Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z3

My current camera is a Konica-Minolta DiMAGE Z3. People ask me if it’s a good camera, and I’m not sure how to answer that.

Some people look at it and assume it’s a great camera because it’s larger than those tiny digital cameras that everyone seems to have in their pocket. But the truth is that it’s not much different from a pocket camera, especially in the way that counts the most: The sensor for capturing the photo is the same tiny size. (The size is designated as 1/2.5″, but don’t assume that means anything in the real world.) The main problem with a small sensor is that it has trouble picking out an image in low light. Either you need a long exposure and there’s a lot of motion blur, or you set the ISO speed up high and there’s a lot of noise in the photo.

There are three ways the Z3 improves on a pocket camera:

1. It has a larger lens assembly, allowing for a 12-to-1 zoom instead of the usual 3-to-1 zoom in a pocket camera.
2. It has room for 4 AA batteries, which last longer than the tiny batteries in some pocket cameras.
3. It has a hot-shoe on top for an external flash.

That last one was the most important to me because I hate the way most pictures of people look with the on-camera flash: pale, fat, and flat. With an external flash I can bounce the light off the ceiling and get lighting that looks a little more natural. Also no red-eye.

So, is it a good camera?

I can’t answer that because it depends what you want to do with the camera and how much you’re willing to spend. A top-end digital camera like the Canon EOS-1Ds Mk II will take spectacular 16 Megapixel photographs at lightning speed in all kinds of conditions. It will also set you back $8000. Without a lens.

In a year of learning about photography, I’ve realized that all cameras can be used to take good pictures under the right conditions. The difference between cameras lies not in the quality of the pictures but in the range of conditions in which the pictures are good and the degree to which the camera makes it easy to take pictures under those conditions.

I’m not saying there are no well-accepted differences in quality. Of coure there are. But photographers have diverse quality needs. For example, a small art-photography cult has grown up around $20 Holga cameras, which one camera dealer describes like this: “Soft focusing, full double-exposure capability, intense vignetting, and unpredictable light leaks all contribute to the Holga’s incredible photo effects. Each Holga is unique and produces signature images and peculiarities of its own.”

I guess the only answer is that my camera is what it is and does what it’s intended to do. When I use it under the right conditions, my camera takes some pretty nice pictures.