Z1 Rocks

Can't agree more. I have this for a week and the day light outdoor shoots just blow me away. It is very sharp and silky smooth. Way way better than my old Canon A70. Also, long zoom is the way to go with digital camera if you really like shallow depth of field shots. For indoor low light shots, it is kind of tricky to get good result. However, this is the same for my old A70 and G3. Regarding the purple fringe, as long as keep the aperture small and set to ISO 50 or 100, it is not as bad as the dcresource said. I am thinking about the Minolta 2500 external flash, reasonable price with bounce back features. Anyone used it with Z1?

One thing I want to say is the old Sony S70 perform very well under low light condition, as I used it to compare with Z1.
Dear everyone

So this camera has a few shortcomings
For £285.00 its a great camera,
Thanks Bradley for pulling me away from the oly c-750

I have put a few pics online in my freespace please take a look

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stutly/thegallery.html

Stutly
 
Bravo!

Not only are they lovely shots in themselves, but I hope other forum members can get a feel from your gallery of what the Z1's really like.

Look forward to seeing some more photos soon!

My Z1's only shortcoming is that I'm the one holding it...
Dear everyone

So this camera has a few shortcomings
For £285.00 its a great camera,
Thanks Bradley for pulling me away from the oly c-750

I have put a few pics online in my freespace please take a look

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stutly/thegallery.html

Stutly
 
Minolta used to get not very high marks, sometimes even reviewd poorly. That's why their cameras are generally cheaper than comparable models. This is good for customers! They get a very decent camera with a lot less money.

When I compare Z1 with Oly 750 and Fuji S5000, plus some short zoom cameras, I compare the important features that I need, not fancy features that I seldom use. For Z1, fast focus; shooting priority (you can browse all pictures in quick review mode, and with a slight half press on the shutter, you go back to shooting mode immediately, some cameras require you to toggle a play/record switch that I don't like, as I review my pcitures all the time); 640 30fps movie (video and sound syncing is a problem with slow speed card at least, but still acceptable); hot shoe with cheap and useful proprietary external flash unit; SD card (even though CF is my first choice of flash memory, as long as it is not using xd or memory stick, I am fine with it); AA batteries; 60fps LCD view finder (this is as close to live image thru optical view finder as you can get right now); range of manual features.
I assume those were all taken with the Z1. If so, that should put
to rest all the fever over this being somehow an inferior digicam.
Nice work!

--
Doug Walker
Check my profile for equipment list.
 
Dear everyone

So this camera has a few shortcomings
For £285.00 its a great camera,
Thanks Bradley for pulling me away from the oly c-750

I have put a few pics online in my freespace please take a look

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stutly/thegallery.html

Stutly
Hi Stutly, Your shots are great, love the last one, I had to return my Z1 {battery door snapped} but I think I will need to go and get another {and be more carefull next time}. Also contacted minolta uk and was told that the firmware will be here soon and it will fix purple fringing in auto mode and you will be able to shut off auto focus in video mode, so get rid of the background noise, they say they are also working on the video sync problem but said that a high speed card will reduce the problem.
Scott.
 
Stutly, FINALLY someone that appreciates this fine little camera. I have tested and used and played with and returned MANY digital cameras. Just sold my Canon pro 90 is.(great ,but huge) THe z-1 ,like anything, takes time to understand. I took a couple of nite shots that are just wonderful. A macro that I like, (nothing like your great shots, but acceptable) 2 questions.

1. How did you take the picture of the ballusters (so close) and keep the background sharp..F8??
2. How did you do the semi blk and white with the sun shining in??

After three weeks of learning and using, I am ready to keep it. Even tho the Fuji 7000 came out today???JIM
Dear everyone

So this camera has a few shortcomings
For £285.00 its a great camera,
Thanks Bradley for pulling me away from the oly c-750

I have put a few pics online in my freespace please take a look

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stutly/thegallery.html

Stutly
 
Dear everyone

So this camera has a few shortcomings
For £285.00 its a great camera,
Thanks Bradley for pulling me away from the oly c-750

I have put a few pics online in my freespace please take a look

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stutly/thegallery.html

Stutly
--If those are Z1's I am quite impressed. No noise or distortion and the colors are vivid without being artificial
Joe

'the fun is in the getting there'
 
My Z1's only shortcoming is that I'm the one holding it...
hehe
Good to here someone with a bit perspective to one's abilities ;)

Most of the time it's the cameras fault the pictures have flaws... right...

