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Minolta Dimage RD3000 Unusual 2-CCD design produces a professional-level SLR digicam at an affordable price. Select a topic Reference: Datasheet Dimage RD3000 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 --------------------------------- Digital Camera Comparometer (TM) --------------------------------- <-- Digital Cameras (Home) <-- Digital Camera Reviews Index <<Camera Modes & Menus :(Previous) | (Next): Video, Power, Software>> Page 10:Image Storage & Interface Review First Posted: 5/23/2000

Image Storage and Interface
The RD 3000 utilizes CompactFlash cards for image storage, which come in a variety of sizes from eight to 64MB. The card slot accommodates Type II CompactFlash cards, which means the RD 3000 can handle not only larger semiconductor-based cards, but IBM's 340 megabyte Microdrive as well. The Microdrive makes it practical to used the camera's uncompressed TIFF "super fine" format if you wish, allowing 44 images per card. Of course, the fine-quality JPEG option really introduces very little in the way of artifacts, and gives the Microdrive a capacity of approximately 217 images, a very healthy number.
A small light next to the card slot indicates whether or not the card is in use. The caution is to not open the slot when the light is on because the camera is writing to the card. Individual images can be write protected through the Playback menu, which protects them from accidental deletion (except from card formatting). All images are saved at 1984 x 1360 resolution with Super (TIFF), Fine, Normal and Economy quality settings. The Counter button on top of the camera lets you know how much space is available on the CompactFlash card when pressed in record mode. As we noted earlier, we really like that the camera displays remaining capacity in megabytes, as well as images remaining at the currently selected quality setting. Additionally, through the Playback settings menu, you can see all the card's information (total amount of space on the card, amount of space remaining, number of recorded frames and the number of available frames for each quality setting). This is particularly useful for gauging your shooting.
Following are the compression ratios for each quality setting and the number of possible images for a 64MB card:

Resolution/Quality vs Image Capacity (64 MB card)	High Resolution
	Images	Approx. Compression
Uncompressed Quality	6	1:1
Fine Quality	35	5:1
Normal Quality	67	10:1
Economy Quality	105	15:1

The RD 3000 can interface to a host computer via a SCSI-II interface, and a SCSI cable is included in the box with the camera. The provided Digital Desktop software package provides a user interface through which you can download images and control the camera. We measured transfer times for a 7.9 megabyte image file of 23.8 seconds, a data transfer rate of 333.67 kilobytes per second. This is quite fast for a digital camera, but slower than we expected for a SCSI interface. (Some USB-interfaced cameras are faster.) Overall, unless you have a compelling need to actually control the camera from the host computer, we strongly recommend that you simply purchase a USB or parallel-port card reader, and download images directly from the card, rather than via the camera's SCSI interface.