Last updated: 21.11.2006

Review

Especially excellent photos are of flowers made from the minimal distance.

Most significant discharge of the battery is caused of cause by the flash and what very interesting - by the zoom.

Supplied with camera flash card (7M) is suitable only for test purposes. For normal operation you need at least 32M, it will give you about 35 shots at full resolution with fine quality (in spite of the fact that this the same quantity of shots as in plain film role, you will take them all in one shot session (e.g. meeting, etc.) as digital camera makes you fill free at taking shots whenever you want of whatever you see). Flash cards have different speed, so if you do not want to wait several seconds while your shot stored onto card, buy faster flash. Unfortunately, the brand new flash card may be unsupported by this camera, so always try first (or find some info), then buy. I have tested some flash cards and got the following results while storing (the first number) and then reviewing (the second number) test image in TIFF format (Direct speed is the speed measured while copying 6M file thru USB camera connection):

Model	Write time	Read time	Direct write speed	Direct read speed
TwinMos SecureDigital 128M	7 sec	27 sec	475 KB/sec	640 KB/sec
Panasonic SecureDigital 8M	7 sec	20 sec	540 KB/sec	768 KB/sec
NCP MultiMediaCard 128M	15 sec	24 sec	540 KB/sec	640 KB/sec
SanDisk MultiMediaCard 32M	47 sec	33 sec	110 KB/sec	640 KB/sec

When taking shots of distant objects in very dark environment either force flash and set EV +2 or force flash off and set EV -1.3. The first will produce dark image but very sharp, but the second more lighter with reasonable blurriness.

---

The following specifications are copied from the official Minolta web site (original).

DiMAGE X Specifications Jan.9, 2002 No. of effective pixels 1.96 million CCD 1/2.7-type interline complementary-color CCD with a total of 2.11 million pixels Lens construction 9 elements in 8 groups (includes 1 one-sided aspherical element and 2 double-sided aspheric elements) Focal length 5.7 - 17.1 mm (35 mm equivalent: 37 - 111 mm) Maximum aperture f/ 2.8 - f/ 3.6 Recording media SD Memory Card / MultiMediaCard File format Exif2.1 (JPEG), TIFF, Motion JPEG (MOV), WAVE, DCF, DPOF No. of recorded pixelst 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960, 640 x 480 File size*   1600x1200 1280x960 640x480 Economy 250 KB (approx.) 170 KB (approx.) 53 KB (approx.) Standard 480 KB (approx.) 320 KB (approx.) 90 KB (approx.) Fine 950 KB (approx.) 610 KB (approx.) 170 KB (approx.) Super fine 5.5 MB (approx.) 3.5 MB (approx.) 910 KB (approx.) Movie 340KB / s (approx.) 290 KB / s (approx.) (for recording with output on PAL monitor) * The actual file size is approximate and may vary depending upon subjects. Storage capacity Approximate storage capacity of an 8 MB SD Memory Card   1600x1200 1280x960 640x480 Economy 25 frames 39 frames 117 frames Standard 13 frames 20 frames 68 frames Fine 6 frames 10 frames 39 frames Super fine 1 frames 1 frames 7 frames Movie 19 seconds Audio rec. 842 seconds Autofocus system Video AF, Focus lock available Focusing range 0.25 m / 0.8 feet to infinity (from the front of the camera) Exposure control Programmed AE, AE lock available Exposure compensation ± 2Ev in 1/3 increments Metering Multi-segment (256 segments) Camera sensitivity Auto (between ISO 100 - 200 equivalent) Shutter speeds 1/1000 - 2 seconds Continuous advance Approx. 2 frames per second Self-timer Approx. 10 seconds delay Movie recording Max. 35 seconds, with monaural audio Audio (max.) Audio recording: 90 seconds, Audio caption: 15 seconds, Voice memo: 15 seconds, Monaural recording only Digital zoom 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x, 2x White-balance control Automatic, Preset (Daylight, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Cloudy) Flash mode Autoflash, Autoflash with red-eye reduction, Fill-flash, Flash cancel, Night portrait (with red-eye reduction) A/D conversion 12 bits LCD monitor 3.8 cm (1.5-type) TFT color, with total 110,000 pixels equivalent Printing output control PRINT Image Matching PC interface USB ver. 1.1, Video output NTSC / PAL (selectable) Battery One lithium-ion battery Battery performance* Continuous playback time: approx. 120 min. *Minolta measurement Number of recording: approx. 120 frames Operating time (approx.) Start-up time: 1.8 seconds, Shutter-release time-lag: 0.3 second, Playback interval: 1 second External power source 4.7V DC (with specified AC) Dimensions (WxHxD) 84.5 x 72 x 20 mm / 3-5 / 16x 2-13 / 16x 13 / 16 inches Weight Approx. 135g / 4-3 / 4 ounces (without batteries and recording media) Standard accessories Lithium-ion battery (NP-200), Battery Charger (BC-200), Hand Strap(HS-DG100),AV Cable (AVC-200), USB Cable (USB-500), SD Memory Card (8MB), CD-ROM for DiMAGE X *Availability of accessories depends on areas. Optional accessories AC adapter (North America & Taiwan:AC-4,other areas:AC-5), Camera Case (CS-DG100), Metal Chain Neck Strap (NS-DG100) *Availability of accessories depends on areas. (C) Copyright 2002 Minolta Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.