Why shouldn't I buy a Minolta Dimage A2 ???

[peter_h_lsen]

Hello friends,

 

given

 

- it must be a 8 million pixels camera

 

- it may not be a mirror reflex camera

 

why shouldn't I buy a Minolta Dimage A2 Camera? I would be very

thankful for your input. Which camera should I buy instead and what

are the reasons?

 

Yesterday I was at a camera trade fair. So I had a good opportunity to

inform myself about the different offers in the a.m. segment. The

reasons for my choice - look above - are:

 

- high versality

 

- focal length from 28-200 mm

 

- bright finder(s)

 

- anti shake

 

- manuel zooming saves energy

 

- low weight

 

- high responding behavior

 

- low weight/good ergonomics

 

Thanks in advance for your objective and balanced arguments. You're

helping me very much in front of a expensive financial investment.

 

 

Kind regards from Germany

 

Peter

[jbq]

Go for it. Anti-shake and good viewfinder make a difference over the other 8MP digicams, along with a bunch of other features (bursts in raw mode, availability of a vertical grip, always ready to shoot even in the middle of setting up).

 

If have a DSLR, so it's not really relevant, but the Minolta is the one I'd get if I was shopping for an 8MP digicam.

[magnus_nystedt]

I won't argue why you shouldn't get it. I have an A2 and I love it. I picked among all the

current crop of 8mps and the A2 was the winner in my book. Some users report issues

with problems in AF in some A2s but once they've exchanged them or got them repaired

they are fine. I must have got a good one - it's been great out of the box. It does have

definite noise over ISO100 but so does the other ones, so that's no reason to go for one or

the other I think. The BP400 grip is excellent and makes the camera, which is already nice

to hold, even nicer. It also means you can use regular AA batteries if you need, something

that all other cameras cannot do. Manual zoom is a must in my book, and you can also

focus manually if you need to. The Sony 828 has a nice lens and manual zoom but I did

not like the camera's style and it's heavier than the A2. The Canon Pro 1 also has kind of

manual zoom but I did not like it's "zoom-by-wire". The EVF is the best of the bunch, and

AS can really save the bacon so to speak in low light situations. I wish it had a LCD that

could fold out like on the Nikons but that is for me a minor point. That it goes to 28mm

was also a must for me since I like wide angle shots :-) It is very nice to handle and you

can control it pretty much solely from buttons and dials on the outside while you shoot

and don't have to fiddle around with the LCD menus all the time like on some cameras. AF

seems fast and accurate to me, and the same for WB and exposure. Did I forget

something? Propably... please ask.

[Troll]

I bought an A2 which had viewfinder problems and was returned to B&H, but the replacement was nearly as bad, and also had several other problems. Now, after wasting an extra $60 for UPS fees (to and from NYC), I'm very leary about buying another A2 -- what if a third one is also crappy? My only criticism of its design is that the viewfinder is very difficult to see while wearing glasses.

[mark u]

I think that many of the features of the A2 are great - except for the 8MP sensor shared with the Sony, Canon, Olympus and Nikon. The day that a camera manufacturer understands that a larger sensor with fewer MP and larger pixels will give better images - as well as flexibility to shoot action and low light at higher ISOs without loads of noise - is the day when I might seriously consider such a camera.

[magnus_nystedt]

It's true that smaller sensors mean compromises and I would certainly prefer a larger

sensor, but doesn't that come at the expense of higher price? I've seen very good 20x30

prints from the A2 and that's at least more than good enough for me, smaller sensor or

not :-)

[jono_brooker]

The A2 is the only camera that fulfills your purchase criteria. The question you post is therefore do I buy a camera or not? If you want a camera you have no choice, unless you want to wait 6 months to a year during which time one or two alternatives might be released.

