Product Description

The DiMAGE G600 provides exceptional image quality and high-speed response via a 6-megapixel CCD, 3X GT Hexanon zoom lens, and A*IPS electronics. This stylish-looking digital camera will appeal instantly to digital photo enthusiasts who demand high-quality images for business or personal use. The G600 will also grab the attention of advanced compact zoom camera fans with its traditional 35mm camera-like design and versatile feature selection.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64226 in Camera & Photo
• Brand: Konica-Minolta
• Model: G600
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 2.20" h x 3.70" w x 1.18" l, 1.00 pounds
• Display size: 1.5

Features

• 6-megapixel sensor captures enough detail to create photo-quality 14-by-19-inch enlargements
• 3x optical GT Hexanon zoom lens
• 1.3-second start-up time; capture movie clips up to 30 seconds with audio; PictBridge support
• Store images on Memory Stick or Secure Digital (SD) memory cards; 16 MB SD card included
• Powered by rechargeable lithium-ion battery NP-600 (included with charger)

From the Manufacturer
Outstanding Digital Performance in a Compact Camera Design The DiMAGE G600 provides exceptional image quality and high-speed response via a 6-megapixel CCD, 3X GT Hexanon zoom lens, and A*IPS electronics. This stylish looking digital camera will appeal instantly to digital photo enthusiasts who demand high-quality images for business or personal use. The G600 will also grab the attention of advanced compact zoom camera fans with its traditional 35mm camera-like design and versatile feature selection. High Definition, 6-Megapixel CCD The DiMAGE G600's 6 megapixel CCD delivers high resolution and outstanding image quality that is truly amazing for such a compact camera. The G600 captures images with sharpness and detail not possible with today's 2 - 5 megapixel cameras, and is powerful enough to reproduce extremely fine details and deliver stunning results even with prints larger than A3 size (18 x 14 in.) at 150 dpi.

Advanced A*IPS Electronics
A newly developed A* Image Processing System (A*IPS) further contributes to the DiMAGE G600's high image quality. Using an exclusive Konica Minolta algorithm; the subject, scene, and lighting are analyzed and the optimum focus, exposure, and white balance are determined in an instant. Superbly balanced images are captured quickly and effortlessly; enabling high quality prints.

3X GT Hexanon Zoom Lens
The DiMAGE G600's high-performance lens incorporates Konica Minolta's GT Hexanon lens system (7 elements in 6 groups) with 3X optical zoom, to bring out the most from the 6 megapixel CCD. The 3X zoom range is equivalent to a 39 - 117mm lens on a 35mm camera and is ideal for everything from wide-angle landscapes to telephoto full-frame portraits. The GT Hexanon lens provides excellent performance across the entire zoom range; images are rendered sharp and clear with minimal flaring and peripheral aberration.

High-Quality LCD Monitor
The DiMAGE G600's display monitor uses a 1.5-inch low temperature polysilicon TFT color LCD, with approximately 117,000 pixels for crisp viewing. The monitor's brightness as well as color tone can be adjusted as desired.

Rapid Response
The DiMAGE G600 is ready to shoot in an instant; startup time is a mere 1.3 seconds. This rapid response lets you photograph subjects as soon as you pull the camera out of your pocket and slide back the lens cover. While other digital camera owners are missing shots, you'll be happily on your way with captured images in-hand.

Logical, Ergonomic Layout
With the often-used features logically laid out on the camera's top panel, the basic operation of record-playback- delete is very simple. Even first-time users will find the DiMAGE G600 easy to use.

Quick Focus Check
With quick enlargement and positioning of the recorded image, sharp focus can be verified before viewing the image on a computer screen or as a printout.

Custom Settings
Settings and adjustments are made easy by color coded menus for quick navigation. Custom modes enable you to save your favorite settings. Exposure and white balance settings are simplified by a 4-way cross key from which adjustments can be made-including AE lock, AF lock, exposure compensation, and white balance.

Versatile Flash
The DiMAGE G600 features nine flash modes to accommodate virtually any type of subject or condition: Autoflash, Autoflash with red-eye reduction, Fill-flash, Off, Slow-shutter sync, Macro photo, Distant view, Self-timer, or Fixed-focus flash can be selected.

Adjustable Flash Intensity
To prevent the flash from whiting-out close subjects, the flash intensity can be increased or decreased according to subject distance and photographic conditions.

Locked Focus Recording Mode
To make it easier to shoot difficult-to-focus pictures such as moving objects, scenes in dimly-lit places, and backlit subjects, the focus can be selectively locked at 13.8 feet, 6.56 feet, or 3.28 feet.

