5 JULY 2003

Minolta Dimage Xt ultra-compact camera

This camera has been on my “Most Wanted” list ever since the Dimage X first came out and dazzled everyone with its feature-rich compactness and innovative zoom lens design.

Now, a few models later, we are presenting the Dimage Xt.

If you’re in the market for an ultra-compact camera or just want to be amazed at what the Minolta engineers could squeeze in something as small as two matchboxes, just have a look at this optical and electronic gem.

As a professional aerial photographer I have a bevy of cameras, some for the super-high resolutions that are needed for poster-size enlargements and some SLRs for the standard jobs. In fact my very first real camera was a new Minolta SRT 101 back when I was a teen! I’ve also been on the digital trip for some years although I realise it’ll be a while yet before digital has the capacity to take over film cameras in all areas.

But there is one market for which digital is ideally suited: family snapshots. I’ve spent untold thousands on making memories and the family albums fill a whole cupboard.

Had digital been around when my firstborn entered this world I would have saved a bundle on the family budget, I reckon.

The problem with film for most people is that you don’t see immediate results and when you get the developed film back and the results are not what you hoped for, you just can’t redo your holidays…

Polaroid made some good money appealing to our need for speed when it comes to viewing results but the digital cameras have fully given us what we want in this department.

Most cameras now sport 3 or 4 megapixel resolutions. Ample for most applications.

When we weigh up what next we should look for in a camera, we often look at the physical size. The success in the market place of mobile phones with in-built cameras – however limited they may be – comes from the fact that people always have their phone with them. Cameras should, likewise, also be very readily accessible, fast and easy to use.

Let’s look at these aspects and see how well the Minolta Dimage Xt scores in these areas.

Accessible means so lightweight that stuffing the camera in your pocket or purse presents no problem. The Xt checks in at only 140g so weight is no problem.

But cameras are delicate optical and electronic devices you might counter. What if they get damaged by just stuffing them in with the rest of your gear? Ah, that’s another area where the Xt shines: the design in brushed-aluminium is such that, not only does it come in the smallest possible package, but also, nothing sticks out. Everything is properly protected and the lens cover slides up to veil that most delicate part of the camera: the 5.7 – 17.1 mm lens.

Still, I would want to get the Xt's optional pouch for the very best of protection.

Most good cameras have optical zoom lenses and when they are being used in any setting they often stick out like Pinocchio’s nose. Not so with the Dimage series. They have a very clever internal zoom lens with a periscope-like setup. They are so proud of this design (and rightly so) that the camera even comes with a decal depicting this optical zoom on the left side of the camera! This makes it easier to visualise the ingenuity and compactness of this design.

Full marks to Minolta!

Before we get into features, here’s what you’ll get with the Xt:

• 16MB Secure Digital card

• NP-200 Li-ion battery with charger

• Wrist strap

• USB cable

• A/V cable

• extensive, printed camera & software manual

• DiMAGE Viewer Utility + DiMAGE Software CD

Digital cameras have suffered from lack of speed in getting the cameras ready to shoot and processing the shots (writing the pictures to storage media).

Traditional film cameras are ready the instant you switch them on and motorised SLRs can fill a roll of film in seconds. The computer power needed to handle the same speeds in consumer digital cameras is not quite there yet. When you are shooting hi-res pictures with flash the Xt may take up to 5 secs to be ready for the next shot but the Xt does boast the faster “draw in the West”! It can get ready for action in 1.1 secs which gives it the fastest start-up in the digital field. And again, Minolta is not shy to advertise it on the body of the Xt together with the fact that it is a 3.3 MP camera and sports a 12x zoom (3x optical is what really counts; the 4x digital is not all that useful).

Ease of use is the next criterion to look at.

For me, this means no fumbling with tiny, esoteric buttons that are hard to figure out.

This is a true P&S (Point & Shoot) camera with auto-everything but you can fiddle a bit to tweak the settings although there are no Manual options (nor needed, in my opinion, on this type of camera).

The buttons are of course rather diminutive but even for my large hands easy to use.

The menu is a pleasure to read and easy to manipulate even though the display is small (1.5 inch).

There are 4 modes which you can dial in: the normal shooting mode, playback mode, the video and audio recording position and the set up mode. Next to this dial you have the navigation buttons.

Under the display you’ll find four buttons with access to Menu, QuickView/Delete, Display On/Off and Info settings and the four Flash modes.

Another handy and properly designed feature is the spring-loaded, hinged access door to the battery and SD or MultiMedia Card compartment. No doors to unscrew and misplace. Just simple and fast change-over of the essentials. Generally, once you’ve invested in a bigger storage card, you may not even have a need to actually open that door ever again!

Let’s talk about battery life and storage media for a moment.

