Conclusion

I was very much surprised by the Dynax 5D. It has an excellent body, built-in AntiShake, good picture quality at high ISO sensitivity and a load of interesting and useful features, putting the camera into a completely different class than the similarly-priced competition. Of course, each photographer will see the camera from a different point of view. When it comes to usefulness, there's simply no dilemma as to which camera offers the most bang for buck. When it comes to megapixel count, high ISO picture quality, automatic setting use and weight and other dimensions, the conclusion is different. After all, everyone chooses what suits them best.

But any way you look at it, the Dynax 5D represents a whole new chapter and engineers from other companies will have to put on their best thinking hats to make their cameras as useful as the Dynax 5D. However, the Dynax 5D is a challenge for everyone, manufacturers and customers. While the manufacturers will have to offer more and more, the customers will have to decide between several good cameras.

Again, this is my personal opinion. At the moment, the Dynax 5D offers most bang for buck in its price bracket from several points of view. This, of course, is only true if you're the kind of photographer who does not rely on automatic settings alone. However, in this case, forget about DSLR cameras. A compact digicam will give you better results.

Konica Minolta proved yet again by introducing the Dynax 5D that they will be a strong player in the DSLR arena. This will become even more apparent next year, when they will join forces with Sony. Furthermore, the Dynax 5D is the camera most Minolta film equipment photographers will purchase to replace their film camera. For other photographers looking for their first DSLR camera, there's another camera they should consider. A word of caution, though. For all of you entering the DSLR world - you must realise you're not only buying a camera. You're buying into a whole system. This is where Konica Minolta has a lot to offer to its DSLR customers. It has an excellent system of external flashes, including macro flashes, and a set of 40 lenses. Also, a vast array of add-ons and lenses from third-party manufacturers should be considered.

The Dynax 5D is right in the middle when it comes to price. Here, the body is available for around 800 EUR. However, this gets you a built-in AntiShake system and other features most other manufacturers only offer in more expensive camera, making the Dynax 5D all the more attractive.

If the camera is set to wide area focus or to a focus point on the edge, the AF button used to override the selection can make the difference between capturing the moment or not. By pressing this button, the central focus point is used for focussing. The Dynax 5D offers many good solutions which weren't available up to now in an entry-level camera.

The Dynax 5D has image stabilisation in camera. This means it is not necessary to buy expensive image stabilisation lenses. Thus, using the vast majority of A-mount Minolta lenses, longer shutter times can be used without causing image shake. Longer times can be used to show movement. In this case, it's the golf club and ball.

1/30 sec, f/8, ISO 400. It's nearly impossible to capture an image in low-light conditions without using image stabilisation.

Bracketing, -0.7EV.

Bracketing, 0.0EV.

Bracketing, +0.7EV.

The Dynax 5D has a satisfactory response time.

1600ISO. Image quality is still high enough to present the scene with satisfactory quality.

The Dynax 5D enables us to capture every interesting scene. The ducks seem to know when to fly for solid ground!

In high contrast scenes, the image should be captured using RAW mode. The Dynax 5D blocks the shadow detail too easily in JPEG mode.

30mm (equiv. 35mm), ISO 100, 1/125sec., f/8.

ISO 400. No noise problems for the Dynax 5D.

28mm (equiv. 35mm), ISO 100, 1/180sec., f/11.

No pictures please! It seems there are no limitations for the Dynax 5D.

28mm (equiv. 35mm), ISO 100, 1/250sec., f/8.

28mm (equiv. 35mm), ISO 100, 1/125sec., f/11

28mm (equiv. 35mm), ISO 100, 1/250sec., f/11

32mm (equiv. 35mm), ISO 100, 1/250sec., f/5.6

80mm (equiv. 35mm), ISO 100, 1/250sec., f/8.

105mm (equiv. 35mm), ISO 100, 1/60sec., f/11.

28mm (equiv. 35mm), ISO 100, 1/125sec., f/8.

ISO 3200.

ISO 3200 and the »Shadow« function in Photoshop CS2. Shadow details are no longer a problem. As for any other camera, images captured with the Dynax 5D must be postprocessed to achieve the highest possible image quality. This is especially true for sharpness and tonal values.

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