The DiMAGE A200 uses an 8.3 million
pixel CCD, of which 8.0 million are effective to yield a maximum
image size of 3264 x 2448 pixels.
The CCD offers a sensitivity
that starts at 50 ISO, but which can be increased to 100, 200,
400 or 800 ISO in the Function menu (see further), or
set to Auto, which lets the A200 adjust it as necessary from
50 to 200 ISO.
The 7X manual zoom lens of the A200 is carried over from the A2. Composed
of 16 elements in 13 groups — including 2 AD (Anomalous Dispersion)
glass elements to minimize flare and chromatic aberration, and 2 molded
glass aspherical lenses to reduce distortion — the APO (apochromatic)
zoom provides a focal length range of 7.2 to 50.8mm, the equivalent of
a 28 to 200 mm zoom in the 35mm film format.
The lens has a 49mm diameter tread
that allows mounting optional lens converters: a Close-up lens
(CL49-200); a Wide Angle Converter (ACW-100), which offers
a field of view equivalent to a 22mm lens; and a Telephoto
converter (ACT-100), which extends the zoom to the equivalent
of a 300mm.
As with previous Konica Minolta
cameras that have been equipped with this lens, the A200's
macro mode is engaged by a slider on the upper left of the
lens barrel that locks the zoom at either end of its focal
length range.
When the switch is engaged at the telephoto end, the macro mode allows
a bit of zoom movement from 180 to 200mm (equivalent), but none at the
wide angle end.
The camera is supplied with a "perfect" lens
hood that shields the front element of the lens from stray
light, and is designed to avoid vignetting at all focal lengths.
The zoom's apertures start
at f2.8 at the wide angle position, and f3.5 at the telephoto
end, closing down to f11. This range of apertures is combined
with a shutter speed range which covers from 30 seconds to
a maximum of 1/3200 second when the camera is set to either
Program or Aperture Priority, or tops out at 1/1600 second
when it is set to Manual or Shutter Priority modes.
In addition, the Manual mode
offers a B mode (Bulb), and while it too has a limit of 30
seconds, it allows more precise control using the optional
remote control (RC-1000S or RC-1000L), than is possible with
specific timed presets. Also worth noting, the maximum exposure
time of 30 seconds is only available at 64 and 100 ISO. With
higher ISO settings, the maximum exposure time decreases
(15 seconds at 200 ISO, 8 seconds at 400 ISO, and 4 seconds
at 800 ISO).
The A200 is capable of capturing photos at any one of 6 sizes:
3264 X 2448
3264 X 2176 (3:2, a format proportional to printing
paper)
2560 X 1920
2080 X 1560
1600 X 1200
640 X 480
Moreover, the A200 offers three levels of JPEG compression: Standard, Fine,
and Extra Fine. In addition, the A200 can save RAW format
images — the pure output from the CCD at a resolution
of 3264 x 2448 — that can be processed on a computer
at a later time using the included software, or a combination
of RAW + JPEG (Fine image quality), with the size of the
JPEG image determined by the current setting.
The image quality is selected as an option in the Recording menu. The
recording menu is divided into 3 distinct screens, each accessed through
a tab at the top of the menu:
Image Size: see above.
Quality: see above.
Spot AE area provides two settings: Centre
Spot to meter the precise centre of the frame, or Flex
Focus point which allows the spot metering to follow
the focus point.
Flash Control: offers 2 settings:
Auto: allows controlling the flash exposure
through Flash compensation.
Manual: replaces the flash compensation option
by a precise control over the flash's power (1/16,
1/8, 1/4, 1/2, or 1/1).
AEL Button: serves to choose how the AEL button
functions.
AE Hold: pressing and holding the AEL buttons
locks the exposure.
AE Toggle: allows pressing the button once
to lock the exposure and pressing a second time to
release it.
Reset: returns the camera to its factory defaults.
Sharpness: Hard (+), Normal, or Soft (-).
Date Imprint: to select the information or text
that will be imprinted on a still image (date alone, or
date and text can be imprinted).
Inst. Playback: determines the amount of time
a just captured image is shown on the screen (Off, 1, 2,
5, or 10 seconds).
Full Time AF: On or Off. When On the camera adjusts
the focus continuously. Continuous AF drains the battery
faster than regular AF.
Direct AF: On or Off. When set to On, the auto
focus can be fine-tuned using the Manual focus ring.
Memory: serves to save the current settings to
any one of 5 memory positions that can be recalled later
by setting the Mode Dial to MR (Memory Recall).
DSP Set: the memory registers used for camera
settings can be assigned to the Digital Subject Program
positions on the exposure-mode dial. Two options are available:
DSP: the Digital Subject Programs are active
on the exposure-mode dial.
Memory recall: the memory registers are assigned
to the Digital Subject Program positions.
Noise Reduction: turns on the noise reduction
system which then operates with images captured with 1
second or longer exposure times.
Monitor Amplification: controls how and when the
monitor's image is amplified:
Auto: in low light conditions when the camera
sensitivity gain has reached its limit, the automatic
monitor amplification function will intensify the monitor
image. Although the live image turns black and white,
this does not affect the colour mode in use.
Normal: no amplification.
Exposure priority: the live image reflects
the set exposure. Automatic monitor amplification is
disabled.
Display priority: the live image is displayed
regardless of the exposure settings. This allows the
image to be composed on the monitor when using a flash
as the main light source. When selected, the manual
exposure mode indicator turns red on the monitor.
Digital Zoom offers three settings: On (works
like a cropping tool), Interpolate (resizes the image to
the current image size), and Off.
