Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5By: Dave Etchells & Mike TomkinsKonica Minolta existing Z3 model gets an updated sensor, larger LCD and slightly updated control layout. <<Design :(Previous) | (Next): Optics>> Page 5:ViewfinderReview First Posted: 03/28/2005 |
The Konica Minolta Z5 features an electronic viewfinder (EVF) which offers a true, through-the-lens (TTL) display, courtesy of a 1/3-inch LCD display with 114,000 pixels. A dioptric adjustment dial accommodates eyeglass wearers, letting them adjust the viewfinder optics across a range of -3.0 - 1.0 diopters. As noted earlier, at 16.9mm, the viewfinder eyepiece has a noticeably lower eye relief (the distance from which the entire viewfinder image can be seen) than the DiMAGE Z3's 20.8mm. In my own use of the camera, this meant that I had to press the lens of my eyeglasses right up against the body of the camera to be able to see the full frame without moving my eye around.
The electronic viewfinder has the exact same resolution as the camera's main LCD display, and for the most part can show the same menus and information overlays as the LCD can. The information which can be shown in Record mode includes camera mode, exposure mode, flash status, exposure compensation (if a compensation adjustment has been made), white balance setting (if something other than "Auto" is selected), image size and quality setting, drive mode (single, continuous, movie, etc), and number of shots remaining on the memory card. If the information overlay is enabled, aperture and shutter speed are reported when the Shutter button is halfway pressed. The current battery level also appears on-screen, with a graphic to indicate the amount of charge. An optional live histogram overlay can be enabled with an additional press on the Info button. In Auto mode, a set of icons appears across the top of the screen, to indicate that automatic scene mode selection is active.
While the Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z5's Mode dial only offers a Record mode option for the electronic viewfinder, it is in fact possible to use almost all Playback mode features on the EVF, with the sole exception of the Playback menu. Instead of switching the Mode dial to Playback, you must instead press the Quick View button to call up the most recent image. The camera is now actually operating in Playback mode, and you can use the normal controls to browse through all captured images and movies, zoom and pan around in images, or play and edit movies. Half-pressing the Shutter button, or pressing the Menu button, returns you to record mode (and hence, you cannot access the Playback menu on the EVF).
I must confess, I'm not exactly sure why Konica Minolta has chosen to implement playback in this way. It would seem to make more sense to either add another option to the Mode dial to allow playback on the electronic viewfinder, or to simply offer two options (Record and Playback) on the Mode dial, and then select the output device (viewfinder or LCD) with a separate button. With that said, once you're used to this design quirk it likely won't bother you much in day-to-day use - it just seems to me that some users will never actually realize that they can access playback mode on the EVF.
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