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
Battery Performance
Our general method for battery testing is to reset the camera to its default settings and change the recording mode to the highest quality option. Then, we take 5 pictures without the flash and 2 pictures with the flash until the battery is dead. For more information on our battery test, please refer to our Testing Procedures page. For this test, we used 4-AA NiMH Power2000 2500mAh batteries charged overnight in a Power2000 wall charger. The batteries were fully drained before charging for the test.
| Number of shots taken in one battery charge | |
| Z2 | 3,643 |
| Z3 | 2,295 |
Both the Z2 and Z3 performed extraordinarily in our battery test. The lower number of the Z3 can almost certainly be attributed to the Anti-shake system. Although the Z3 shot over 1,000 less images, we were still blown away by both of these cameras. We should note that this number will certainly go down a bit if the cameras are used more casually. Our results come from continuous shooting from a stationary position. Using the camera over an extended period of time, frequent use of the zoom, and reviewing images are a few factors that would decrease battery life. However, we believe that even with heavy use of either camera, battery life will still be impressive.
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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.