Minolta Dimage 5The "little brother" to the Dimage 7 - same great features, but 3.3 megapixels and a (much) lower price...<<Image Storage & Interface :(Previous) | (Next): Test Results & Conclusion>> Page 11:Video, Power, SoftwareReview First Posted: 9/14/2001 |
Video OutThe Dimage 5 provides a video output jack with an accompanying video cable. The signal timing can be set to NTSC or PAL via the Setup menu. An adapter cable terminating in a male RCA plug is included with units shipped to the U.S. European models will presumably include cabling appropriate to PAL systems. The Video output duplicates the contents of the LCD in all modes, permitting it to be used as an auxiliary viewfinder.
Power
The Dimage 5 is powered by four AA Alkaline or NiMH batteries (four alkaline batteries are shipped with the camera). We suggest investing in several sets of rechargeable NiMH batteries and a battery charger, so you'll always have a set of charged batteries available. Like the Dimage 7, the Dimage 5 is notably power-hungry: One downside of electronic viewfinders is that they require all of the display and signal-processing circuitry to be active, so there is limited advantage in turning off the rear-panel LCD. On our evaluation unit, however, we did observe a solid 30-percent power reduction when using the EVF vs the LCD, and putting the EVF into "auto-on" mode dropped power to about half of the level with the main LCD running. The camera also appears to enter a low-power mode when its controls are left undisturbed for an extended period. We didn't measure power consumption in this mode, but it did seem that we could leave the camera "on" for long periods of time without noticeably draining the batteries. An AC adapter is available as an optional accessory.
With those comments as a preface, here are the power-consumption numbers we measured for the Dimage 7 in the lab, along with estimated run times, based on a set of (true) 1600 mAh NiMH cells:
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(mA @6.0v) |
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| Capture Mode, w/LCD |
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| Capture Mode, w/EVF |
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| Capture Mode, EVF auto-on |
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| Half-pressed shutter w/LCD |
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| Half-pressed w/EVF |
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| Continuous Autofocus w/LCD |
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| Memory Write (transient) |
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| Flash Recharge (transient) |
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| Image Playback |
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(The following is largely copied from the Dimage 7 review, since the two cameras were essentially identical in their power characteristics.)
So, like the Dimage 7, the Dimage 5 is clearly a heavy power user, but the numbers above don't seem to support the level of negative comment we've seen out there about the Dimage 7's power consumption. (Unfortunately, no other sites have done any power-consumption measurements, so the battery life discussions are all based on anecdotal evidence.) As mentioned above, there do appear to be several instances of individuals getting literally only a dozen shots or so per charge on a set of batteries, and this clearly is abnormal. Given the concern over power and reports of exceedingly short battery life, this might be a good point to make a brief mention of batteries and chargers...
We've been working on testing batteries and chargers as sort of a background task for quite a while now. (Every few days, toss a set of batteries in the little battery-testing gadget Dave cobbled together.) We've found some interesting things. First, just because a battery *says* it's 1600 mAh (for instance) doesn't mean that it *is* 1600 mAh. Digicams definitely aren't a place to cheap-out on batteries, so it pays to get a good brand. We've tested (in alphabetical order) GP, Kodak, Maha, and Nexcell, all of which appear to be good manufacturers. Out of kindness, we won't mention the brands we tested that didn't measure up. We recommend the higher capacity batteries from each of these vendors. (But not some of the same companies' lower-capacity models.)
The second thing we've discovered is that a good charger is possibly even more important than your choice of batteries. (!) Even some rather expensive chargers won't bring a set of batteries anywhere near to a state of full charge. Thus, the wrong charger can turn your 1700 mAh batteries into a set of 800 mAh ones! We're working on a whole "power solutions" area for the site, to share our findings, but for now can just say that our favorite charger is the Maha C204 (shown above). The Quest Q2 and Alltek AT-5798 units also do a good job, although our test sample of the Q2 developed a bad circuit after only a little use. So... Get a couple of sets of 1700 mAh batteries and a good charger, and you should easily get an hour plus of continuous operation of the Dimage 7 per charge.
We mentioned external power packs above: Given the type of camera this is, you're going to want to use it for extended periods. What to do, besides turning it off quickly? Apparently knowing our penchant for such things, we've gotten a lot of questions from readers about external battery packs with this camera. The problem is that most NiMH-based packs don't work, as the Dimage 7 apparently needs a higher voltage at its external power terminal than these packs deliver. (The camera's power terminal is labeled "6 volts", most such packs don't come up to that voltage when subjected to high loads.) As we've found with several other cameras, the solution is a LiIon battery pack, which has a higher output voltage. Maha makes one (shown above), sold under their PowerEx brand. Running about $60, this unit provides 1400 mAh of power at a terminal voltage (under moderate load) of a bit over 8 volts. In our testing, the Dimage 7 ran just fine from this pack. The PowerBank's capacity should be enough to give you an extra hour to hour and a half of continuous running in maximum-power mode. (With the LCD enabled in capture mode.) Combine that with a set of the 1700 NiMH cells internally, and you'll be good for a full 3 hours or so of nonstop operation. - Easily all day if you're judicious about turning the camera off when not in use. One note - Maha makes both NiMH and LiIon versions of the PowerBank, make sure you get the LiIon model for the Dimage 7. (Model number MH-DPB140LI.) Click here for more information, or to order online. Highly recommended for this camera!
Software
The Dimage 5 ships with Dimage Image Viewer Utility, which allows you to open, sort, and delete thumbnail images, perform color matching, adjust tonal curves, set white and black points, and correct individual RGB channels. Dimage Image Viewer is required to open and process RAW image files. The Dimage Image Viewer Utility is also essential to convert the Dimage 5's proprietary (wide gamut) color space into conventional sRGB for compatibility with most desktop printers. This need for an extra step to obtain optimum color from the Dimage 5 is a little annoying, but we highly endorse it, as it sidesteps the (severe) limitations of the sRGB color space.
Like the other recent high-end Minolta cameras (the Dimage S304 and Dimage 7), the Dimage 5 captures images in its own proprietary color space. The good part of this is that the D5 can capture a broader range of colors than conventional cameras based on the sRGB standard. The downside though, is that most computer software and consumer-level printers assume sRGB as the default color space. This means that you'll need to convert essentially all your images from the D5's color space to the sRGB standard. (Losing some colors in the extreme reds and blue/greens in the process.) The Dimage Image Viewer utility program can batch-convert images from the Dimage 5's color space to sRGB and several others. The process isn't terribly onerous, and we support Minolta's efforts to break out of the limitations of sRGB. It is an additional step however, that potential owners need to be aware of.
In The Box
The Dimage 5 Digital Camera ships with the following accessories:
- 4 AA alkaline batteries
- 16MB CompactFlash card
- Neck strap
- Lens cap
- Lens shade
- Accessory shoe cap
- USB Cable
- Video Cable
- Dimage Image Viewer Utility CD-ROM
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