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Minolta DiMAGE F100 Minolta builds a compact, stylish 4 Megapixel model with sophisticated autofocus. Select a topic Reference: Datasheet DiMAGE F100 Photo Gallery! DiMAGE F100 Sample Images --------------------------------- 1. Intro and Highlights 2. Executive Overview 3. Design 4. Viewfinder 5. Optics 6. Exposure & Flash 7. Shutter Lag & Cycle Time Tests 8. Operation & User Interface 9. Camera Modes & Menus 10. Image Storage & Interface 11. Video, Power, Software 12. Test Results & Conclusion --------------------------------- Print-Friendly Review Version Additional Resources and Other Links Reader Comments on DiMAGE F100 Review --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Design :(Previous) | (Next): Optics>> Page 4:Viewfinder Review First Posted: 04/18/2002, Updated: 05/29/2003

Viewfinder

For composing images, the F100 offers both a real-image optical viewfinder and a 1.5-inch TFT color LCD monitor. The real-image optical viewfinder zooms along with the lens, but doesn't show any digital enlargement (which requires the LCD monitor to be active). The optical viewfinder doesn't have any diopter adjustment to accommodate near- or farsighted users, but does have an unusually high eyepoint. - This means that even people with very thick eyeglasses should have no problem seeing the full image area through the eyepiece. (This is a very nice feature for those of us who wear eyeglasses. - Most camera viewfinders I've tested are usable with eyeglasses, but I generally end up having to mash my glasses against the viewfinder eyepiece to be able to see properly. With the F100, I could keep the camera a comfortable distance from my eyeglasses, leaving me less worried about scratching my lenses if a speck of dirt gets between them and the viewfinder eyepiece.) Kudos to Minolta on this front!

Two LED lamps on the left side of the viewfinder eyepiece report the camera's current status. For example, the top LED glows green when focus is locked, or flashes when the AF system is having difficulty focusing. The lower LED lamp lights solid orange when the flash is charged, and blinks while the flash is charging.

The 1.5-inch LCD monitor takes up the lower left portion of the F100's back panel, and automatically activates whenever the camera is powered on. The Display button just to the right controls the image and information display. One press disables the information display, while the second press deactivates the LCD entirely (a third press reactivates the LCD with the information display showing). Included in the information display are the current camera mode, flash mode, file size and quality settings, the number of available images, a set of focus brackets in the center of the display, and the shutter speed and aperture settings.

In Playback mode, the Display button again controls the information display, but also controls access to the 9-image thumbnail view of images stored on the memory card. The Information button (also Flash button) activates a histogram display, which graphs the tonal distribution of the image. This gives you some idea of the tonal range you captured and helps make it easier to see any over- or underexposure. Also in Playback mode, you can digitally enlarge the image as much as 5x, using the Four Way Arrow pad's zoom controls.

As I mentioned earlier, my tests showed that the F100's optical viewfinder is a bit less accurate than average, showing only about 80% of the final frame at wide angle zoom settings, and about 83% at telephoto. (The average digicam optical viewfinder shows about 85% of the final image area, not nearly enough in my opinion.) By contrast, the LCD monitor is pretty exactly 100% accurate, something I'm always happy to see.