Konica KD-500 Zoom review

[Gerry Hanna oldie]

KO -NICA Its a knockout. We may not expect much in the quality area from a point-and-shoot camera but Konica have managed to make it simple and sharp. The pictures from this tiny metal model are astonishingly great. Almost in par with any larger slr type five meg model. I have it as backup for my Sony 717 slr which performs excellently - and uses 'Memory Stick' storage. But it does not slip into the pocket! The Konica is well constructed - though the sliding door DOES scrape the body, in my case. The body is so symetrical it is difficult to know if it is upsidedown or not - only the shutter button on the top plate. The storage card/s click in place but the battery just sits in its box, so care has to be taken when the cover is opened, otherwise it may hit the deck. The tiny zoom lens almost shoots out from its sleeping place when activated and the unit is ready very quickly for snapping. Although it is basically a point-and- shooter, there is some control of the various settings but NO shutter or aperture control - you just have to take what the camera decides. In any case, it decides to record well exposed and lovely coloured images that require little work in the digital darkroom to adjust them to the user's satisfaction. The tiny battery lasts well, even though I usually view with the LCD and use Flash quite often. The close-up aspect works really well, down to a few centimeters. The focus indicator (a cross in the middle of the frame) needs to be placed exactly on the spot you wish to be in focus, otherwise a different focus point will be recorded. This may seem obvious but with this camera it seems to need extra care. The unit comes with a minimum user's guide. The Main handbook is in the form of a CD ROM and needs to be printed out - 125 pages. The instructions therein are so complex (for a simple camera) that I regretted taking the trouble to print it (this is MY experience, but I usually try to use cameras intuatively rather than following slavishly the manual). So all in all, this little metal miracle is a well-made and great performing, sturdy - take anywhere and do (almost) any task asked of it - MUCH bigger than the sum of its little parts. For those who want great picture quality with little fiddeling - WELL RECOMMENDED.
I think it is about time that the big players in the digital world concentrated on producing Reliable PRINTERS and affordable inks and papers to use in them, since they mostly seem to have mastered the Camera aspect of digital photography.