How many pictures you can take on a full battery depends on many variables which you can control. Main power drainers are the flash and the LCD display. Leave them off or use them sparingly and you’ll get over 200 shots out of a single charge.

Some of the things I am most interested in is how long can I still go on after the red battery warning light comes on? This is particularly important as it’s not possible to whack a few AAA batteries in and we’re good for another 100 shots or so. I found that, shooting standard quality pictures with flash at 2048 resolution, I could still fill a 16MB SD card with some 20 pictures.

And that’s giving me more warning time to recharge than I have seen on many electronic devices!

The Lithium-Ion battery is perfect for this design: flat and square but it needs AC power to recharge which may be a precious commodity when you’re on holidays. If in doubt whether the battery can last the distance between civilised watering holes, take another battery with you. It's a small but wise investment. And for shorter trips you can leave the charger at home then.

Just an aside on charging: I discovered that the red LED on the charger base sometimes did not come on for several minutes when I put the Xt in its cradle. Most other times it did so straightaway…

The Xt comes with 16 MB of storage on an SD card. That’s woefully inadequate as it means that you can only shoot about 20 standard resolution pictures before the ‘card is full’ message appears. On one occasion I was shooting a nice rainbow over the ocean and ran out of room. No worries, I thought, I’ll just whack in the 128MB SD from my Pocket PC. Bad mistake as the Minolta needs to format the card first which of course destroyed all my programs on the card! Not a great drama as everything is backed up but somehow I was not able to transfer the pictures from this card to my laptop either!

On transfer: the Xt comes with a USB cable for easy transfer to a computer. You have the option to also delete the pictures on the card immediately after copying. Quick and easy. A fast recharge and you’re good for another shooting session.

Miscellaneous features

The Xt has such a rich set of features for an ultra-compact that I can not do it justice in even this extensive review.

Let’s just mention a grab bag of interesting items.

emailing photos

A special copy function is available to resize a recorded picture for attachment to an email message.
Direct Printing

The Xt is supported by Seiko Epson USB DIRECT-PRINT, which allows images to be printed directly from the camera to a compatible printer via the USB cable.

Marine Case Option

A waterproof Marine Case allows you to use the Xt at up to a depth of 30 m.

Spot Meter

In addition to the standard multi-segment metering the new Xt now also has spot metering.

Audio recording

You can add 15-second audio captions to your pictures as well as record a 180-minute separate voice memo. The 16MB card again is the limiting factor here: around 30 mins of audio.

Video recording

In movie mode, the Dimage Xt will capture 320x240-pixel MPEG video with sound as long as your memory card’s capacity allows, which is only about 40 secs with the standard 16MB card.

Continuous shooting mode

In continuous-shooting mode, the Xt can take eight highest-quality JPEG images at about 1 frame per second before pausing to clear the buffer. With the flash firing, the continuous-shooting rate is about 0.6fps, which is still quite good.

Colour modes

The colour mode switches between colour, black and white, and sepia. If you want your shots to have the classic appearance of toning just like in old photographs, try the new Sepia mode.

Viewer software

Included with the camera is the latest version (2.1.3) of the Minolta DiMAGE Viewer software. It will allow basic editing and comes with its own extensive manual.

I use Photoshop a lot but for most users this Viewer software will be more than sufficient if you need to alter your shots. Besides, it’s a lot of fun to just play with the various effects and colour changes.

Let’s summarise a few points.

On the POSITIVE side:

• perfect form factor for a go-anywhere camera

• high quality engineering and innovative design

• brilliant optics

• reasonable battery life

• price at under AUD900 gives good value for money

On a slightly NEGATIVE side:

• storage card should be at least 32MB

• a carrying pouch would have completed the package (available as an option)

Conclusion

This is a camera made by a camera maker, not just an electronics company that has integrated some off-the-shelf components. This camera will impress with the results you expect from a Minolta. Don’t take the shots I’ve posted here as a guide. These are fast-loading images that have been deprived of all their hue and brilliance so that you don’t have to wait 10 minutes to view the image. (You can click on all images here, by the way, to get an enlarged view).

Of course you must realise that there are limitations to the quality of the photographs when compared to a more expensive prosumer type digital camera but if you do not need to enlarge beyond half an A4 you’ll find the quality quite good.

I have found this latest product in the Dimage X series a joy to take with me and show off with.

This is a true memory-maker which will let you record many more precious moments because you’ll always carry it with you.

Where to get the Dimage Xt

Most good photo retailers will stock the popular Dimage X series and you will be able to call yourself the proud owner for less than AUD900.

With thanks to Meg Wise from Minolta/Maxell Hagemeyer Appliances here in Australia for making this camera available for review.

 Minolta DiMAGE Xt specifications

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