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| Brand: Konica-Minolta
Category: Photography
List Price: $599.99
Buy Used: $89.95
You Save: $510.04 (85%)
New (6) from $179.20
Avg. Customer Rating:  28 reviews
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Floppy Disk Drive: None
Optical Zoom: 12
Display Size: 1.5
Maximum Focal Length: 69.9
Minimum Focal Length: 5.83
Has Red Eye Reduction: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 6.3 x 5
MPN: 2733151
Model: 2733151
UPC: 043325995958
EAN: 0043325995958
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Good camera with some neat features January 27, 2005
27 out of 27 found this review helpful
I needed a camera for a cruise we were taking to Anarctica and wanted a digital camera with a large zoom. After trying to decide for about a month, I bought the Z3 and an Olympus C770 together. I decided to keep the Z3 and return the C770, mostly because of some of the great features on the Z3. The antishake really seems to make a difference and I like how fast the camera is. The C770 wasn't exactly slow, but with the test pictures I took with it I got a lot more blurred ones than with the Z3. The ultra high speed shooting modes on the Z3 are great and I got a lot of pictures I would have otherwise missed with slower shooting rates, especially when taking pictures of wildlife. As one of the other reviewers mentioned, it sounds like a machine gun when its taking pictures. I could see it being a lot of fun with candid shots too. The focus is fast and there is almost no lag taking pictures once the object is in focus. Its still not quite SLR fast, but this camera's not an SLR. The zoom is great and when showing pictures to other people on the ship they couldn't believe how close the camera was able to get with just the optical zoom. The pictures it takes are pretty good, there is some purple fringing on some things, particularly in dark areas at higher zooms, but you really have to get in close or blow the pictures up pretty large to notice. I took a few videos on my trip to and thought they were pretty good. The focus seems to hunt a little bit at times which got a little annoying, but this isn't a video camera. I thought the white balance and color was very good and I had only a couple of pictures that I would say the colors were off. The white balance on the Z3 in auto was better than the Olympus, where I seemed to have to manually change the white balance modes, especially when taking pictures outside.
Now for my gripes. The body and its panels all seem on the cheap side. The access door for the USB cable is just a soft plastic flap and the access door for the SD card is kind of flimsy. I've accidently caught the SD card door on things a few times and worry it might get really caught one day and rip off. I've been tempted to but some tape or velcro on it to do a better job keeping it closed, but haven't been able to make myself do it. The Olympus body was metal and the access doors on it seemed a little sturdier. The Z3 also eats alkaline batteries and you'll want to buy a set of high capacity Li-ions. Once I bought a set I would easily get over a full 1GB cards worth of shots (almost 500) before having to change batteries. The Z3 does have a hard time focusing in low light and I agree with the other reviews that a focus assist light would probably help. The Olympus was no better. I also sometimes have a hard time finding the shutter release without hunting for it and every once in a while I catch myself trying to press the bezel surrounding the shutter release rather than the shutter release. I also wish the flash would either pop up automatically or have a button like the Olympus, rather than having to grap a little tab on the side of the section that pops up. It was sometimes really difficult to do with gloves on or even without having to stop what you were doing and look at the top of the camera. Also, plan to buy a higher capacity SD card because 16mb is a joke. I have just a regular speed SD card and have not had any of the problems some people were describing capturing video, but I do wonder if I would be able to capture more continuous shots in the ultra high speed modes without the camera having to pause. The Z3 is also a little larger (maybe bulkier is better word) than the C770 and while I felt I could have fit the C770 in a large pocket or even wife's purse, the Z3 won't fit in either.
So to sum my review up, the Z3 is a good camera with some limitations. Its probably the cheap feeling construction that keeps me from giving it 5 stars.
PROS:
Speed, speed, speed
Anti shake works
Great zoom
Good menu system
CONS:
Cheap feeling construction
Eats Alkaline batteries (plan on buying Li-ion)
Wish flash was easier to pop up
Its a little bulky
Excellent for the price August 20, 2004
21 out of 23 found this review helpful
Have this for about a week, quite impressed overall.
Positives: lots of features, antishake works well, very quiet zoom. Image quality as expected for 4MP camera, but I have not done extensive testing yet. Movie mode (640x480 30fps max) is excellent, but you'll need a large capacity (1GB or more) SD card for any significant amount of capture at high quality. I like the overall design, easy to hold and shoot.