Manual Exposure Mode
For maximum creative control, the DiMAGE G600's shutter speeds and lens apertures can be selected manually. Shutter speeds can be selected from 15 seconds to an action-freezing 1/2000 second.

Monochrome Modes
Two monochrome modes, black & white and sepia tone, provide a greater range of expression to creative photographers.

Audio and Movie Recording
Audio Caption lets you record audio notes up to 30 seconds long to pictures after they are taken. Voice Memo lets you record individual audio recordings up to 30 seconds each. Movie Mode records movie clips up to 30 seconds with sound at 320 x 240 pixels.

Creative Image Adjustments
The DiMAGE G600 offers an array of creative image adjustments. Color adjusts the vividness of colors from rich to plain. Contrast increases the contrast of low contrast scenes or decreases the contrast of high contrast scenes. Sharpness emphasizes the contour of buildings and landscapes and renders portraits and fine details you desire. Tone (red, green, and blue) produces effects mirroring those created with color filters; creating endless possibilities for creative expression through color. And to help you better handle tricky lighting conditions, ISO-equivalent sensitivity and flash compensation can also be adjusted.

Superb Macro Images
For beautifully detailed photos of small objects, the DiMAGE G600's macro mode lets you shoot as close as 2.4 inches from the subject on the wide angle setting.

Dual-Card Slot System
For flexible image storage and ample memory capacity, the DiMAGE G600 features a dual-card slot system that allows Memory Sticks or SD Cards to be used alone or in combination. When both memory card types are used at the same time, up to 640MB of data can be saved, depending on card capacity.

PictBridge Direct Printer Connection
Printouts can be made easily, without going through a computer, by directly connecting the DiMAGE G600 to a PictBridge-compliant printer. You can select which image you want to print on the camera's LCD monitor. PictBridge is an industry standard established by the Camera & Imaging Products Association (CIPA).

Long-Lasting Battery
The DiMAGE G600 uses a super long-lasting lithium-ion battery and a power-conserving electronic design to enable extensive operation from a single charge.

E-Mail Photo Resizing
With the DiMAGE G600, e-mailing images is simple and quick. The e-mail copy function makes a 640 x 480 (VGA) or 320 x 240 (QVGA) copy of an image onto the memory for easy Internet transfer or cell phone posting.

Dark Noise Reduction
Dark noise, an ever-present problem in electronic systems, gives a grainy or sandy appearance to images taken with long exposures. The DiMAGE G600 combats this with automatic noise-reduction, which activates for exposures of 1.2 seconds or longer.

Bundled with DiMAGE Viewer
DiMAGE Viewer supports the latest generation of Konica Minolta digital cameras. The Viewer complements the camera by allowing still and movie images to be processed and edited on a computer. A wide range of imageprocessing controls is available, plus a movie enhancer plug-in for editing and processing digital video. The DiMAGE Viewer can edit and process numerous common image-file formats and is not limited to Minolta or Konica Minolta cameras.

What's in the Box
Camera, Neck Strap NS-DG130, USB Cable USB-800, 16MB SD (Secure Digital) Memory Card, Lithium-Ion Battery NP-600, Lithium-Ion Battery Charger BC-600U, DiMAGE Viewer CD-ROM.

Customer Reviews

G600, more to be desired
Opinion
Fredrik in Sweden.

I had a 3 Mpix Olympus D-550 (C-300) for 12 months and it has been very difficult to find a better camera when it broke.

I first bought a Casio QV 5700, a semi-big and very sophisticated camera. It had all the features I wished for, bright optics, manual settings etc. but the size and ancient slow action bothered me. I swiftly returned it.

I realized I wanted something pocketable with great performance. Since no reviews on the web met my demands I finally went for the G600, the heir of a test winner, unreviewed until now.

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The G600 with a spare battery and 512 Mb is a good setup. After the first charge of 14 hours the battery was good for 250 images (no flash, always display and 3 unloads) The very first charge also charges the onboard memory battery so it will perform better after that. It also takes 10 cycles before the battery is ripe. I expect 300-350 images.

Charging takes 2 hours with the bundled charger, neat.

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A normal image in fine mode takes up about 1500-2800 kb of space. => 240 images on my SD card.

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The shutter lag is ok, but not as awesome as I got the impression of. (with focus lock it is pretty instant)

I flung a stick into the evening air and shot it while it fell and the result was really neat and sharp. (See sample)

Startup time is really quick.

