Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z2 & Z3: What is the difference in performance?
by Stephen Caston on September 5, 2004 12:23 PM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
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The DiMAGE Z2 was released in February as Konica Minolta's follow-up to the 3MP Z1. The Z2 is built with a 4MP sensor and 10X optical zoom. Along with the impressive 38 - 380mm (35mm equivalent) optical zoom range, the Z2 offers a wide range of recording modes from fully automatic shooting to manual exposure. The Z2 has a continuous drive capable of up to 5 frames at 2.5 fps. In addition, the camera advertises a fast start-up time, high-quality 800x600 30 fps movie mode, 3 metering modes, and manual white balance.
Recently, the digital camera community has welcomed the release of the DiMAGE Z3. It features a 12X optical zoom (35 - 420mm), 4MP sensor, and CCD-shift Anti-Shake system. In addition to the full range of recording modes of the Z2, the Z3 has a more solid construction, improved macro capabilities, and some smaller design changes. We are going to run these two cameras through our multitude of testing procedures to determine their differences when it comes to performance.
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PaulS - Tuesday, September 21, 2004 - link
Stephen, thanks for the information (and the review!). I'm looking at using either the Z2 or the Z3 for astrophotography where I would need detail derived from dark areas. I like the antishake and separate viewfinder that the Z3 offers, but I think from your comments the picture quality of the Z2 would be better.Thanks again!
stephencaston - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
There are certainly ways to deal with some of the Z3's shortcomings by doing post-work. However, There isn't a way to deal with the loss of detail in shadow areas.The real question is what issues will a new firmware address? It will be interesting to see what Konica Minolta will do.
PaulS - Friday, September 17, 2004 - link
Until new firmware is released, is it possible to deal with Z3's flaws (e.g. under-exposure, darker images, colour reproduction) using standard image processing software?stephencaston - Thursday, September 16, 2004 - link
Kelh,Both cameras have an accessory shoe that fits Konica Minolta flash units: 2500(D), 3600HS(D), and 5600HS(D). However, these flash units are sold separately. I hope this answers your comment ;-)
Kelh - Thursday, September 16, 2004 - link
One of the things I never find in these reviews is wether the cameras include a flash stand. Sometimes the flashes that come with digicams are not good enough and night pictures look dark.joyce - Wednesday, September 15, 2004 - link
Is it worth the price difference?Here in The Netherlands the difference is about €140,=.
I think it is very much
microsaftcom - Monday, September 6, 2004 - link
what the reviewers call jpeg compression artefacts may be just normal noise... I don't know...Depends on the reviewers...
All cameras have some sort of horizontal lines...
I don't see when it will be a problem.
I think 3 mb for 4 Mpixel pictures show that the compression isn't very effective.
microsaftcom - Monday, September 6, 2004 - link
It seems that Z3's flaws can be dealt with with firmware updates.Perhapos that is why the current new firmware 1.01e is not official yet, even though it solved many problems.
In my mind these cams are uncomparable as one has image stabilisation and thoe other hasn't.
It has to be compared with the panasonic or the canon.
/F
Chaotic42 - Monday, September 6, 2004 - link
I had a Z2 for a brief period of time (I had to return it when my PSU killed my motherboard) and it was an awesome camera.The Z3 looks even better. I would recommend that anyone looking for a high-zoom camera check these out.