Few questions about Minolta A2

Just got this in good condition today. Working fine but a few questions. What must be a lens hood is "in reverse". How do I get it off? Remove the lens ring? Would not damage the zoom. Focusing I only get a red mark, not green, is that normal? Images rather sharp. The card a bit hard to get in and out but working.

Bought it because it was cheap and of course the EVF. Seems to be very good, but a bit grainy. Don't know how much I will use the camera, but heard so much about this it, had to get one.

Michael Fritzen wrote:

Hi,

sold my A2 in 2012 after almost 8 years of use. But even the long time of usage didn't prevent from forgetting details of its operation.

Just got this in good condition today. Working fine but a few questions. What must be a lens hood is "in reverse". How do I get it off? Remove the lens ring? Would not damage the zoom.

The hood is held in place in the bayonet by plastic dents. It's a known that the firmness varies over different copies of the cam from pretty loose to stiff. Removing by twisting clockwise - if I remember correctly. Tehn it should move until a slot where it can be removed / mounted in working orientation. It's important to twist it until it's final position (clic) to avoid vignetting in the WA position of the zoom

.

The hood is removed by twisting anti-clockwise , the same as taking a lid  off a jam jar .

Putting back on by twisting clockwise , making sure it makes the final "click" as said to avoid vignetting at 28mm .

Focusing I only get a red mark, not green, is that normal?

I don't remember that.

Images rather sharp.

The 2,8/28-200 lens was pretty sharp indeed. But some reviews stated that it showed some ageing and hitting its optical limits at 8MP (same lens was previously used already on less MP cams like the A1 and earlier)

The card a bit hard to get in and out but working.

Bought it because it was cheap and of course the EVF. Seems to be very good, but a bit grainy.

That's the way it is. No comparison with today's EVF. But ahead of its time back in 2004. The EVF can be tilted so you can look from above. But the flat cable the links to the EVF is sort of Achilles Heel of the cam. If the EVF still works fine you might consider fixing it to its normal working position to avoid stress to the cable.

Don't know how much I will use the camera, but heard so much about this it, had to get one.

It's a nice cam with great manual zoom action - which many would love to see for example on today's RX10 from Sony.

Pretty nice results in RAW. The cam's JPG engine is really bad. In any case you may prefer to stay at lowest possible ISO settings like 64 and 100. Above that severe noise gets noticeable.

The cam features the ASS - AntiShakeSystem. It may need some testing if it still works. But at least there's a manual switch to deactivate it (btw a good idea for longer battery life). I owned also the specific VG which holds two of the default batteries, but came also with a holder for common AA batteries / rechargeables which gave a lot of choice for power supply.

Thanks! I also found it in the user manual, which is very long.

Thanks! I do not use RAW files, tried but did not work for me. As with other old cameras, mainly use ISO 64 and some times 100. Turned off noise reduction. Tried to find maximum card size, not where I checked in the manual. One user told 1GB, another 4GB. The EVF is good enough, and the tilt wonderful. Same goes for the 2.8 to 3.5. Some options I need to check, but no problems apart from the 48MB card...

Not a camera I take around shopping in town. But fine in summer at my country house.

A Minola fan let me try his, he had 3, but would not sell. Got it for under $50, could not resist.

eilivk wrote:

Thanks! I do not use RAW files, tried but did not work for me. As with other old cameras, mainly use ISO 64 and some times 100. Turned off noise reduction. Tried to find maximum card size, not where I checked in the manual. One user told 1GB, another 4GB. The EVF is good enough, and the tilt wonderful. Same goes for the 2.8 to 3.5. Some options I need to check, but no problems apart from the 48MB card...

Not a camera I take around shopping in town. But fine in summer at my country house.

A Minola fan let me try his, he had 3, but would not sell. Got it for under $50, could not resist.

According to http://download2.konicaminoltaeurope.com/openmind/technic/kmphdwl.nsf/ftsearch?openagent&ch=CAM&dist=BEU&ui=EN&dg=fw&prod=DiMAGE%20A2&dsg=&os=&lang=English&ml=0&rid=&sub=  , depending on the firmware version, it supports cards over 4 GB. I haven't clicked on the links to see if they still work.

If I remember correctly , there was a numbering quirk with big cards, something about not showing over a certain number on the display.

paul_kew wrote:

eilivk wrote:

Thanks! I do not use RAW files, tried but did not work for me. As with other old cameras, mainly use ISO 64 and some times 100. Turned off noise reduction. Tried to find maximum card size, not where I checked in the manual. One user told 1GB, another 4GB. The EVF is good enough, and the tilt wonderful. Same goes for the 2.8 to 3.5. Some options I need to check, but no problems apart from the 48MB card...

Not a camera I take around shopping in town. But fine in summer at my country house.

A Minola fan let me try his, he had 3, but would not sell. Got it for under $50, could not resist.

According to http://download2.konicaminoltaeurope.com/openmind/technic/kmphdwl.nsf/ftsearch?openagent&ch=CAM&dist=BEU&ui=EN&dg=fw&prod=DiMAGE%20A2&dsg=&os=&lang=English&ml=0&rid=&sub= , depending on the firmware version, it supports cards over 4 GB. I haven't clicked on the links to see if they still work.

