Record menu (M-REC mode)

Pressing the MENU button while in record mode displays the record menu over the live preview image. In the captures below a black background was used for clarity (normally you'd see the live view 'behind' the menus).

The menu is split across three pages which can be accessed by pressing the left or right arrow on the 4-way controller, press down to enter the menu proper.

Record menu: Basic

Select exposure mode:

• Program AE (auto exposure)
• Aperture Priority
• Manual Exposure

Select image size:

• 2048 x 1536 (native CCD resolution)
• 1600 x 1200
• 1280 x 960
• 640 x 480

Select image quality:

• Super fine (TIFF)
• Fine (JPEG)
• Standard (JPEG)
• Economy (JPEG)

Note: no RAW option.

Select white balance mode:

• Cloudy
• Daylight
• Auto
• Tungsten
• Fluorescent
• Custom (can select set or recall)

Select focus mode:

• Auto Focus
• Manual Focus

In manual focus mode use the up / down arrows on the 4-way controller to select focus distance (displayed on LCD monitor).

Select ISO sensitivity:

• ISO 800
• ISO 400
• ISO 200
• ISO 100
• Auto

Record menu: Custom 1

Select full-time auto focus:

• Yes
• No

In my experience the S304's full-time AF didn't work very well, it didn't focus all the time, but rather only for a few seconds after a half-press of the shutter release.

Select different exposure metering systems:

• Multi-Segment (300 segment)
• Spot

Interesting that Minolta didn't provide Center Weighted Average metering on the S304 (it's available on the DiMAGE 5 and 7).

Set auto exposure bracketing step:

• 0.3 EV
• 0.5 EV
• 1.0 EV

The S304's exposure bracketing system takes three frames at normal, under and over the metered exposure. This menu option sets the amount by which the camera adjusts the exposure each time.

Enable / disable digital zoom:

• Yes
• No

When enabled an extra press of the tele button on the zoom controller (up button of the 4-way) switches to a 2.0x digital zoom.
 

Set the method of instant playback after shot has been taken:

• No - Don't display a review image
• 2 secs
• 10 secs

Both the 2 and 10 second instant playback displays can be interrupted by simply half-pressing the shutter release (TIFF files which blank out the display until the image has been written).

  

Record menu: Custom 2

Select colour / black & white mode:

• Color
• B&W

Set post-processing sharpening level:

• Hard (+) - hard sharpening
• Normal - typical 'normal' sharpening
• Soft (-) - virtually no sharpening

Set post-processing contrast level:

• High
• Normal
• Low

Set post-processing colour saturation level:

• High
• Normal
• Low

Voice memo:

• 5 sec
• 15 sec
• No

If you enable this option the camera will record either 5 or 15 seconds of audio directly after a shot is taken, this is useful for keeping annotated shooting notes.

Enable date imprinting:

• Yes
• No