Konica Minolta DiMAGE A1 Bridge Camera

I can use my Minolta 5400HS flash...

Strengths: I own a Minolta Maxxum 600si film camera witha 28-200mm lens and this camera is the digital equivilant and at half the size.

Weakness: none found so far

I can use my Minolta 5400HS flash and RC-100 with this camera. I have ordered Minolta's BP-400, which will extend my battery time and also give me a vertical grip.

By jebsy64 - May 11, 2004

I was trying to decide between the...

Strengths: Very flexible, great lens, good resolution, light weight, great picture quality, surprisingly little noise in low-light situations, ability to embed AdobeRGB color profiles directly in pictures

Weakness: not cheap, particularly compared to the Minolta Dimage A2 which I own now

I was trying to decide between the yet to be available Sony DCS-F828 and the Minolta A1. Each had on paper things going for it: The Sony has what is likely an excellent Carl Zeiss lens, 8-megapixel resulution, and a new 4-color CCD. The Minolta has an APO lens, and their lens technology in general can keep up with the best, because they got their know-how originally from a joint venture with...
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I was trying to decide between the yet to be available Sony DCS-F828 and the Minolta A1. Each had on paper things going for it:
The Sony has what is likely an excellent Carl Zeiss lens, 8-megapixel resulution, and a new 4-color CCD.
The Minolta has an APO lens, and their lens technology in general can keep up with the best, because they got their know-how originally from a joint venture with Leitz of Leica fame. Further the Minolta has an optical image stabilisator and is much lighter and more compact than the Sony camera.
That aside, Minolta has more experience in designing photographic cameras and thus figuring out what works and what doesn't in terms of the user interface.
There is also a lot the cameras have in common: both use 14-bit AD and image processing, vs. the more common 12-bit, both have a zoom that doesn't only offer a large zoom factor, but also offers true wide angle (28mm equivalent).
In the end I went with the Minolta since I like to use flash as little as possible. The lighter weight, the smaller color aberration due to an APO lens, and the anti-shake image stabilizer are more than likely to make up for the lost pixel count, for what are 8 megapixels of motion blur worth? And a camera that's stays at home because it's too heavy will not take better pictures than one that's with you because it's much more compact in size and weight.
The Minolta A1 works great with the new 2GB micro drives, which hold 283 uncompressed raw frames, and over 10

By rcfa - Oct 28, 2003

The A1 is such a great product....

Strengths: The lens is amazing and sharp, the battery, the SLR results and flexibility in options

Weakness: Lots of controls to learn and understand with 2 seperate control wheels

The A1 is such a great product. The camera fits perfect in your hand, not to heavy, not to light for good control. The Battery is the best I have ever seen on ANY electronic item. I just shot for 8 hours, 225 photos and the battery is still showing more then half full on one charge! The auto shake mode gives tripod, clear images while hand held. The Lens is a 28-200 with a digital zoom (manual...
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The A1 is such a great product. The camera fits perfect in your hand, not to heavy, not to light for good control. The Battery is the best I have ever seen on ANY electronic item. I just shot for 8 hours, 225 photos and the battery is still showing more then half full on one charge! The auto shake mode gives tripod, clear images while hand held. The Lens is a 28-200 with a digital zoom (manual zoom, no motor zoom). This will give you more out of the box, bang for your buck then the EOS Rebel, and you get more options then I can list. Other nice features, a set of pro filters that are stored digitally, spot focus, solid flash, Adobe file color settings and just so much more! I am so happy I didn't follow the Rebel hype!

By solotime - Jan 20, 2004

After much research and having...

Strengths: Versatility

Weakness: none

After much research and having owned a Minolta Dimage 7i.. It is perfect for 8x10 photos printed on an HP7960 inkjet printer. The Minolta A1 is a vast improvement over early models, many features and ease of operation.. the antishake feature is great.
Excellant move retaining the 24-200 zoom lense!

By FrankLass - Feb 14, 2004

You name the adjustment, this...

Strengths: Incredible functionality. With anti-shake engaged you can forgo the flash a large majority of the time.

Weakness: Some noise in long-duration night exposures.

You name the adjustment, this camera can do it. Great pics out of the box with the auto mode. 16MB CF is lame, but replace it with a high speed 512MB and you can take pictures all day - the battery is incredible.

There is also a lot of customizing of the controls that lets you make the camera exactly what you want it to be.

By lwhitten - Feb 5, 2004