If I remember correctly , there was a numbering quirk with big cards, something about not showing over a certain number on the display.

Thanks, that was also my impression. Think one store had 2GB for $20. Another got smaller cards for almost the same price.

The latest Konica Minolta I saw was several Z5 or 6 I think, like new, maybe should have bought, but $150. I guess they are behind A2 in most things. But sold more here.

eilivk wrote:

Thanks! I do not use RAW files, tried but did not work for me. As with other old cameras, mainly use ISO 64 and some times 100. Turned off noise reduction.

That is a shame, because the camera really shines when using RAW.

I now use this camera on RAW only (RAW+JPG is too slow) and use Lightroom for RAW conversion.

Check if your firmware: 1.14 is the last version issued.

EXX wrote:

eilivk wrote:

Thanks! I do not use RAW files, tried but did not work for me. As with other old cameras, mainly use ISO 64 and some times 100. Turned off noise reduction.

That is a shame, because the camera really shines when using RAW.

I now use this camera on RAW only (RAW+JPG is too slow) and use Lightroom for RAW conversion.

Check if your firmware: 1.14 is the last version issued.

Can't find the firmware. And the timer. And the use of the inner ring on the lens. Could search in the manual of course... Shame about RAW. What about TIFF?

Awesome camera. Think it will be used in summer. The EVF is good enough and BIG.

Michael Fritzen wrote:

I wouldn't discard completely the possibility that cards >4GB can be used but if I remember correctly the 4GB limit has to do with the file system used (FAT32). Anyhow 4GB should be fine even for shooting in non-compressed RAW. I started in 2004 with 512MB - really small for shooting RAW, then later I got a 2GB.

BTW a nice feature of the A2 is its time lapse operation.

I only got a 48MB card.... About 10 images. But think there is a 2 GB in town, that would be enough. Have not found time lapse yet, so many options. Today will be sun after lots of rain, the real test for the EVF. Checked against NX20, not as detailed EVF but larger. But compared to Canon S2, my only camera from 2005, it's HUGE.

Just use RAW. TIFF I have never used, it results in enormous files.

To check the firmware version:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://download2.konicaminoltaeurope.com/C1256AE800480E96/LogDwl%3FOpenAgent%267C6619B56C09B97D492570A8000A1B0E/%24File/a2_firmware_114_e.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwifl_qapq7gAhUQZVAKHcg2CDgQFjAAegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw0tCIfKJgrLTX6JhPQFAjCl

EXX wrote:

Just use RAW. TIFF I have never used, it results in enormous files.

To check the firmware version:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://download2.konicaminoltaeurope.com/C1256AE800480E96/LogDwl%3FOpenAgent%267C6619B56C09B97D492570A8000A1B0E/%24File/a2_firmware_114_e.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwifl_qapq7gAhUQZVAKHcg2CDgQFjAAegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw0tCIfKJgrLTX6JhPQFAjCl

Thanks! Version 1.14e. So that I can use 4 GB card? That's the limit? Should be enough. Reliable place to get cards?

Only got 1 TIFF file at the 48MB card.... did not check in on the PC.

The 1.13 and 1.14 firmware allows for CF cards > 2 GB. I guess they implemented FAT32 filing system with that firmware.

People reported that 4 GB is fine, and 8 GB also works. The only thing that can happen is the image counter: it does not go beyond 999. Do not worry, the whole card capacity is used; the 999 just means that you still can put 999 or more pictures on the card.

EXX wrote:

The 1.13 and 1.14 firmware allows for CF cards > 2 GB. I guess they implemented FAT32 filing system with that firmware.

People reported that 4 GB is fine, and 8 GB also works. The only thing that can happen is the image counter: it does not go beyond 999. Do not worry, the whole card capacity is used; the 999 just means that you still can put 999 or more pictures on the card.

Thanks! That should be no problem. First check in my town, new may cost a lot, but some small in cameras people give away. And some times these 2005 cameras are rather good too. In daylight.

Hike Pics wrote:

Someone here posted a link to 2 articles about the A1 and A2, a great help with FAQ and usage. Maybe they wouldn't mind to post the link here.

The A2 and A200 uses the same hood. It goes on my A2 very well but it is so tight on the A200 that I feel I'm going to rip the lens off getting it on! Also, I noticed that when I set the lens on macro the resulting shot was way overexposed.

I have a 512MB card in mine and a 1GB card in the A200. I guess it's time to upgrade.

Thanks! Maybe I did not mention, when someone here wrote about removing the lens hood, got it off right away. Maybe have not tried macro, will see. Hope to find a card soon. Compared A2 to Nikon 5700, everything is better apart from IQ that may be the same. The Nikon small EVF, very strange menus. Think I will keep A2 because it's useful, not only because it's a legend. Will upgrade from the 48MB card!!

I put some files with information on the A2 here: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AlEHT5nc-pHSbD7kOpXSPSvS41k