Reviews
Fujifilm
E5Konica Minolta X50
Still great after all those years
The
original DiMAGE X-series, released four years ago, stunned the
industry with its sleek little metal body, 2-megapixel imager
and an ingenious ãfoldableä internal 3X optical zoom. Other X-series
models with progressively higher megapixel counts followed, and
the 5-megapixel DiMAGE x50 reviewed here is the latest.
The
original DiMAGE X was the absolute best-in-class, but now Sony,
Canon, Casio, Epson and several others also have some truly terrific
little cameras. Did Minolta manage to keep up?
At
first sight I wasn't impressed. The DiMAGE X50 is larger than
earlier X-series models and doesn't have the ãmilled from a solid
block of metalä feel. In addition, the ãblock of metalä design
goal is quickly punctured when you open either the battery or
the SD Card door. Both are flimsy gray plastic and reveal more
plastic inside. The SD Card door feels like it's going to quickly
break off. The design is uninspired. No one is going to say, ãWow!
Will you look at this little beauty!ä And there's more. A tiny
viewfinder. A little Li-Ion battery about the size of a single
AA battery. It was enough to make me wonder if this DiMAGE could
live up to expectations, let alone its lofty heritage.
However,
spend a day with this camera and you'll be a believer. The DiMAGE
X50 may no longer be unique nor exceptionally small or cute, but
it works exceptionally well. Its inherent goodness is obvious
as soon as you start using the camera. Other qualities reveal
themselves more slowly, but you'll discover them and come to appreciate
them very quickly.
There
is, for example, a very good 2-inch LCD that you can see outdoors
as well. And unlike others, Minolta did not eliminate the optical
viewfinder which still comes in handy when even the best LCD isn't
viewable. Then it's good to have a viewfinder, even if it is small
and not terribly accurate. And Minolta placed it so that whichever
eye you use to peek through it, your nose won't press against
the LCD.
Also
nice is the way you power the X50 on and off via a big front slider
that also acts as a lens cover. This arrangement never leaves
any doubt whether the camera is on or off, and you never need
to worry about scratching the lens. Sliding the switch triggers
a happy start-up tone and within perhaps half second you're ready
to shoot. Thanks to the ingenious folded zoom you don't have to
wait for the engine compartment to motor the lens out of the body.
Camera
ergonomics reveal more good news. It's as if Minolta's engineers
spent months studying the human thumb and forefinger and how they
move most comfortably and naturally. All controls on the back
of the camera are within easy reach of your thumb, and all controls
on top of the camera within easy range of your index finger. And
the lens and the flash are just far enough out of reach so that
your middle finger doesn't obstruct them. Clever.
The
X50's controls are also simple. Instead of a cluttered mode dial
there's just a slider with three positions: automatic, scenes
and movies. On the back is a button for playback, the ubiquitous
five way control, and a menu and a display button. Everyone can
figure this one out. The simplicity carries on into the onscreen
menus, which are simple, clear, and in plain English rather than
a mix of icons and abbreviations. You always know which option
is selected. Still no ãEscapeä button, but Minolta always clearly
states what to push to get out of a menu.
The
DiMAGE X50 works well, too. Even without reading the excellent
106-page manual we successfully used the X50 in many different
real-life situations and it passed every test with flying colors.
The focus performs beautifully, with only a bit of hunting and
an occasional miss in low-light situations. The macro mode works
exceptionally well, the 3X optical zoom 
is
very quick, and the 4X digital zoom works much better than expected.
A good auto focus system is always crucial, and the Minolta X50
has one. The large LCD lets you peruse shots in good detail. You
can zoom in in 0.2X increments to a maximum of 6X and pan in almost
40 steps in every direction. You can annotate pictures with up
to 15 seconds of audio, create slide shows, crop pictures, create
email copies, use DPOF to tag pics with print orders, and use
the X50 as a voice recorder until the storage card is full. The
X50's movie mode is only 320 x 240 pixels but you can record with
audio at either 15 of 30 frames per second, you can zoom while
recording, and you can capture individual frames.
The
camera's tiny battery has its limitations, but easily made it
through a three hour walk with my nine-year-old where the camera
was in almost constant use. The
X50 is no longer one of a kind but Minolta hasn't lost its touch.
This is a great little camera that's easy to use, very well designed,
takes great pictures, and is small enough to slip into any pocket.
A perfect camera for beginners, and a perfect camera for anyone
who wants a competent, serious shooter for those occasions where
their larger, heavier primary camera is too big and bulky to take
along.
öKirk Linsky
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