Konica Minolta’s popular line of DiMAGE digital cameras announced a new birth earlier this month. The newest member, the DiMAGE X60, is a compact five megapixel camera which sports a large 2.5-inch color monitor, boasts a half second start up time and offers 15MB of internal memory to store photos.
The DiMAGE X60 is indeed quite compact and light on its feet, measuring 3.3-inches by 2.2-inches x 0.9-inches and weighing a scant four ounces. It resides in a stylish, aluminum alloy body which, depending upon the specific region, will come in silver, red or blue. The X60 trades in the viewfinder found on its predecessor, the X50, to provide more space on the backside for its large, anti-reflective color LCD.
Other physical features of note on the new DiMAGE X60 include a full flat, non-protruding 12x zoom lens (3x optical and 4x digital) with a sliding cover, a standalone independent playback button to view recorded images on the fly, an independent left right zoom lever, an internal SD/MultiMedia Card slot and a USB 2.0 port for both high speed image transfers to a computer and direct to compatible printer PictBridge support.
Konica Minolta DiMAGE X60
Beyond the physical, the X60 packs a lot of punch in its tiny body. It offers up an approximate eight tenths of a second shutter release time lag, providing little delay between recorded images. The five megapixel capability, according to Konica Minolta, teams well with their “CXProcess III” on board imaging technology to produce high resolution images with extremely natural colors. Also thrown into the imaging mix is a noise reduction process which Konica Minolta says will further provide quality shots, even under slower shutter speeds and dim lighting conditions.
Also in the internal programming mix is an “automatic digital subject program selection”, which essentially automatically determines the best image recording mode based upon the current environmental conditions. Five modes, which can also be chosen manually, are part of the selection process. Portrait works to enhance natural features like hair and skin tone, Sports Action attempts to better capture moving subjects with faster shutter speed, Landscape tries to make items in the foreground and background equally sharp, Sunset reproduces the color and glow of the setting sun and Super Macro attempts to get as close as two inches to a subject for an up close and personal shot.
Two other modes, Night Portrait for detailed night shots and Text for clearer photos of printed materials, can only be accessed manually.
Tying all of this off are features like a five point auto focus area to provide more flexible focusing, multi-segment (256) metering to better gauge and adjust light readings over the image area, spot metering to measure the brightness of a particular spot on a subject and the ability to overlay parts of an image in one of nine frames via “Image Pasting”.
Non still image functions of the X60 include the ability to record both movie clips with sound for the entire length of a memory card at up to 30 frames per second and also audio only clips. The camera comes with Kodak EasyShare and DiMAGE Master Lite photo software and has as an optional accessory a waterproof case which allows the X60 to be used underwater to a depth of approximately 131 feet.