[ilkka]

Some people always like to complain about the noise in these cameras. Often without actually having tried them. Noise is a problem with ISO speeds above 200, so don't use these speeds. Use the camera at ISO 64 and if you have to, at ISO 100. Use the anti-shake for slower speeds to compensate, and a tripod when that is not enough. 200 is possible if you are really desperate and accept that there will be some noise. But at 64 and 100 noise is definitely not a problem in properly exposed images.

[david_lau3]

I really like the antishake, manual zoom and high resolution EVF of the A2. However I am cautious about the bad comments from several reviews:

 

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/minolta/dimage_a2-review/index_pfv.shtml

 

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/konicaminoltaa2/page20.asp

 

However there are also good comments:

 

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/cameras/konica-minolta-a2.shtml

 

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2004_reviews/a2_pg6.html

 

Therefore I believe Minolta got quality control problem in their production line so not every unit performs the same. If I am buying the A2 I will make sure I have the right to exchange/return until satisfactory.

[magnus_nystedt]

Yes there have been people experiencing problems with noise banding and AF issues

especially on the A2 and after some exchanges or repairs they've now got working A2s.

This is unfortunate and hopefully something KM is working on fixing. However, it should

also be pointed out that most A2 users seem very happy with their cameras. As long as

you buy from somewhere with a good return/exchange policy then you should be ok.

Costco is a place that I've often seen cited as having very good such policies.

[phyrpowr]

Popular Photography (boo!! hissss!!!) compares, sort of, the 8MP offerings in the non SLR digitals this month, you might want to get a copy before you commit.

 

I own Canon slr and dslr, but that A2 sure looks enticing

[ilkka]

I would suggest using your own judgement when reading magazine or internet articles and comparisons. I have not seen the Popular Photography article, but as an example, an English magazine Practical Photography recently compared these 8MP cameras and came up with quite strange comments. While I don't always agree with Michael Reichmann's comments (of Luminous Landscape) I think he at least uses the cameras and comments from the perspective of actual user.

 

The Minolta A2 is a very user friendly camera for someone who has been photographing a lot. Certainly head and shoulders above all the other 8MP offerings in this respect. Yet some reviewers complain, for example, that it has a lot of buttons scattered around the body. Well, buttons are better than a complicated menu system where it is next to impossible to get the function you want in a hurry. The buttons need to be quite big so they can easily be accessed, even with gloves on. And that means they need to be scattered around the body to make use of all the space, and allow sufficient size of those buttons. The same with image quality: Minolta uses very little packing in its best JPEG setting and very little sharpening at default. 'Sharper looking' images can be got by increasing the sharpening either in camera or better still in post processing. By all means, read all the reviews you can, but do take all the comments with a grain of salt. Including all the comments you read on photonet...

 

The A2 is not a perfect camera but it is certainly among the best digicams currently on the market. And for many users offers better value for money and better useability than any digital SLR.

[andreas_carl]

You may want to consider the Dimage A1 for the following reasons:

 

1.) Image quality almost as good as the A2: 5MP instead 8, but you get 14bit output!

 

2.) Costs half as much and is more "mature" (i.e. less likely to end up with a lemon). In Germany it is more difficult to return products, than in the US, where you can try 2 or 3 until you are satisfied.

 

You may want to read through the Minolta threads on dpreview. I myself bought the A1 for $520 (after I had the Canon 10D last year) and am very satisfied. If I were to spend closer to $1000 and don't mind carrying several lenses, I would choose the 10D again..

[bakubo]

Minolta released version 1.12 of the A2 firmware about a week ago and many people report that it fixes some of the issues regarding focus.

[gregtaftphoto]

Have heard similar issues with autofocus and have witnessed same with my A2 using the normal autofocus frame. However, when I use the flex point, the issues are eliminated. I now use the flex point 100% of the time.

Have also heard (but have not tested this yet) that if you have the anti-shake on but are using a tripod, the camera will still try to compensate for shake and will actually blur the image slightly. I just downloaded the firmware upgrade and will see if it makes any difference.

Except for the initial annoyance with the focus, I have been very happy with the camera overall.