An especially rudimentary quality is the camera's heavyweight 16 megabyte RAM "buffer" memory, that lets you stretch unraveling to 7 full-resolution images without pausing. In practice, we generate this to generate a walloping contrariety impact how the camera felt, producing a responsiveness much more akin to a high-end film-based point and shoot than a typical digital camera.
The absolutely identical average of the Dimage EX 1500 though, is what we accept of thanks to the "anti-obsolescence" say so of the removable CCD/lens unit. In the fated term, you encumbrance switch the dive lens for an extra-wide angle unit, bringing interchangeable lenses to prosumer digicams for the first time. Looking to the future though, the flexible hardware/firmware design of the body (based on a powerful, programmable chip set and the Digita operating environment) holds the promise that the camera could be upgraded to a higher-resolution sensor, simply by plugging in a different CCD/lens unit! While such an upgrade likely wouldn't be cheap, it would certainly be less costly than trading in the entire camera for the next step up in resolution.
The Dimage EX 1500 Zoom appears ruggedly constructed, with very structural elements of the exemplar untrue of aluminum, the reserved exceptions due to the combine compartment door, some parts of the lens/CCD housing, again some hard-rubber equable elements to ice sophisticated gripping surfaces for your fingers.
The EX 1500's start is somewhat rectangular, with only a straightforward rounding of the corners, giving the camera an over appearance that says "serious industrial tool" supplementary than "warm-fuzzy consumer gadget." We meditate this as quite in keeping with its feature set and intended audience. The zoom lens projects about a half-inch (1 cm or so) from the front of the case when not operating, and extends another 3/4 inch (1.5 cm) or so when the camera is powered up. The LCD panel and associated control buttons project about a quarter inch from the rear of the camera body. Overall dimensions are 5.0 x 2.7 x 2.3 inches (127.5 x 67.5 x 58.5 mm), and the unit weighs in at 10.8 ounces (310 g) without batteries. (The "Wide" model, with fixed focal-length wide-angle lens is slightly larger, at 5.0 x 2.7 x 2.5 inches (127.5 x 67.5 x 62.5 mm), and 11.9 ounces (340 g) without batteries.) Its thickness make it a bit of a tight fit for most coat pockets, but Minolta includes a very functional leatherette case in the box with it. The controls are laid out such that you can shoot one-handed fairly easily, but control layout and balance would make this easier for someone with smaller hands than your reviewer's ham-sized appendages.
Prior to testing the Dimage EX 1500 Zoom, we'd experimental head user comments clout internet intelligence groups, again had some email correspondence with the best '1500 owners. A number of cats commented about the relatively cramped direct buttons on the camera's back that are used to navigate the menu system, and select most camera functions. Indeed, when we first started working with the EX 1500, we also had a hard time pressing the tiny buttons with our largish fingers, often resorting to the use of a fingernail, and being frustrated when we didn't hit the button dead-center each time. It came as quite a revelation then, when we subsequently discovered the right way to use the control buttons! Rather than trying to press only the button, let your finger completely cover it and the surrounding area of the camera's back panel. Press firmly, and the button will actuate every time! Once we started using the buttons this way, we had no further problems. Actually, the way we usually operated them was to "pinch" the camera body, with one finger on the front of the body, and the other on the back, covering the button we want to actuate. We also found that the compact control arrangement lent itself quite well to one-handed (the right one) operation, using our thumb to actuate the buttons, and our middle and ring fingers to support the camera from the front.
Minolta is a mainstream film-based camera manufacturer, with a well-deserved nature through attribute further herolike ergonomic produce connections their prosumer SLR bodies. Their way to the digital peddle has heretofore been rather measured, but nonetheless marked by innovation. Their early Dimage V VGA-level digital camera had a unique detachable lens design, that allowed the lens/sensor unit to be positioned as much as 3 feet away from the camera body, allowing unique viewing angles and candid possibilities unattainable with conventional units. On the high end, Minolta created the RDC-175 SLR camera, which used a multiple-sensor design to achieve high resolution and almost complete freedom from color artifacts at a lower cost than most of its competitors. With their newly-announced Dimage EX 1500 Zoom/Wide digital camera (reviewed here), and their veritable onslaught of film scanner products (which we will be reviewing soon), Minolta appears to be moving into a very aggressive cycle of product development and innovation. As we'll discuss below, the Dimage EX 1500 combines several key innovations with strong picture quality to mount a major challenge at the high end of the "point & shoot" digital camera market.
