Minolta Dimage 7Minolta unleashes the first 5-megapixel camera, with a tack-sharp 7x zoom lens, and amazingly sensitive electronic viewfinder!<<Image Storage & Interface :(Previous) | (Next): Test Results & Conclusion>> Page 11:Video, Power, SoftwareReview First Posted: 5/23/2001 |
Video OutThe Dimage 7 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.
PowerOur prototype sample was quite power-hungry, and we'd hoped it was just a prototype issue, but it turned out that the production model also consumed quite a bit of power. The camera isn't by any means the worst we've seen in terms of battery life, but does show poorly against some of the leaders of the field in this respect. By the same token, we don't think it's quite earned the reputation it seems to have developed on the 'net as a power-hungry monster. Reports have circulated of some people only getting 10 shots per charge with high-capacity NiMH batteries. We have to say that this is clearly an abnormal condition, caused either by bad batteries, a bad charger, a bad camera, or some combination of the three. Based on our testing, you should easily get an hour to an hour and a half of continuous operation with a good set of high-capacity NiMH cells, even in the camera's highest-power mode. This is definitely a camera that you'll want to pack along extra batteries for, and a natural candidate for use with an external power pack, though. (See below.) An AC adapter is also available as an optional accessory, and would definitely be a good idea if you plan to use the camera for a lot of studio work.
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, w/LCD "sleeping" |
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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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So, the Dimage 7 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 it'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!
In the Box
The Dimage 7 ships with the following complement of accessories and software:
- Camera
- Lens Shade DLS-7
- Video Cable VC-100
- USB Cable USB-100
- CompactFlash Card (16MB in the US)
- AA Batteries (Alkalines? - Absurd!)
- CD-ROM with Dimage Software
Some mention must be made of the software that accompanies the Dimage 7: The Dimage uses a proprietary color space, with a wider gamut than the conventional sRGB space used by most cameras today. As a result, its images will look much "flatter" (lower saturation) on computer monitors, unless their color space is remapped to that of the monitor. This can be accomplished via the Dimage Image Viewer application, and can be done in batch mode, to process many images at once.(We performed this transformation on all of the sample images displayed here, converting them to sRGB color space for display via web browsers.) In our experience, converting the images to sRGB did indeed brighten colors somewhat, although the effect was most noticeable in very saturated colors, particularly reds and greens. Less-saturated colors showed little change when they were remapped. While the transformation to sRGB did in fact brighten the color rendering somewhat, we still found that our personal preference was to shoot with the saturation control bumped up by two notches.
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