Minolta DiMAGE Xt Review
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Review
Date: July 1, 2003 |
Mouseover
picture to see the back of the Minolta DiMAGE
Xt.
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Handling & Feel
The
Minolta DiMAGE Xt is ultra compact with dimensions
of 85.5W x 67H x 20D mm (3.4W x 2.6H x 0.8D in.)
and weighs 120g (4.3 oz.) without the battery
and recording media card. (The Lithium-Ion battery
weighs about 20g.) It is constructed with an all-metal
aluminum body and feels quite solid. The battery/recording
media compartment door is a shiny metal and, in
its closed position, that door becomes part of
the distinctive handgrip (with the Minolta brand
etched into it). The name 'DiMAGE XT' is slightly
raised giving an overall feeling of craftmanship
quality to the camera. The five tiny holes in
a line near the front bottom of the camera is
the built-in microphone and also add to the overall
cool look of the Xt.
At the front top, the flash, self-timer lamp and
optical viewfinder window form a trio, and the
lens is at the very front top right. It is interesting
that the viewfinder eyepiece at the back of the
camera lines up with the lens at the front of
the camera, giving the pleasant impression that
you are looking straight through the lens. (This
is accomplished with another clever mirror trick
from the designer of the Xt.) The viewfinder is
a real-image optical zoom, which means that it
zooms in and out with the lens. The viewfinder
eyepiece at the back is to the left of the 1.5
in. LCD and therefore avoids the 'oily noise syndrome'
(that is common if the viewfinder were just above
the LCD and your nose presses against the LCD,
leaving an oily mark).
 The
position of the lens at the very edge of the front
top right corner means that you cannot put your
left index finger there to steady the camera as
I usually do. If you do so, you risk including
said finger in your pictures -- as I did a couple
of times. (See example picture at right -- Reflections
in window: 1/250 sec., F2.8 and ISO 50.) Though
the camera balances pretty well in your right
hand, most people will probably still find the
need to hold it steady with the left hand to prevent
camera shake. There is a lot of empty space under
the lens to pinch the camera with the left index
finger and thumb of your left hand, and getting
used to holding the camera this way fortunately
catches on pretty fast.
They
say that first impressions count. Well, when you
open the box and first catch a glimpse of the
Xt, it's a beautiful camera staring back at you.
Picking it up, you notice it is not so light as
to suggest 'cheap' but rather it has a nice weight.
At the back of the camera, the controls are cleanly
arranged. The buttons are spaced out enough so
that you don't mistakenly push its neighbor in,
and the mode dial is raised and indented so it
turns easily. The sturdy battery/card door slides
and swings out smoothly -- no cheap flimsy plastic
door here.
The
Xt easily earns our JeansPocket™
Certified Seal of Approval. I easily
carried it in my front jeans pocket all the time.
Though optional, I also received a soft leather
case for review. The Xt fits nicely in it and
it also has two internal pockets: one for an extra
battery (which I highly recommend you purchase)
and a smaller pocket for an extra SD card. The
soft case is just slightly larger than the Xt
but is a necessary protection if you plan to carry
anything else in that same pocket (e.g. keys).
At
first, I suffered from camera shake quite a bit
as I got used to holding the Xt and pressing the
shutter release gently. Since there was no cost
involved, I just shot away until the recording
media card was full, then uploaded them into my
computer for review and wiping out the card for
the next set of shots. After about snapshooting
like this and filling up two cards worth of pictures,
I found that I got the hang of it and then only
the occasional slow shutter speed shot would suffer
from camera shake.
I would recommend to Minolta that it makes the
shutter release button a bit larger (especially
wider). Currently it's about 12x4 mm and I would
recommend at least 12x8 mm instead. While it is
effortless to press the shutter partway to lock
in the exposure and focus, I find that it takes
a bit more effort to press it fully with only
the tip of my index finger, and that is the point
where camera shake occurs for me. A larger shutter
release should eliminate this problem completely.
Every
button on the back of the Xt has a positive responsive
feel when you press it. The LCD brightness can
be adjusted using the Set Up mode, and I find
that the brightest setting works well for me.
In very bright sunlight, it can sometimes be difficult
to see the image in the LCD but that has so far
not prevented me taking a picture. When needed,
I use the real-image optical zoom viewfinder.
1/90
sec., F6.7 and ISO 160 with fill-in flash
For
macro pictures, I usually use a mini tripod whenever
possible. The tripod mount on the Xt is hard plastic
but I have not had any problem using it. Using
the mini tripod and the self-timer to release
the shutter is a good idea when using a slow shutter
speed (the self-timer is accessed via the tabbed
menu and is the very first item of the first tab).
In this close up picture, the flowers were moving
quite a bit in the slight breeze, so I manually
set flash on (and use the self-timer) to freeze
the movement.
A
neat feature of the Xt is the ability to assign
one of the functions to the control buttons left
and right of the zoom button. By default, it is
the exposure compensation function, and that's
just perfect for me. You may choose to assign
another function to them. It saves from having
to go to the menu to select that function. The
other function I use quite a lot is flash on or
off, and there is already a dedicated button for
that.
The
ingenious design of its internal zoom lens, the
responsiveness of its controls, and the overall
user-friendliness and intuitiveness of the Xt
earn it our OriGenial™
Seal of Approval.
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