1. Introduction 2. Specifications 3. Body & Design 4. Operation & Controls 5. Displays 6. Menus 7. Timings & Sizes 8. Features 9. Photographic tests 10. Compared to... 11. Conclusion 12. Samples

Minolta DiMAGE X Review

Review based on a production DiMAGE X, firmware v100-02

Just when you thought a 2 megapixel, 3x optical zoom digital camera couldn't get any smaller Minolta turn things on their heads (literally) and produce the diminutive DiMAGE X. This shirt-pocket sized digital camera is just 20 mm thin (0.8 in) and 84 x 72 mm (3.3 x 2.8 in) from the front and weighs in (fully loaded) at just 155 g (5.5 oz). With specs like that you'd be expecting a fixed focal length lens, but no Minolta have innovated, the zoom mechanism is actually on its side within the body of the camera with a prism reflecting the image seen through the first lens element (Minolta dub this 'Folded Optics').

Folded Optics

As you can see from the optics diagram on the left and the cutaway diagram on the right the DiMAGE X has one lens element facing forwards, then a 90 degree prism and then seven further elements before the image reaches the CCD which is mounted vertically at the bottom of the camera case. Zooming and focusing takes places inside the camera with no protruding zoom lens. The advantages are several; no startup delay (other than opening the lens cover), less chance of lens damage because there's no protrusion, fully sealed lens system (when not in use). The unknown is of course what effect the prism will have on image quality...

Other enabling technologies

Of course the folded optics aren't the end of the story, clearly there is more to producing an ultra-compact digital camera than this. Notably the new ultra-slim Lithium-Ion battery and use of the tiny MMC/SD storage cards will be two of the major enablers to the DiMAGE X's super-slim body design.

Review update (April 2002)

This review was originally based on a pre-production DiMAGE X. I have now completed updating this review with results from a full production DiMAGE X. As well as fully verifying the review text I have also re-shot a lot of samples and updated test results etc. For those who read the review before this update here's a log of changes:

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 2001 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.

1. Introduction 2. Specifications 3. Body & Design 4. Operation & Controls 5. Displays 6. Menus 7. Timings & Sizes 8. Features 9. Photographic tests 10. Compared to... 11. Conclusion 12. Samples