But I'm trying to better myself behind the camera and hope I'll get good enough to use the cameras features.

Good luck with the Z1

And Stutly, great shots :))
 
I have put a few pics online in my freespace please take a look
I really don't want to stick here and sound negative, but samples are so small that it's impossible to judge camera quality by them. Composition is nice and subjects are interesting, but it could have been recorded with 2MP CMOS camera and then shrunk to those very small images.
It can be seen that exposure and colors are correct though..

--
Greetings, Aleksandar
 
Dear Everone

Doug - Thank you for your kind words, everyone is entitled to and opinion and I love the Z1

cd cooker - Thanks for the reply nice to see other positive comments

Horse - Glad you enjoyed the gallery the Z1 is a better camera than I am photographer, I still have a lot to learn,

forget about your shortcomings and get clicking, enjoy the Z1 thats what it is all about.

Moya- I'm with you, trying to better myself behind the camera 'enjoy'

Scott- Sorry to here about the battery door I have to say it is a bit fragile thanks for the tip on firmware, please post when it becomes available
and hope your intact Z1 is here soon.

Jim - Thanks, another Z1 fan yahoo, I haven't done any night shots yet I would love to see yours and how you exposed them.

The ballusters was f2.8 the background in the original in not that sharp, when I reduced the pictures for the web I applied a 'sharpen' in Photoshop which is why it appears that way, nice Idea though next bright day we get I will try the same shot at f8 providing I've got my tripod with me.

The sun shining in is shot in colour as seen, the walls in our living room are stone colour, with a glass/metal table the flowers are dried ex wedding day specials. I spotted the cool shadows then took the shot and got lucky.

Bradly - thanks you were a big influence on my purchase I regard you as someone who knows his stuff, sorry I spelt your name wrong, it won't happen again

Joe - Couldn't agree more it's fun getting there

Aleksandar - Yes you are right these are small images mainly to be web friendly, I can assure you these are Z1 pics and nota 2mp cmos camera

Because I didn't design a portrait frame for my gallery I had to do some big crops so all the images are not correct anyway.

If you would like me to post a full size pic/exif for evaluation of image quality I would be happy to.

Thanks everyone have fun and lets see them pictures

Regards Stutly
 
Stutly...I set the z1 on my balcony ledge... f8 15secs.NO light except a street lite..came out real nice. I will do a couple more.. I am a little slow in the posting area?? I believe I have a site at Epson. I will check..Jim
Dear Everone

Doug - Thank you for your kind words, everyone is entitled to and
opinion and I love the Z1

cd cooker - Thanks for the reply nice to see other positive comments

Horse - Glad you enjoyed the gallery the Z1 is a better camera than
I am photographer, I still have a lot to learn,
forget about your shortcomings and get clicking, enjoy the Z1 thats
what it is all about.

Moya- I'm with you, trying to better myself behind the camera 'enjoy'

Scott- Sorry to here about the battery door I have to say it is a
bit fragile thanks for the tip on firmware, please post when it
becomes available
and hope your intact Z1 is here soon.

Jim - Thanks, another Z1 fan yahoo, I haven't done any night shots
yet I would love to see yours and how you exposed them.
The ballusters was f2.8 the background in the original in not that
sharp, when I reduced the pictures for the web I applied a
'sharpen' in Photoshop which is why it appears that way, nice Idea
though next bright day we get I will try the same shot at f8
providing I've got my tripod with me.
The sun shining in is shot in colour as seen, the walls in our
living room are stone colour, with a glass/metal table the flowers
are dried ex wedding day specials. I spotted the cool shadows then
took the shot and got lucky.

Bradly - thanks you were a big influence on my purchase I regard
you as someone who knows his stuff, sorry I spelt your name wrong,
it won't happen again

Joe - Couldn't agree more it's fun getting there

Aleksandar - Yes you are right these are small images mainly to be
web friendly, I can assure you these are Z1 pics and nota 2mp cmos
camera
Because I didn't design a portrait frame for my gallery I had to do
some big crops so all the images are not correct anyway.
If you would like me to post a full size pic/exif for evaluation of
image quality I would be happy to.

Thanks everyone have fun and lets see them pictures

Regards Stutly
 

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