Home > Consumer Reviews > Konica Minolta Dimage XG 3.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

After looking for a small digital camera for family gatherings, vacations, and general candid photo ops, I came across a review in the Wall Street Journal dated 2/18 rating four new small digital cameras hitting the market in the next few months. I was amazed that they picked a Konica Minolta over the others, including the new Sony DSC-T1, which retails for $549.00.
I've had the camera for a few days and it so user friendly that my wife is no longer intimidated by digital photography. It is incredibly small yet I had no trouble holding it comfortably and was able to keep still while shooting.
I have a Nikon Coolpix 950 which I doubt I'll use again.
Also, don't be misled by megapixels: 3.2 is plenty for printing, even 8x10" photos. Look for more pixels only if you will be cropping large sections of the photo and then printing large copies. The only down side is the 16MB SD card provided. On the 'fine' setting, only 9 photos fit on the card. Order at least a 256MB which holds approx. 154 photos.
Last, but certainly not least, is photo quality. It is as good or better than larger, more expensive digital cameras I've used. Red-eye reduction deserves special mention as working well. Overall, a great package at an unbeatable price.

I wanted a camera that was small and light, to use when backpacking. This little camera represents an excellent compromise for my needs. I like the fact that it is compact; I carry it in my pocket all the time, unlike my other digital camera that gets left behind much of the time. I like the fact that the lens extension is completely internal, and that the camera does not change shape or get larger when opened for shooting. The internal lens means the camera is ready to take pictures in less than a second from turning it on.

One needs to be sure to hold the camera carefully when shooting, since the light weight makes it easy to take shaky pictures. Also, one needs to hold it as recommended to avoid blocking part of the picture with a finger or thumb. I can deal with these caveats.

All in all, I'm highly satisfied with this camera as meeting my specific needs. I recommend it for anyone needing a camera that's small, light, and always at the ready for a picture. This is one camera that you will take along with you.

Jay

First off, I have owned a few digital cameras. The first was a Sony dsc-p92, nice camera, great quality pictures, a little bulky for the pocket. Traded this camera for the Olympus c-750uz, which is a fabulous camera and has everything one would want in a camera except size. This camera was stolen because instead of putting it in my pocket(can't do way to big) after the battery went dead, I stupidly put it back in my car in sight (I always put the camera in the trunk except this day) while at the Lowry Park zoo in Tampa for what was to be a few minutes while walking around the park outside. Anyway some Lowlifes broke out he window and grabbed the camera. (We were told by the park security they had been doing this a lot, Thanks for the warning after $700 worth of camera gone). The dilemma for the next camera was primarily wanting a camera that I didn't mind having in my pocket even after the batteries went dead, and one my girfriend didn't mind carrying(she hated both the other cameras for their bulkiness). We also wanted a camera that took decent pictures. Did lots of internet research and came across the Xt, I read reviews for the Xt and loved everything about it, except that some reviewers had complained about picture quality, so it was out. Later while going to Ritz camera they had an Xg, and was told about a wall street journal article that raved about it picture quality being even better than the new Sony 5mp mini. Decided to get the Xg and test it out. Wow, Minolta must have fixed any problems with the previous model, this takes a great picture for 3.2mp. It is not up to the definition of the Olympus or sony, and I do miss the 10x zoom sometimes, but this camera goes everywhere. It is so fast to start up, advertised as the quickest, and It focuses very fast. My other cameras were a lot slower. Was out last night at a club, and got some great pictures of the band, the flash is very bright. I also experimented with the movie and recorded one of the songs. Now this place was dark, so the movie pictures were not the best, but the sound quality was amazing! If you want a great audio recorder this is it. The movies taken in full light are ok, but you wouldn't want this camera to be your movie camera nevertheless, cool movies as long as the memory card can handle(The memory cards are very small and cheaper than comparable Sony and Olympus). Also just started using the burst mode for pictures, If you want some good pictures of your friends this camera can snap off (very quickly)as many pictures as you need, so you can go back and keep the one where everyone has the best smile. Why try for the one perfect picture? I get about six real quick and always have at least one really good picture. Other nice features are the battery life, very long outlasts 256mb of pictures. At first I wanted a camera that took AA batterys, already have rechargeables, but I love this Li-ion battrery, very lightweight and small, and can get them for about $10 on the internet, not bad, and they don't have be drained completely like the Ni-Mh. They charge really fast too. An Hour Maybe. SO how about the complaints? A little weird to handle at first because of the lens and Lcd location. Finger gets in front of lens until trained :) LCD worthless in sunlight, but didn't expect it to be. If Minolta could put the lcd into the viewfinder and have an eyecup attached that kept out the light, that would be fantastic. And if they could ever get a 10x zoom and 5mp in a camera so small, WOW. Your camera purchase comes down to what do need the most. I think the Olympus has the most features, 10x zoom is amazing plus they sell 2x multipliers for 20X!! and best picture, has raw file mode for uncompressed files. This camera is great for wildlife photography. The only drawback is the size, but still not a big a some digitals or 35mm. The Minolta gives up a few things but much less than any other camera I saw that was as portable or in the price range. The problems I read others had with this camera I did not find. Someone had a focusing problem indoors, I did not, without flash they will blur sometimes which is to be expected (use a mini tripod). I have taken pictures at night without the flash(and a solid platform) to get the background and they come out brighter than my eyes can see, very surprised. Other people complained about not having a battery cradle and AV output, but you get so many other things other cameras dont have and the easiest portability of almost any other camera, so this was not a problem for me, it all comes down to what you want, and they haven't made a Camera that has everything in one package yet.....getting close though :)

