I have bought the Minolta Z3!

[ruggedtoast]

Havent got around to buying a battery recharger yet, may not bother here as Im returning to the uk in a couple of months and I guess it wouldnt work there.

The batts seem to last ok and they dont cost a lot here.

I havent seen the thermometer icon yet!

[John_Reed]

Havent got around to buying a battery recharger yet, may not bother here as Im returning to the uk in a couple of months and I guess it wouldnt work there.

The batts seem to last ok and they dont cost a lot here.

I havent seen the thermometer icon yet!

So now I'm really impressed; if you can get so many shots from alkaline batteries, you should do very well indeed on NiMh rechargeables. Very good performance!

[ocunha]

Hi,

I'm thinking of getting a Z3. What's bad about it?

Thanks

[John_Reed]

Hi,

I'm thinking of getting a Z3. What's bad about it?

Thanks

So far, the one "user report" from "Ruggedtoast" is good; there aren't any reviews of it on-line, as far as I know. What's bad about it? Its lens isn't quite as fast as the Panasonics - f4.5 vs. f2.8 at max zoom, which means you'll need a little more light (~1+ f-stop) to get that twilight sports shot to come out sharp. As a veteran "zoomer" with both FZ1 and FZ10 usage, I also have reservations about being able (or not able) to attach filters and teleconverters to the camera. Ruggedtoast says there are no filter threads, and I can't tell from the photos I've seen just how any adapters would be mounted. Minolta offers only a wideangle adapter lens as an accessory, so there may be some way to do it, it just isn't obvious. Once you get used to the long zoom, you get greedy for more; I use an Olympus TCON-17 with my FZ10 that gets me out to ~700mm equivalent, which is good enough to capture sparrows and jays and other small birds.

[ruggedtoast]

Yes, Im sorry I cant give you guys a more detailed report, but I havent had a lot of time to play around with the thing and also, ill be the first to admit that I dont know an awful lot about cameras in the first instance anyway, this is my first digital.

I think I read somewhere that you can get filters and things as accessorries.

As far as bad things go, well, auto mode is sometimes a bit temperemental and I sometimes have to take things a couple of times to get the exposure right. For example when I tried to take a photo of a sunflower the other day it took the esxposure level for the dark inside of the sunflower and left the petals and the background very bleached out. It has the same problem capturing buildings with a lot of bright sky around them.

(Sometimes this is because you should use the flash and you arent, but auto doesnt seem to tell you this)

This seems to be resolvable by locking focus on something a bit lighter to lower exposure and then moving down - although there may well be many other ways adjust it - I believe in P mode you can choose how the light meter works, either as an aggregate of all the brightness on the screen or just a particular part.

Build quality , it is a lot sturdier than its predecessors but doesnt feel anything like as solid as the panasonic. If you want a camera that will last forever then , well, this one probably wont.

The panasonic would have been my first choice but its just too big. I travel around a lot and a camera that size just isnt an option for me.

If anyone has any questions about this machine in lieu of a proper reviiew Ill do my best to answer!

[Crunchie]

Have ordered the Z3 and can't wait to have a shottie! Anyone any ideas when it's out officially in the UK?