Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200 review

Now that I've used my A200 for 4 months, I feel more qualified to make judgements on its qualities in real life use.

I've also recently used a small pocket digicam (Minolta E323) and my photo history includes a manual film SLR (Canon FTb) with 4 lenses.

I chose this digicam over others because it had all the features I was looking for. These include SLR-like shape, 28-200mm equiv. zoomlens with big glass, articulated LCD screen, accurate VF, stabilized image, decent image quality, and many custom controls. No other digicam offered ALL of these together.

Positives:
-it costed 1/3 as much (Can$) as a SLR with an equivalent zoomlens
-image stabilizer works well and is required at tele over 100mm (equiv) and at lower light levels
-manual lensring zooming control is intuitive to use (like a SLR) and it doesn't eat up your batteries
-custom controls stay set after powerdown, as long as exposure control is set to "P" not "auto"
-size and grip is almost as good as a SLR, just a bit smaller overall
-articulated LCD is rather up-down direction sensitive, but is bright enough except when the sun shines right on it
-the LCD screen size is small compared to today's 2.5" ones
-articulated LCD is proving to be very handy for self portraits from a tripod (the cordless remote shutter release is perfect here) and for ground level flower close-ups, even verticals
-EVF is accurate and sharp (dioptre adjusts), but still too pixelated for accurate manual focusing, even with center MF blow-up area
-image noise can be a variable problem in auto ISO, but I just leave it set at ISO 100 and never have any (just like a film camera)
-custom white balance using a grey card is excellent for studio use

Negatives:
-the semi useful lenshood clips image corners at 28mm (equiv) so I don't bother using it
-auto focus is hit & miss only at 200mm (equiv) and requires single central focus target only, and careful inclusion of a contrasty edge in the target, sometimes a chore
-selftimer is a mystery to me, it focuses and exposes the image at initial release, not at moment of shutter release, not useful to me
-the macro is rather limited, only available at 28mm (not that useful) or at 135-200mm, using a zoomlocking tab. I like my macro at 100mm (equiv) but the tele setting is ok
-macro focus range is limited and not that close, 10-24 in. (at tele) from the sensor (not front of lens)
-camera is not as easy to use as a pocket snapper, have to be aware of settings and limitations if not in the dummy mode (hence my lower "ease of use" rating)
-not a pocket camera, but travels well in a good snug camera bag
-battery life is always too short, so I have 2 lithium batteries, but recharge only takes aprox. 90 min.

Problems:

None yet.

I have not yet used the movie mode (old boy me) so can't comment on it at all. Hope this review helps someone choose a digicam, now that it's no longer made! :-))