Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200 review

I've had the A200 as a back up to my 7D for 2 months and 2 weddings later. I'd have to say that often I prefer shooting with the A200 over the DSLR, especially in manual mode, where you can see the exposure in real time. As many, at first I couldn't get a decent picture from the A200, as I fiddled and played with features I couldn't grasp.

However, after a few practice sessions and reading the manual carefully, I finally can say the camera is an extension of my eye. It definitely has quirks, as all cameras do, but you learn to work around it. There's no such thing as a perfect camera. I chose the A200 because I already had flash units that were compatible, as well as an array of 49mm filters (many Minolta lenses use this size), and I love using the manual zoom.

Finally, since KM no longer exists as a manufacturer and the price had been steadily dropping since January, the price I bought it at (mid $400 USD) it was a steal of a deal I couldn't pass up.

This camera is best used outdoor and in good lighting. If you must use it in low light, keep the lens on wide, and you'll be fine. Try and zoom, and it'll hunt. I come from the manual focus days and the early autofocus SLR era, so I've had my share of hard-to-focus situations, and the trick is in low lighting, keep it wide and it's easier to focus.

The best feature of this camera is the lens coverage (28-200), and image stabilization. Those two factors make it a photographer's dream camera. Throw in an accessor flash, and the use of filters, and you have creative opportunity galore.

I love this camera, and I find I take it out far more often than my DSLR due to weight(I have mostly pro F2.8 lenses or heavy prime lenses), and I enjoy shooting in black and white more than colour.

Problems:

-One pixel on the monitor is out in the top left corner area. Annoying, but I know this doesn't affect the actual picture.
-Autofocus is okay, nothing to brag about, and manual focus is only designed for tri-pod mounted and carefully thought out shots.
-Macro performance is okay as well.
-Image noise is respectable for this type of camera, and this Sony built sensor is found in a lot of other cameras as well, and they all have the same problem. I keep it at iso200, and the prints turn out just fine, even up to 8x10. 4x6's you won't even notice at all.
-As for sharpness, yes, it's not the sharpest image in this class of camera. However, you don't want the image too sharp or too contrasty, as this is a sure sign of too much image processing done in house. Leave that for PS. The camera does have the ability to up contrast, sharpness, and saturation as well to make it more like a consumer point and shoot camera.