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. Personally I think Minolta could have done away with a
dedicated Play mode position and promote the QV button to play mode,
that way the camera would be truly shooting priority (like a D-SLR).
Movie record mode Puts the camera into movie record mode. The A1 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. Movies are recorded
at 320 x 240 resolution (although apparently only 316 x 240 pixels
are used), 24 frames per second with audio. The A1 can record continuously
for up to 15 minutes.
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 A1'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.