The most commonly needed camera settings are contained in a
separate menu, presented superimposed on the live image when
the FUNC button is pressed:
ISO is to select the CCD sensitivity: 50, 100,
200, 400, or 800 ISO.
Colour mode has settings for: Vivid (enhances
saturation), Natural (default), Portrait (enhances skin
tones), Adobe (embeds the colour space into the image file),
and Black and White.
Flash mode: Fill-flash, Fill-flash with red-eye
reduction, Slow (slow synchro at the beginning of the exposure),
Rear (slow synchro at the end of the exposure). Since the
pop-up flash is manually operated, Forced Off mode is assumed
when the flash is left closed.
Filter serves to increase warm or cool tones in
the image by shifting colours towards blue or red.
Saturation: serves to increase or decrease colour
saturation over ±5 steps.
Contrast serves to increase or decrease image
contrast over ±5 steps.
The A200 also offers a Movie mode,
but its Function menu is limited to the three options directly
above, Filter, Saturation and Contrast. Beyond this, the Movie
mode also has a one-page menu:
Image size:
800 x 600,
640 x 480, and
320 x 240.
Frame Rate offers 2 settings: 15 fps or 30 fps.
(800 x 600 is only available at 15 fps).
Movie Mode:
Standard: records a colour movie under normal light
conditions.
Night Movie: records a black and white movie.
Reset returns the movie mode to its factory settings.
Whatever the frame size or rate,
movies last up to 15 minutes, or as long as there is space
on the memory card, Focus and exposure are adjusted dynamically,
and since the zoom is manually operated — no possibility
of a motor noise being recorded — it remains fully useable.
In Playback, the menu is just as straightforward as it is with either of
the capture modes, still image or movie. The menu consists of three screens,
similarly accessed by a tab at the top of the screen:
Delete: to erase one, more than one, all, or marked
images.
Format: to format the memory card.
Lock: to lock one, more than one, all images in
a folder, or marked images, preventing their accidental
deletion.
View Folder: to view the contents of All Folders,
or a Single Folder.
Folder Name: if Single Folder is selected
above, then the specific folder to use can be selected
with this option.
Edit Movie(this option is greyed-out unless
a movie is on the screen when the menu is called up):
serves to cut movie into 2 or more parts.
Slide Show: starts an automatic slide shows selecting
photos according to the setting of the View Folder option.
DPOF Set serves to select images to be printed.
The DiMAGE A200 supports Exif Print 2.2.1, Print Image
Matching II, and PictBridge, making it possible to print
photos directly to a PictBridge compliant printer, bypassing
the need for a computer. The options for printing images
are: This frame, All in folder, All on
card, Marked frames, and the number of prints
to make of each image. When one or more frames have been
selected for printing, the following sub-options become
available:
Date Imprint: On or Off. Stamps
the shooting date on the print.
Index Print: creates an Index print (thumbnails
of all the photos on the card, or of those selected
for printing).
Cancel Print: cancels all the print orders
made for the contents of a Folder or of All
frames on the card.
Copy: creates a copy of This frame, or Marked
frames. Copying can be to the camera memory, or to
another card.
E-mail Copy: creates a 640 x 480 copy of the currently
displayed photo (This frame), or of Marked frames,
and stores it in a separate folder on the card.
Mag. Setup: sets the magnification increment,
2X, 4X, 10X, for the Quick View mode.
The top of the
DiMAGE A200 is fitted with a Minolta-type flash shoe that
is protected by a removable sliding cover that slides over
it. The flash shoe is compatible with Minolta flash units
2500(D), 3600HS(D), 5600HS(D), Macro 1200 and Macro Twin
Flash 2400 with controller.
Third party Minolta-compatible flash units can also be
used, but some restrictions may apply.
The A200 is compatible with CompactFlash
Type I and II memory cards, Microdrives, and with SD (Secure
Digital) and MMC (Multimedia Card) when these are used in the
optional adapter (SD-CF1). The card is ejected from the slot
with a lever below the slot, but the system does not push the
card out very far past the edge, making it often a bit impractical
to grasp, particularly in the case of Microdrives which have
smooth edges.
The Dimage A200 is not normally
packaged with a memory card but some kits may include one.
As a guide, the table below indicates storage capacity with an inexpensive
512MB CompactFlash Type I card:
JPEG
RAW
Image Size
Std
Fine
Ex Fine
3264 X 2448
248
126
79
42
3264 X 2176 3:2
279
140
88
—
2560 X 1920
391
203
128
—
2080 X 1560
579
300
193
—
1600 X 1200
920
489
319
—
640 X 480
3129
2235
1564
—
The two external connections
of the A200 are located on the lower left side of the camera,
and protected by a tight-fitting rubber cover that is tethered
at one end.
On the left is a DC-IN jack, designed for an optional AC-DC adapter (AC-11),
or one that produces 6V DC and which has a positive centre pin. On the
right is a dual-use jack, serving for both USB connection to a computer
or printer, and as A/V (audio/video) out.
The USB port is USB 2.0 Full-speed
compatible, offering a transfer speed equivalent to USB 1.1.
The A/V out signal is selected in the Setup menu — as
is the protocol to use for the USB port — and both the
USB and A/V cables are supplied with the camera.
The camera is powered by a dedicated rechargeable Lithium-ion battery housed
underneath the grip. Recharging a fully discharged battery takes approximately
2 hours and both the charger and the battery are included with the camera.
Compare Prices for Minolta DIMAGE A200 Camcorder Charger (VBC-201P)
Characteristics
