dawolf's Full Review: Konica Minolta DiMAGE S414 Digital Camera
I’ve worked as a semi-professional photographer and finally decided to buy a digital. In short I like the Minolta S414. For what I consider to be a point-and-shoot camera it’s an excellent camera with a very good lens, very, very good metering system, durable frame, and produces excellent images. Also, I was surprised to find several features professional photographers look for such as auto-bracketing, ISO compensation, manual white balance, focus hold, spot metering etc…. For the price it’s hard to beat. Two draw backs are that the auto focus doesn’t work that fast in low light, and it doesn’t have a hot-shoe for an accessory flash. Granted, neither does anything else in this price range. It’s not idiot proof, but if your comfortable working with equipment it’s a great camera, and I’d recommend it. If you want more details read on.
There are a few basic elements that make up a great camera. Media, lens, metering, and flash. I’ve been shooting with a Minolta Maxxum 8000i SLR for over ten years. I’ve found that a point and shoot camera like most of the affordable digital camera’s can’t compete with an SLR mainly because you are limited by the lens. The S414 can take great pictures under most circumstances, but like all point and shoot cameras has a limited depth-of-field. The maximum f-stop is an f8 in telephoto.
The metering system is top notch, even with night shots. I’d have to say it’s actually better than the metering on my SLR camera. Granted there has been a lot of advances since 1991. The media, in this case the CCD, can reproduce colors very well. It compares favorably with the Nikon. In the samples I saw in the camera store the Nikon seemed to do better than the Canon.
The flash, for a built in flash, does very well, It has a better range than the Nikon but when compared to the Sunpack accessory flash I use on my SLR, it sucks. Granted the Sunpak is a $200 dollar flash. The Minolta does not have a hot shoe for an accessory flash. Neither does the Nikon. The Canon G5 does however.
As for features and durability, the Minolta compares very well with all the cameras I looked at. Auto bracketing, white balance options, even manual white balance. ISO selection, full manual control, several pre-set modes, multiple auto-focus areas, several different filters the list goes on and on. It also has a built in buffer so you can take several pictures a second. I’d also like to point out that camera is well made. Minolta actually used metal in its construction. Granted that makes it heavier than the competition, but it feels good and tough.
One problem I have with the camera is the auto-focus system. The S414 has five focus zones. When in the full-Auto mode the camera will select any one of the five focus zones to focus on what it thinks is the subject. A good portion of the time it does this well, but part of the time it will focus on something that is meant to be the background. Going to the manual setting you can override this, and select which focus zone you want to use. Note that going to the manual setting doesn’t mean that everything is manual. You still have access to all the auto features, just not the pre-programmed stuff.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $350 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Flexible Enough for Enthusiasts
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