Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2 Review: 6. Operation & Controls: Digital Photography Review

Rear of camera controls

On the rear (right) of the camera are several more controls, most of which are positioned to be within reach of your thumb when gripping the camera with your right hand.

Main mode switch

Position	Description
	Power Press this button once to turn the camera on. You must hold the button for a second or more to power off.
	Still image record mode Puts the camera into still image record mode, the exposure mode is selected using the mode dial on the top of the camera.
	Play mode Enters play mode, displays the last image taken or the last image on the CF card. An alternative to this is simply to press the QV button which is essentially the same thing except that you can return to record mode by a simple half-press of the shutter release. As I mentioned in my DiMAGE A1 review it would have been better to do away with a dedicated play mode and simply promote the QV button to a full play mode, that way the camera would be truly shooting priority (like a true digital SLR).
	Movie record mode Puts the camera into movie record mode. The A2 has two movie modes, one for normal light levels and a black and white high gain mode for use in low light. You can allow the camera to select the correct mode automatically or switch it manually. Audio is recorded with all movies and focus mode is locked to continuous focusing. The following movie sizes / frame rates are available: • Size: 544 x 408, 320 x 240 • Frame rate: 15 fps, 30 fps • Movie mode: Auto, Night movie, Standard movie

Display mode switch

Position	Description
EVF	Electronic Viewfinder display In this position all live view / review / menu displays are shown on the EVF instead of the main LCD.
A	Automatic display (Eyepiece proximity sensor) In the Automatic position the camera will by default display the live view on the rear LCD, when you bring your eye up to the EVF it will automatically switch (thanks to the eyepiece sensor) to the EVF. Via the Setup menu you can configure the eyepiece sensor to operate in as a 'power up' for the EVF, in this mode no display is shown by default on the rear LCD or EVF, instead the EVF will only power-up when you raise your eye to it.
	LCD display In this position all live view / review / menu displays are shown on the main rear LCD.

Buttons

Button

Description

AEL

Auto Exposure Lock

Triggers the camera's automatic exposure system and then locks it. Depending on the setting of a menu option this button be set to:

• AE hold - Exposure metered and locked for as long as the button is held
• AE toggle - Exposure metered and locked when the button is pressed and released on the next press
• Spot AE hold - Exposure spot metered and locked for as long as the button is held
• Spot AE toggle - Exposure spot metered and locked when the button is pressed and released on the next press

Exposure compensation / Flash compensation

This button doubles for exposure and flash compensation. Hold the button and roll the front dial to change exposure compensation or the rear dial to change flash power compensation. Both of these can be set to values from -2.0 EV to +2.0 EV in 0.3 EV steps. If flash control is set to manual you can select from 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 or 1/1 flash power. Kudos to Minolta for a bit of straightforward logical thinking.

4-way controller (arrows)

Play mode: Press left / right to browse forwards and backwards through images taken, press up for histogram display.

Menus: Navigate through menus.

4-way controller (confirm / OK button)

Record mode: Press and hold for more than one second to switch from wide-focus mode to spot focus, in spot focus mode the controller can be used to move a small cross-hair (+) around the screen (a 124 x 87 grid) to indicate where you would like to measure autofocus.

Menus: Select menu option.

Quick View / Delete

Record mode: Enters a shooting priority play mode', displays the last image taken, you can scroll between images by pressing the 4-way controller left and right, you can also display a histogram by pushing the 4-way controller up. Pressing the button again with an image displayed gives you the option to delete it. You can also magnify images in QV mode.

Play mode: Delete current image, requires confirmation (you can program the default response to this prompt as Yes or No).

MENU

Menu

Pressing this button enters or leaves the mode menu in record or play modes.

Anti-shake

Press to enable or disable the camera's anti-shake system. The A2's anti-shake (image stabilization) system works by moving the CCD in the opposite direction to movement detected by the camera. When anti-shake is enabled this button glows green. An anti-shake icon on the LCD monitor indicates different things depending on its color; white means anti-shake is recommended, blue means anti-shake is enabled and active and yellow means anti-shake is enabled but that the combination of slow shutter speed and zoom is too great for it to be effective. For more information see the introduction to this review.

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