is not especially computer literate or doesn't have one.
The Minolta Dimage G600 has four modes, automatic, scenes, manual and movie. It is easy to change between each one and each one has its own simple menu that is easily accessible and simple to understand. It is very difficult to get lost and it is as straightforward as it can be to find the any particular setting that you want to change.
The Minolta Dimage G600 has four modes, automatic, scenes, manual and movie. It is easy to change between each one and each one has its own simple menu that is easily accessible and simple to understand. It is very difficult to get lost and it is as straightforward as it can be to find the any particular setting that you want to change.
Cost
You will need to pay around £280 for a Minolta Dimage G600. That makes it a similar price to its main competitors in this bracket. Bare in mind those similar cameras only offer five megapixels or less though.
Style
This camera is all about style. The Minolta Dimage G600 is a little slimmer than some of its competitors and comes in a shiny, silver colour.
Batteries / Memory Cards
A rechargeable Lithium Ion battery is supplied with the Minolta Dimage G600. A charger is included as well. The downside of this type of battery is that it is advisable to buy a spare. Otherwise you run the risk of a flat battery at just the wrong moment.
Images can be stored on either Secure Digital (SD) Cards or memory stick. A 32mb SD card is supplied with the camera as standard. Again when you are calculating your budget you should consider buying a second larger card so that you don't run out of space.
Conclusion
To sum up the main attractions of the Minolta Dimage G600 are its stylish looks and the fact that at the time of writing it is the only six megapixel camera in this category. Overall I would say that it offers good value for money. There are one or two areas where the camera could be improved, most noticeably with indoor shots in poor light. Having said that I think the Minolta Dimage G600 is fairly priced.
