Minolta DiMAGE F100 Review, Phil Askey, October 2002

Review based on a production DiMAGE F100, firmware V100-001

The four megapixel three times zoom Minolta DiMAGE F100 was announced at on 13th March 2002 at CeBIT. It's aim is as a direct competitor to Canon's PowerShot S40 as well as a range of other compact four megapixel digital cameras. Size wise it's about the same size as the S40 and Sony's DSC-P9. The F100 is powered by two AA batteries (NiMH's recommended) and stores its images on SD or MMC cards. From a design standpoint it's probably the sleakest Minolta to date but still isn't as stylish as Canon's S40.

Compared

Below you will find a table summarizing some of the feature / specifications of similar and competitive cameras compared to the DiMAGE F100. As you can see the F100 is definitely well specified, with at least as many features as the other cameras here (apart from AF assist) an in some cases even more flexibility (ISO 800, Tracking AF, Bulb exposures etc.).

	Minolta DiMAGE F100	Canon PowerShot S40*	Pentax Optio 430	Sony DSC-P9
Review	You are here	Click here	Click here	Click here
Street	$700	$650	$700	$600
Sensor	4.1 mp	4.1 mp	4.1 mp	4.1 mp
Effective	3.9 mp	3.9 mp	3.8 mp	3.9 mp
Output	2272 x 1704	2272 x 1704	2240 x 1680	2272 x 1704
Others	1600 x 1200 1280 x 960 640 x 480	1600 x 1200 1024 x 768 640 x 480	1120 x 850 640 x 480	1600 x 1200 1280 x 960 640 x 480
ISO sens.	Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800	Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400	100, 200	Auto, 100, 200, 400
Lens equiv.	3x (38 - 114 mm)	3x (35 - 105 mm)	3x (37 - 111 mm)	3x (39 - 117 mm)
Lens aperture	F2.8 - F4.7	F2.8 - F4.9	F2.6 - F4.8	F2.8 - F5.6
Min. shutter	4 sec + Bulb (15 sec)	15 sec	2 sec	2 sec
Max. shutter	1/1000 sec	1/1500 sec	1/2000 sec	1/1000 sec
Metering	Multi-segment, Spot	Evaluative, CW, Spot	Multi-area, CW, Spot	Multi-segment, Spot
Auto focus	5-point, Single AF, Tracking AF	3-point, Selectable	Wide AF, Spot AF	3-point auto, Center point
AF assist lamp	No	Yes	No	Yes
Min. focus	Normal: 50 cm Macro: 20 cm	Normal: 80 cm Macro: 10 cm	Normal: 40 cm Macro: 14 cm	Normal: 50 cm Macro: 10 cm
Manual focus	Yes, magnified and distance readout	Yes, magnified loupe and distance readout	Yes, ruler (no units)	Yes, 5 steps
White balance	5 position & manual	6 position & manual	5 position & manual	5 position
Aperture priority	Yes	Yes	No	No
Shutter priority	Yes	Yes	No	No
Manual exp.	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Movie clips	Yes, 35 sec	Yes, 30 / 120 sec	Yes, 30 sec	Yes, unlimited
Movie audio	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Remote control	Yes (option)	No	Yes	No
Storage	SD/MMC card	CF Type I	CF Type I	Memory Stick
Image format	TIFF, JPEG	RAW, JPEG	JPEG	JPEG
LCD monitor	1.5"	1.8"	1.6"	1.5"
Power	2 x AA batteries	Canon Lithium-Ion	Pentax Lithium-Ion	Sony Lithium-Ion
Charging	No	Out of camera	Out of camera	In camera
Weight (inc.)	241 g (8.5 oz)	323 g (11.4 oz)	240 g (8.5 oz)	203 g (7.2 oz)
Dimensions	111 x 52 x 32 mm (4.4 x 2 x 1.3 in)	112 x 58 x 42 mm (4.4 x 2.3 x 1.7 in)	92 x 59 x 31 mm (3.6 x 2.3 x 1.2 in)	113 x 53 x 36 mm (4.5 x 2.1 x 1.4 in)

* Note that since starting this review Canon Europe and Asia have announced the updated PowerShot S45, although at yet we don't have any indications as to when the S45 will be officially introduced into the USA. Image quality comparisons towards the end of this review are based on an S45.

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this review (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally 960 x 720 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

This review is Copyright 2002 Phil Askey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey.