Minolta DiMAGE Xt Review

The DiMAGE Xt is an automatic "point-n-shoot" type camera, the exposure is handled by a Programmed AE system. The white brackets in the center indicate where the autofocus zone is located. Other icons indicate flash mode, image size and quality, ISO setting, drive mode and the approx. number of pictures remaining.

Record mode menu options:

BASIC
Drive Mode - Single, Continuous, Selftimer
Image Size - 2048x1536, 1600x1200, 1280x960, 640x480
Quality - Super Fine (TIFF uncompressed), Fine, Standard, Economy (JPEG)
White Balance - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent
Key Func. - Allows you to pick a function for quick access on the 4-way selector: Exp. comp., White balance, Drive mode, Sensitivity and color mode.

Custom1

Sensitivity - Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400
Metering mode - Spot and MultiSegment
Exp. comp. - +/-2 in.3ev
Noise reductn. - On / Off
Auto reset - On / Off

Custom2

Color mode - Color, B&W and Sepia
Voice memo - On / Off (Record annotation after image capture)
Date Imprint - On / Off (imprints date on image)
Digital zoom - On / Off
Inst.Playback - On / Off











The DiMAGE Xt has a very respectable macro (close-up) focusing capability. There is no dedicated macro mode but the focusing range is from six inches to infinity in all focal lengths.










In Movie mode you can record full motion video in 320 x 240 or 160 x 120 resolution at 15fps with audio. The length of these movies are limited only by the amount of memory on the card being used. The supplied 16MB SD card can record 41 seconds of 320 x 240 video.










Movie Record mode menu:


Basic:
Recording Mode - Movie, Audio
Image Size - 320x240 and 160x120
White Balance - Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent
Color mode - Color, B&W and Sepia











In the audio recording mode the DiMAGE Xt can be used like a digital voice recorder to capture up to 180 minutes (depending on SD card capacity) of monaural audio.










Basic

LCD brightness - Adjust color LCD backlight
Format - Format SD Card
File # memory - On / Off
Folder name - Std. form or Date form
Language - Set camera menu Language

Custom1

Audio signals - Camera sounds: On or Off, Sound FX: On or Off
Shutter FX - Off, Record your own or Select from two prerecored (Shutter sound effects)
CustomRecord - Camera sounds: Shutter and Focus
Volume - 1 (Low), 2, 3 (High)
Power off - Auto power off: 1, 3, 5, 10 or 30 minutes

Custom2

Reset default - Resets camera functions to factory defaults
Date/Time set - Set time and date in internal clock
Date format - YYYY/MM/DD, MM/DD/YYYY, DD/MM/YYYY
Video output - NTSC or PAL
Transfer mode - Data storage or RemoteCamera