Konica Minolta Minolta DiMAGE Xt Digital Camera

User Reviews for Konica Minolta Minolta DiMAGE Xt Digital Camera

• Reviewed by: retiredspook

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Small size, tough case, great pictures, good movies. I carry in pocket most of the time just in case a good shot materializes.

  Weaknesses: LCD screen is smaller than most, needs cover or will scratch in pocket. shutter sometimes slow to react. Saves movies as mov file which is not compatable with any application except Apple QuickTime.

  Overall Evaluation: Shopped around quite a bit and was intrigued by the lack of protruding lens and small size, weight. 3.2 MP was all I need as 8 X 10" prints are max for my photo printer. It is just a very tiny bit larger than a Canon SD300 or SD400 but they cost more.My wife made me a nice little felt sack so keys and change in my pocket wont scratch the LCD. It has a good strong battery/card door, not like Canon flimsy door. Power and USB cable are tiny and my setup at work computer won't work. Movies are Apple QuickTime, which player comes with camera but is not compatable with any of my Windows editing applications which is a downer, biggest gripe.
• Reviewed by: lorddef

  Duration of ownership:

  Strengths: Small, simple, battery life, movie mode, robust

  Weaknesses: No case included in package, seems heavier than my previous camera but this one is metal my old one was plastic, delay after pressing button to take photo

  Overall Evaluation: I bought this camera from dabs.com in the UK for £163, I had a choice of either the Xt or the Xg and I went for the Xt because it cost more. I then found out the Xg was newer and got a little worried, although it all turned out good in the end. The Xt and Xg really just seem to offer different features and the Xt is more geared towards what I wanted to do. With the Xt you get a smaller screen but it has the advantage of being higher quality than the one on the Xg. The Xg does away with TIFF support, the AV access, desktop charger etc and replaces them with limited image editing built in, that I would certainly never use. The only advantage the Xg would give is 30fps movies rather than 15fps movies, but hey this is a *stills* camera, the video thing is just a very nice and very useable gimmick. I've taken my camera out on the piss twice so far and its performed good, the only problems I have with it are: 1) Sometimes the camera takes the photo 1-2 secs after pressing the shutter button in low light, which means your drunken subjects have moved by this time. But I think this is just me noticing the delay more as my old digital camera was really simple. 2) My paranoia about smashing the LCD or breaking the lens cover shutter, or dropping it and breaking the zoom mechanics. It's quite a complex camera (although I think they all are nowadays) unlike my old camera which was so simple if I dropped it it was very unlikely to break. Just that feeling of "this camera really is going to break as soon as the warranty wares out isn't it?" I've yet to try recording a long video (on a bigger card), although I have found that on the included 16mb card that movie mode cuts off (i.e. reaches the max file size) at around 10 - 12 MB depending on resolution and at exactly 40 seconds of video in 320x240 and exactly 2.30 secs of video in 160x120. I don?t know why this is, but I trust that with a bigger card the max file sizes will increase, as the manual states it will and other reviewers say so too. From what I can see, although I've never touched an Xg: Xt = Better overall pro features except for the movie mode only being 15fps. Xg = Not quite as good features, features replaced with editing ones that you'd never use if you owned a copy of photoshop/premiere. But better movie mode at 30fps. The end lorddef; a biased Xt owner.