CNET Asia Review

Design
Dressed in silver and retaining the futuristic look of the Dimage Z-series cameras, the Konica Minolta Dimage Z6 weighs a relatively hefty 437g with SD card and four AA batteries. However, the mostly plastic Z6 is sufficiently light and well balanced for one-handed shooting. Its high-profile grip provides a secure hold on the camera's reasonably compact body.

The Z6's control layout differs slightly from those of most digital cameras, but Konica Minolta has done a good job minimizing the number of controls while, for the most part, maintaining overall ease and efficiency.

The large handgrip houses four AA batteries and provides a base for the large shutter-release button, the mode dial, and the macro and flash controls. You can customize the flash button to access one of several other functions, including drive mode, white balance, and ISO sensitivity. The zoom lever sits within natural reach of your thumb, so it's easy to move through the camera's 35mm-to-420mm (35mm equivalent) focal range without adjusting your grip.

Below the Z6's 2-inch LCD lie the power button and a switch that selects playback, LCD, or EVF mode. Between the LCD and the handgrip sits a four-way cursor controller with a center Set button, a Menu button, a Quick View/Delete button, and an Information button for cycling through the information-display options: No data, complete data, and a live histogram.

In addition to the 2-inch LCD, the Konica Minolta Dimage Z6 offers an EVF (electronic viewfinder). It's usable, but at 114,000 pixels, it doesn't display a high-quality image. A hotshoe atop the pop-up flash accepts Minolta flash units for extra lighting power.

The tabbed menu system is well organized and extremely easy to navigate. All menu items appear as text, so you won't have to decipher icons or pictograms.

Features
The main attraction of the Konica Minolta Dimage Z6 is the 12x zoom lens. Its focal range of 35mm to 420mm (35mm equivalent) skimps a bit on the wide angle, but it provides an excellent telephoto reach. Konica Minolta's Anti-Shake technology complements the Z6's extended telephoto range and macro abilities. With Anti-Shake on, the CCD moves in tandem with the camera so that you can easily shoot the Z6 at slower shutter speeds than usual--figure about two stops, possibly more if you have a supersteady hand. Macro lovers will also appreciate the Super Macro mode, which lets you focus as close as 1cm.

With auto, program, aperture priority, shutter priority, and full manual exposure, the Konica Minolta Dimage Z6 offers options for every shooting situation and level of experience. For fine-tuning, you'll find four color modes (Natural, Vivid, B&W, and Sepia) and adjustments for contrast and sharpness. Other options include custom and preset white balance, flash compensation, exposure bracketing, and three metering modes.

The Z6 handles scene modes a bit differently than other cameras do. Although you can manually select from a handful of scene modes, the Digital Subject Program Selection feature can automatically choose the appropriate mode after analyzing the scene. The selection is accurate more often than not, but it's not foolproof, so check the LCD to verify the Z6's choice before you shoot.

Other notable features include exposure bracketing, a host of continuous-shooting and autofocus options, and the ability to move the focus point left or right in five steps.

Unfortunately, Konica Minolta has downgraded the movie mode from the one in the Dimage Z5, leaving you with only 320 x 240 resolution at 15 or 30 frames per second (fps). You can, however, use the zoom during movie capture, and the camera has a decent night-movie mode as well.

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User Reviews

alleycat864

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Great Camera

May 12, 2008

Rating: 9 out of 10 (Spectacular)
Pros: great design and features
Cons: n/a
Opinion:
I own one. I love it!Although some question its picture quality...I don`t feel like everyone understands how to compensate for what the camera lacks and still get a great picture.

 

Great camera, highly recommended

Oct 12, 2005

Rating: 10 out of 10 (Perfect)
Pros: 
Cons: 
Opinion:
I am enjoying myself in every single moment with this camera, well done.

 

The Z6 is a 50/50 choice

Sep 26, 2005

Rating: 6 out of 10 (Good)
Pros: 
Cons: 
Opinion:
Great camera except for the reduction in movie quality. Poor choice for Minolta to downgrade this feature. I guess if you want a movie camera, buy one, but it would have made this camera complete if they would have continued the higher-quality movie feature as in the Z5. BIG MISTAKE, Minolta! I would have bought one.

 

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