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The size is dreamy. You can hardly feel it is in your front pocket on a pair of tight jeans. The metal gives it a sturdy feel.

The blue LED's on the front are a nuissance. They provide extra light for focusing etc. I don't know when they are activated, or if I can turn it off.

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I have some sample images for you here.
All handheld on a grey spring evening in Sweden.
http://www.microsaft.com/g600/ this page.

Problems
I dislike using flash, as a result indoor images turn up dark.
Some are VERY dark with the automatic setting in spite of normal illumination.
I somewhat enhanced this by increasing ISO to 200.

Still not as good as my Olympus D-550 (C-300) in low light. I feel it necessery to switch between ISO modes for indoor and outdoor shots. Requires clicking in the menu.

The G600 wants to use flash at all times indoors. Flash make the pictures flat and boring. I want to capture atmosphere, not cold hard vectors.

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The Automatic "focus depth" was very tight.
If I focus on my face, the eyes look great but the nose gets blurry. (My nose isn't huge). I am not sure how to compensate for this. (still learning)
In macro mode this is apparent when shooting a fat larva where half the larva is out of focus. Unless you only photograph coins... this is a problem.

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In the evening, the automatic light control make the images a tad less bright and less in contrast than real life. Increasing brightness and contrast +25 and +25 in Pshop helps evening pictures.

I suspect this can be adjusted in the white balance settings.

Much of this can be compensated for, with internal tweaking, once and for all. The colors overall are very natural and life like.

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The multi spot autofocus tend to pick the items in the background and not the thing I want to shoot.
I saw no reason to use spot metering until I got the G600.

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The amount of "flawed images" are less than with the Casio, and I think that when I get used to this one it will perform as well as the point and shoot Olympus. I am well on my way.
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I would love it if it had a "speed dial" to chose
between different scene modes.

The sound and avi format works very well.
16 seconds amount only to 2800 kb.

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I'd rather they had two compartments for batteries than two for memory cards. Running out of juice is a bummer when you are to shoot the sunset from the top of a hill.

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Some would say that the zoom is too fast.
It is, like the Borg would say, ...efficient.

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It could be easier to record sound and movies. The menu system requires clicking... clicking...

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I need to test the lense and ccd more, with some colorful sunsets, but so far the quality is really nice. I can count individual strains of hair on my head on my images. I'll keep this one, because it is portable and creates great images under the right conditions and decent images under strain.
A third battery may be an investment.

Manual settings will work out some of my problems.

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/Fredrik

My free for all, no copyright 1000+ image archive.
(Most shot with the Olympus, but that will change.) http://www.microsaft.com

Terrific Camera
I love this camera. I wanted a small camera. I looked at the Cannon Elph. After reading negative comments on the internet about the E-18 error problem and knowing a friend who had problems with the E-18 error right out of the box I decided to pass.

I have a bigger camera with many features, the Sony F717, and I love the pictures it takes. I guess it spoiled me because after seing another friends small Sony camera the picture quality was not as nice even with the higher megapixels. I had to purchase Sony Memory cards and after purchasing several(expensive) I wanted a small camera that could use them.

My old small point and shoot which finaly died used SDcards. I was resigned to switching but still wanted to be able to use my SDcards because I hate to waste money.

This camera seemed to be the answer to my dilemma. It uses the two media cards I alreay own. It has a sturdy metal body. The layout/design of buttons is easy and simple. I love the fact that opening the lens turns the camera on and off. I purchased an extra battery and keep it in the charger. The charger comes with the camera and charges fast.

It is a great point and shoot and has many features if you want to do more. It is small and fits in my evening bag but is not so small/delicate that I worry about damage.

It has an optical viewer as well as an lcd screen. I thought this was critical. If you need to take a picture in bright sun or want to conserve battery life use the viewer. One of the things I did not like about my old point and shoot was it only had an lcd screen. I was very careful with it and damaged the screen while on vacation and could not use the camera. I had to buy some disposeables and send it for repairs when I got home.

Konica makes a great product. It may not be as sexy looking as some but it is great and I have yet to take a bad photo. Two media cards is terrific. I was at a good friends wedding and went to visit family and with both cards in the camera I had enough space to take pictures for the week. I took 800 pictures a couple of movies and still had plenty of space. I put in two 512MB cards and did not have to worry about carrying extra cards.

I love this camera! Hope this helps you in your search, happy hunting!

great camera excellent pix easy menu
sturdy metal body good lens
top notch quality pix
menu navigation simple
manual control access a breeze
indoor manual tweaks may be fine tuned

read many web reviews
very happy with this choose