This camera is essentially the same as Xt, except that it has lost some features:

-no more charging stand! It's not even available as an option, since the charger contacts were removed all together. you will have to take your batteries out to charge, which is one of the design flaws on other ultralight cameras that drove me to Minolta's original design. Furthermore, the battery charger is just a slight variation of the original charging stand (which charged both camera and batteries), thus it is unnecessarily bulky (with wires galore) for its now reduced functionality.
-no more a/c adaptor port. to use the camera with a/c, you will have to buy a proprietary battery-replacing adaptor (a dummy battery with wires).. i.e. you'll have to take the battery out and replace it with the adaptor for it to work, and the wire coming out of a little sliding door next to the battery bay. the door becomes an extrangeous loose piece most of the time, for most people.
-lower resolution LCD monitor (85k vs 110k) but slightly larger (1.6" vs. 1.5").
-No more TIFF (uncompressed) format.
-No more video out (where you can play back pictures on TV).
-No more quick switching option between color modes through left-right toggles.

It has gained a few things:
-programmed AE modes: it adds nothing to its photographic features. There's nothing that the camera couldn't do already with orignal set of controls, though some may find it easier to use.
-New Image Processor that reportedly improves color.
-Better battery life (resulting from the new processor. The camera as well as the Xt uses almost no current with LCD off: extremely efficient).
-Added 30fps movie mode (Xt has 15fps only) as well as night mode for movies.
-Some seemingly useless features: a paste-over feature where you can superimpose your pictures against some cartoon background; 9-in-1 picture mode, etc.

-Allows in-camera movie edit and picture cropping.
-it's priced higher.

I mourn the demise of a great little combination. Xg feels almost like a downgrade rather than an upgrade. Seeing Xt's corners being cut off and its price jacked up worries me with the direction which Minolta is moving. Xt's a wonderful camera, and so is this nearly-identical Xg, especially now (supposedly) with better images and longer battery life. Yet it seems to me Xt's execution was done with more heart and less number crunching.

my $.02

I'd been looking for a pocketable digital camera for quite some time and finally settled on the Dimage Xg (after trying and returning several others). For what you get it's a bit on the pricey side, but it can take great-looking images. It is a nice size with easy-to-use menus and controls. The zoom is much quieter than my Nikon Coolpix 995 and image quality is about the same, maybe even slightly better. However, the Xg does have serious issues with focus, esp. in dimly-lit areas or where the contrast difference is very high (for example, at first I could not get an accurate focus on my blank and white dog). This can be rectified with careful composing and locking the focus. Also I found switching to SPOT FOCUS works much, much better. All in all, it's a nice camera I can easily drop into a pocket and have when I need it.