Minolta DiMAGE G500 Review

(Excuse the poor quality of these screens but the DiMAGE G500 does not have a Video Out feature so these had to be photographed off of the color LCD.)

A typical record mode screen display. Across the top is "SD" indicating that we are currently using a Secure Digital (or MMC) type memory card. This will change to "MS" to indicate Memory Stick or "IN" when no card is inserted and you use the 2MB of internal memory. The flash is disabled. Other possible icons are Red-eye reduction, night portrait, macro, infinity, white balance and selftimer. On the bottom is the battery condition, number of images remaining, quality FINe, and 2592 x 1944 image size. In the center are the focus target marks.

(Note the following menu screens show the "Details" view, you can select the simpler "Basic" mode if you don't want to be shown ALL the possible options.)

Page 1 of record menu:

RESOLUTION -
SIZE - 2592x1944, 2048x1536, 1600x1200 or 640x480
COMPRESS - Fine or Standard

MOVIE ON - Enable/disable movie recording mode
EXPOSURE - Exposure compensation, +/-1.5EV in 0.3EV steps
WHITE BALANCE - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Fluorescent, Tungsten
AE - Should be called "metering" - Center or Spot options

Page 2 of record menu:

MONOCHROME - Enable the Sepia or B&W mode
DIGITAL ZOOM - Enable/disable the 2x digital zoom
MONITOR ADJ. - Adjust the brightness of the color LCD
VOICE - Record voice memos, max time is 15 secs.
ADD REC - Add or delete a voice memo to a captured image, max 15 secs.

Page 3 of record menu:

SLOW SHUTTER - Set the shutter speed for night portrait flash (see below)
MAN EXPOSURE ON - Enable/disable manual exposure mode
QUALITY - Configure the Mode #1 or #2 setting with:
ISO - Sensitivity (Auto, 50, 100, 200 or 400)
FLASH - Flash output (-1, -0,5, 0, +0.5, +1)
SATURATION - Color saturation (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2)
CONTRAST - Contrast amount (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2)
SHARPNESS - Sharpness amount (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2)
COLOR - Adjust Red, Green and Blue (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2)

SETUP - Enter the SETUP menu, see below
RETURN - Exit menu, return to record screen

In the record Manual mode you can select both the shutter speed and aperture. When you half-press the shutter the EV (exposure value) will be displayed, you use it like a light meter to adjust your settings accordingly.

When using the night portrait flash mode you can select the desired shutter speed from this menu.

Typical movie recording screen. You can record motion video with audio for up to 30 seconds per clip. There's enough free space on our SD card to hold 95 movie clips. The optical zoom can be set before recording starts - not during. The digital zoom is disabled.

You can also record voice memos for any purpose required. The maximum recording time is 15 seconds and these audio recordings are saved as Windows' WAV files.

Page 1 of Setup menu:

FORMAT - Format SD card, MS card or IN(ternal) MEMORY
REC MENU - Set the menu display mode: Basic or Details
QUICK VIEW - Enable/disable image review after capture
INFO DISP - Enable/disable information overlays on LCD
SOUND - Turn camera sounds (beeps) on or off

Page 2 of Setup menu:

DATE SET - Set the internal clock
SELF TIMER - Self timer delay - 10 or 3 seconds
AUTO POWER OFF - Set auto time off to 3 min., 10 min. or Off
NUMBER RESET - Reset the file numbering sequence
MEMORY PRIORITY - If you use both types of media you can select which one has priority - SD or MS

Page 3 of Setup menu:

LANGUAGE - Set the menu language
ADD REC SET - Select whether the voice memo feature is always on for recording immediately after capture or "If Selected" lets you do it later if desired.
CUSTOM - Define custom functions for the 4-way controller
DEFAULT - Change all Setup options back to default
RETURN - Exit menu system and return to record screen