Minolta DiMAGE E201 Review

The lens is an 8.2mm (equivalent to ~38mm in 35mm format) f/3.0 - 13 (4 steps) all-glass consisting of 5 elements in 2 groups, including 4 aspheric surfaces. Focusing range is 1.96 feet (0.6m) to infinity in normal mode and 0.98 - 1.96 feet (0.3 - 0.6m) in macro mode.

The Digital Zoom feature magnifies the area being photographed by a ratio of 1.4X or 2X but results in a smaller captured image size.

Flipping the lever next to the lens - opens the protective cover and turns the camera on in record mode.

The 1.8-inch color LCD monitor on back allows the user to view the image composition, play back the stored images or access the menu system. The MENU button calls up the onscreen menu system. The ENTER button accepts menu selections and turns the camera on in Playback mode. The two buttons on the right side let you navigate the menus and change images in Playback mode.

The Mode Dial has positions for Movie record, Setup, Continuous record, Single record, Selftimer record and Connect to PC. s

On the top of the camera is the monochrome LCD status display, the digital zoom control button, the exposure compensation button (locks images in play mode) and the flash and macro focus button (deletes images in play mode.)

This is the monochrome LCD display showing all possible icons.

An optical viewfinder is provided with framing much like that of a traditional film camera. As you can see there is a center autofocus target area and framing guides.

The DiMAGE E201 is powered by four AA size batteries; alkaline, lithium, NiCd, or NiMH type may be used. It can also be operated with an optional AC adapter.

Access to the CompactFlash Type I card slot is also via the battery compartment, Minolta includes a 8MB CF card.

You can display stored pictures on any NTSC-compatible TV set using the Video Out port and the supplied video cable. The camera can be powered by an optional AC adapter via the 6V DC IN port.

The DiMAGE E201 can be connected to a Windows 98 or Macintosh USB-enabled computer using the bundled USB cable. High-speed digital image downloading is possible up to 12Mbps.