Konica Minolta Dimage Z5 5MP Digital Camera with 12x Anti-Shake Zoom

After taking about six shots the camarea developed a black area on the right side of the image. I purchased a Canon XT made in Japan not China. I live in Toronto Canada and the camera was shipped surface using United Postal Services (UPS) they charged me CND $44.00 in brokerage fees, this was on top of the $29.00 I paid for shipping (this was refunded) and I also incured CND $22.00 for return shipping. I still have to figure out how to get the GST and PST returned.

I did receive a prompt refund on returning the camera. Be aware of the costs when purchasing on line outside Canada. I was told that there would be no brokerage costs if the item had been shipped by air.

I bought the Dimage Z5 after holding and trying the Canon S2IS, a Kodak, Sony, and a Lumix. I liked it. I still do. Previously, I used Canon and Nikon 35mm and APS cameras. I still have them, and meant to still suse them. But the Z5 was so good, and so convenient, I rarely am even tempted to go back to the film. The sharpness and colors are unbelievably good. It is hard to understand those who feel otherwise, unless there are major variations.

There are a few weak spots. The viewfinder is not as sharp as I would like, but since I can retake the picture quickly, it is not terribly serious. On a few occasions, trying to take closeups, the auto focus has trouble. The menus are a bit obscure at times, but there is a whole lot there. Mostly, the automatic feature is so good that I use it most of the time. I have made enlagements up to 8 x 10 and the sharpness compares very well with my best quality Canon and Nikon 35mm lenses.

Too bad the company stopped making cameras. My first and last from Konica or Minolta.

I like this Camera for its ease of use. Good for amatures and for people like me who likes photography as a hobby. It does kind of short when it comes to some picture quality( just a little bit). but dont get me wrong! the photos are great, colors are lively ! but compare to DSLR- Digital Single Lens Reflex cameras with interchageable lenses this camera (Z5) is a little bit short in photo quality. If you're more of a Pro-hobbyist in photography this camera is not for you, better go for Nikon D50 or Canon Rebel XT. But for now, My DImage Z5 is all I need. The picture quality is close to my Nikon N6006 SLR Film Camera. It out performs my Nikon Coolpix 775, HP Photosmart E317 5.0 MPixels & Vivitar 3.0 MP. Im kind of a little bit dissapointed because after a few months that I bought it the newer Model Z6 arrives with the same price tag. The Z5 has a better VGA Video ( 640 X 480 @ 15 or 30 fps) than the Z6 ( 320 x 240 @ 15 or 30 fps.)only. This is also one of the reason why I bought the Z5, because of its video. There's a lot of times that we want also to take video of let us say Family gatherings and we dont want to carry that bulky camcorder, well this is the solution to it. Oh by the way Z5 has 12X Optical zoom & 4X Digital zoom, If we compare the range with the 'old-fashioned' 35mm camera it has a range of 35 - 420mm. With this kind of zooming power who needs an interchageable lenses ! and with my added telephoto lens my Z5's zooming power is more than 12X ( 420 mm ) and with anti shake system this camera is awesome !
Z5 is a great Camera and Im enjoying it so far and I recently using it with the Wide angle and telephoto lenses : )

Having owned only a Fujifilm Finepix A200 before this and being all of sixteen years old, I consider myself to be an amateur in the professional camera field; however, I have had this camera for almost four months now, and I have noticed some shortcomings.
For months, I had been eyeing the Canon S2 IS. I had done extensive online research, and that seemed to be the best camera in the field: it was definitely an improvement from my old camera (which was a PHD camera: Push Here, Dummy), yet at the same time was not so complicated that I, the amateur, would not know what to do with it. I waited with bated breath on Christmas Eve, hoping for the camera of my dreams and fearing that it would prove too expensive for my parents to afford (as it turned out, my father had rallied all twenty or so of my aunts, uncles and such and had collected a contribution from each of them; that camera was the reason I got no other gifts that year). When the time came, I reverently opened an appropriately-shaped box with my name on it, hoping against hope...and all of my expectations came crashing out the sky, trailing smoke, as I saw something that, while still a camera, was definitely not the Canon S2 IS of my dreams. The first thought that ran through my disappointed brain was, "Oh, no! Dad's gone and gotten some crappy Japanese look-alike!"
The Dimage Z5, obviously, is neither crappy nor a look-alike; it does, however, lack a fold-out screen, which is not a great loss, but there have been numerous times when that nifty little feature would have come in handy. It works beautifully in bright sunlight, and the colors are perfect; however, it has trouble focusing when I zoom all the way out to 12x, requiring me to set up my tripod for want of a steady hand, and when I use the zoom under dimly-lit conditions it cannot focus at all. Having had no experience with other brands and types, I cannot say whether this tendency is a shortcoming or not, but I suspect that it is.
One of the reviews I have read mentioned a lack of explanation concerning technical jargon. I find that I must agree on this point ("What on earth does 'telephoto' mean??"). While paging through the included instruction manual, I was frequently forced to ask my father what some term or other meant and which feature did what. But this lack is not serious.
I must admit that I love almost everything about this camera. I am planning to be a professional photographer someday, and this camera seems a good place to start. I am disappointed, however, that there seems to be no fisheye lens available for this model. And, relevant or not, I feel that I have to include the following:
My father paid almost $500 for the Dimage Z5 a little over four months ago.
Currently, the Dimage Z6, a newer model, is going for about $250, and the Z5 is not even available straight from Amazon.

Go get yourself a Z6.

I have had other super zoom cameras from other brands. I kept this Z5 for 3 months only primarily for one reason: Noise

In case you don't know what noise in photography means, it looks like random sand grain on a low-light photo. Konica Minolta Z5 is very very bad in terms of noise. Don't expect you can take anything decent with Z5 under in-door scenario without flash.

Other features work fine, such as the anti-shake feature and long battery life (due to AA sized battery). However, the ultimate outcome of a camera is the image. If the image quality is bad (mentioned above), other nice features seem insignificant.