Minolta DiMage 5 Digital Camera

Minolta DiMage 5 Digital Camera, originally uploaded by Capt Kodak.

Manufactured 2001 by Minolta Camera Co. of Osaka, Japan. An �SLR-Like� 3.3 Megapixel digital camera. It used a Minolta GT 35mm to 250mm (equivalent in 35mm film camera) f/2.8-3.5 lens and a 1/1.8 inch CCD to produce a 3.3 Megapixels or 2048x1536 pixels image. Storage was to Compact Flash cards or MicroDrive. It had a TTL metering system selectable to either 256 Segment Metering, Center-Weighted Average or Spot mode. This supported operation modes of full Program, Aperture preferred automatic, Shutter preferred automatic and fully manual. It also had special program �Scene� modes: Portrait, Sports, Sunset, Night and Text. It simulated ISO ratings of 100 to 800. It was NOT interchangeable lens, but did give the feel of a small 35mm SLR. It could shoot continuously for at approx. 1.1 fps for 4 images and supported shutter speeds up to 1/2000 of a second. There was no optical viewfinder�it used an electronic viewfinder using a Ferroelectric LCD (4.8mm, 71,000 24-bit color pixels) that could be swiveled upwards through 90 degrees, provided a frame coverage of 100%, had diopter adjustment and an automatic mode to detect locality of eye to turn it on. In short�you could see all the information that would normally be displayed on the 1.8 inch TFT LCD on the back of the camera in the viewfinder�even in bright sun! It used high end Minolta accessories such as dedicated flash units and wired remote controls. It could focus as close as 4 inches in macro mode. It had a small built-in flash which could perform red-eye reduction or do fill flash outdoors. It used contrast detection to focus, allowing the user to select from 3 "wide area" auto selected zones or a Spot AF - flex focus point (movable focus point). Manual focus was provided by an electronic "focus by wire" ring at rear of lens barrel. In short�you could do just about anything you could do with a high end 35mm SLR on the market at that time EXCEPT change the lens. It was powered by four AA cells�your choice of Alkaline, Lithium or NiMH rechargeables.

Two items of note: First the lens�what a lens! It�s the Minolta GT lens made up of 16 glass elements in 13 groups, 2 anti-dispersion elements, 2 aspherical elements and was multi coated. This lens proved to be a real winner for Minolta. It graces not only the DiMage 5, but the 7, 7i, 7Hi, A1, A2 and A200.

Second, the DiMage 5 and 7 have the distinction of NOT having a UV filter permanently affixed to the front of the CCD sensor. What does this mean? With the application of a Dark Red 092 (89B) Infrared filter to the front of the camera, you can take true infrared pictures!

See also: www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Konica_Minolta/minolta_dim...