Negatives: autofocus has occasional problems, especially at low light. My unit is Made in China (entire thing, stamped at the bottom of the camera), so hard to predict the long term reliability. Those who prefer the "metallic feel" may have issue with the entire plastic casing of this model (I have the black one).
 Great Camera October 15, 2004
21 out of 28 found this review helpful
I have a sandisk ultra II SD card and it works very well. Like other people say the sd card door is flimsy, it it operates the way the ashtrays on the doors in a car work, just not as much spring. it doesnt lock. that is one minus. It isnt as good in dark areas as it is in light, and sometimes in some modes in dark areas you'll get nothing on screen, then you have to rotate the knob to auto or something. the zoom is awesome. And it works really fast. I excpecially like the uhs progressive. When it takes so many pictures and saves the last 15 it sounds like a machine-gun. Very good camera
Great Camera - Software not bad but could be even better September 3, 2004
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
Two modifications to my earlier review (below) -
1. The macro and super macro features are fantastic if you take a little care with lighting. Have had several of my shots used by professional graphics people.
2. Low light focusing is not the best.
Number 2 is not a big deal for me and easily outweighed by the many great features.
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I love the Z3. This camera feels great in the hands and nothing out there currently matches it in terms of light weight, long zoom capabilities with image stabilization and incredibly quick response times. The similar performing new Panasonic DMC-FZ15 and FZ20 are much bigger/heavier but I am sure will also make their owners very happy.
The importance of the image stabilization feature cannot be praised enough as daylight shots at full zoom can easily be done handheld. In low light situations still best to use support/tripod.
The software supplied has some great image manipulation tools but is let down by not having a simple ability to show images on your computer in a slide show. Hope that Minolta will fix this by a free software download patch. Please Minolta that will make my experience with this camera 5 star?
So close... March 25, 2005
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
First of all, let me say that I LOVE the Z3! I would give it five stars, except for the comments below. The anti-shake technology is impossible to believe until you have used it, then you find yourself doing ridiculous things like hand-holding at an equivalent 300mm and 50th of a second--and getting acceptably sharp photos. I have gotten 1 shot that enlarged to 5x7 nicely, shooting from a braced position at about 1/4 second and ridiculously long zoom, (at least 300mm equiv.,) although I admit that only one shot out of half a dozen was that sharp.
The light weight is a pleasure to work with after my Nikon 35mm's, and at 250+ highest quality images on a 512MB SD card, you just forget about running out of "film." If you start getting low, you can reduce the resolution to 1/2 the 2272x1704 "normal" size and still use low compression, doubling the number of available shots at the cost of big enlargements. (It will also shoot about 30 min. of low-def video on the 512card, but I haven't tried it.) I would happily leave all the Nikons at home and take the Z3 as my primary camera for most anything except for two things.
Now the bad news. The built-in flash sucks, and because the exposure is read off the CCD the only supplemental flashes you can use are hotshoe mounted and dedicated to the Z3. No off-camera flash is available. The built-in flash is useless beyond about eight feet in dim light, which is no big deal because...
You can't see squat in the LCD viewfinder in low light anyway, and the camera doesn't have a supplemental focusing light. In a dimly-lit living room, you just aim blindly, hold down the shutter button, and the camera fires when it thinks things are at optimum. They usually aren't. The flash does a good job at what most built-in flashes do well...fill flash...but don't go anywhere at night or indoors thinking you have a flash on your camera. You mostly don't. And then there's the red-eye problem. My son-in-law has pale blue eyes, and I haven't gotten a really good shot of him yet, even from the side. The camera begs for off-camera capability. Synch plugs take so little space...but then there's the dedication thing.
Having said that, I do primarily nature photography in the daytime, so I haven't felt the need to buy a hotshoe flash or a digital body for my Nikon lenses. The latter, however, is just a matter of time. The Z3 is not a professional's camera, but I'm here to tell you it's a camera that a pro can have a helluve lot of fun with!
If I had it to do over again I'd spend the extra $60 and get the equivalent Panasonic strictly because of the low-light focusing l.e.d. aid, (it, too, has anti-shake, although a different system,) but I'm pleased with the Z3 and expect to have it for a long time.
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