Minolta DiMAGE E323 Review

The DiMAGE E323 employs a 3x optical zoom lens has a focal range of 5.6mm to 16.8mm, this is equivalent to a 36 - 108mm zoom on a 35mm camera. This is a seven-element, six-group glass lens with a maximum aperture of ƒ/2.8 - 4.9 allows the camera to be used in less than ideal lighting conditions without the need of the built-in flash.

The digital zoom can extend the optical zoom lens performance by four times giving the E323 an equivalent of a 432mm lens on a 35mm camera. An automatic protective cap closes over the lens when it is powered down.

Auto focus is handled with a Wide Area focus system with a range from a very close 4.3 inches (0.4m) to infinity.

The built in flash offers Auto, Fill-flash, Red-eye reduction and Cancel modes, it recycles in approximately 5 seconds. The flash range is approximately 0.8 - 9.5 feet (0.25-2.9m) in Wide angle and from approximately 0.8 - 7.5 feet (0.25-2.3m) in Telephoto (Camera sensitivity: ISO 200)

The 1.6-inch color LCD can be used for preview, review and menu selections. The E323's controls are minimal and simple. Along the top is the zoom lens controls, in playback they control the index and zoom display modes. The Mode Switch lets you select record or playback mode. When this switch is inthe center position it turns the color LCD off. The 4-way controller is used to navigate the menu system and to select images in playback. In record mode you press "up" to enable Macro focus mode and press "down" for the self- timer function. The MENU button calls up the onscreen menu system. On the bottom is the Flash mode button, press it to change flash modes, in playback it is used to set DPOF (printing) information.

On top is the ON / OFF switch and the Shutter Release.

On the top is the DC IN jack for the optional AC power supply or an external battery pack.

On the bottom is a single I/O port for connecting either the Video cable (selectable NTSC or PAL video format) or the USB 1.1 data cable.

The DiMAGE E323 is equipped with a SD/MMC card slot and is compatible with any size Secure Digital or MultiMedia Card. The camera ships with a 16MB SD card with a capacity of:

The camera is powered by two standard AA type batteries. We strongly recommend the use of high-capacity NiMH rechargeable batteries. You may also use a CR-V3 type lithium battery, these are only one-use (throw away) batteries but they have a very long shelf life and runtime capacity.