How can a camera company, get so many things right

[boku]

I am certain that Michael of Luminous will pick A2 as the winner of the bunch, and counting on Phil, of this wonderful site, of doing the same.

A little cut and paste snafu perhaps?

BTW - I'm agreeing with every word. The A2 looks like a very well conceived camera.

[Hawkeye]

Yep - the Minolta looks pretty good - BUT - have you looked at the Nikon Coolpix 8700? 8.0 megapixels, 8x optical Zoom-35mm-280mm in 35mm - Oh, I see, 35 instead of 28mm, that's a downside!
Ken

[Digi-T]

After reading about the A2 I was very impressed with its features and very surprised that there hasn't been more talk about it. But it is still early and maybe there will be. 28-200mm is just fine for me. I have the Sony F707 and I hate to continuously put on and remove the wide angle converter for it because I use it so often. It also makes the camera very conspicuous and the converter blocks the on-camera flash, very annoying. Some other features of the A2 that look very interesting are the focus tracking modes, fine tuning of the auto focus, and an advanced focussing method where you can zoom in the live preview and then move around to check critical focus. I am still consideing the digital rebel but this A2 could be exactly what I want. The few sample photos I have seen look very good with fairly low noise (also a better looking type of noise then the Sony), however I have only seen images at 100 ISO or lower so I don't how bad the noise at higher ISO's would be.

T

[joedevico]

I personally do not like the fully articulated LCDs and was tempted by the Canon Pro 1 for a little while, until I saw that "thing" sticking out the side.  I want to look and shoot in the same line, not look 2" to the left of my subject matter and I know many of you are in agreement.  I think Oly and Minolta have the right idea. Their LCDs are compact, professional and very elegant.

Why not just keep the LCD where it is and turn it out. I'm not sure about the Canon, but the Nikon will open out and then can be flipped over and put back in place while the LCD faces out. This way you can keep the LCD protected while traveling and use it in ny position while shooting. I like being able to hold the camera in positions other than eye level and still see the LCD. Keeps my knees in better shape when taking pictures of the kids. When shooting other stuff, I just keep the LCD back under the EVF, but facing out.

[Scott_H]

The oly doesn't appear to have manual focus or zoom rings though.  I'm a little disappointed by that.

[Shivz]

I think for photographers such as myself who are looking at these new crop of prosumer cameras as replacement for D-SLRs, every advantage counts.

For me the "must have" list includes:
vertical grip, since 80% of my shots are portrait style (lots of shoots with models).
28 mm start zoom.
Manual type focus.
A good EVF.

Only the A2 meets these basic requirements.  I am not too concered if it doesn't have the sharpest lens, (as long as noise and CA are kept in control) all my images get post-processed in PS.

[Shivz]

I am in no rush.  I handled an A2 today. It feels just like A1 and A1s are everywhere and easy to feel them out.  Also, I am not getting one, until I read some professional reviews.  But from what I see so far, it seems to be a nice product. Like I said, I have never been a Minolta fan, but this product deserves attention.  S

[Shivz]

I have been in the market for a new bridge-camera since Christmas. The good thing is that, I can wait a little, since I have decent gear that is working fine for me (10D, Canon S45 and a small Sony 3mp).  I was ready to buy the 828, when it was hot--now it seems like an older model, war beaten, the halo is gone and it only took about 2 months of it sitting on the retail shelves.  The A2 seems to be by far the winner in the super hot 8mp (2/3 chip) cameras that are emerging from all the major manufacturers.  

I personally do not like the fully articulated LCDs and was tempted by the Canon Pro 1 for a little while, until I saw that "thing" sticking out the side.  I want to look and shoot in the same line, not look 2" to the left of my subject matter and I know many of you are in agreement.  I think Oly and Minolta have the right idea. Their LCDs are compact, professional and very elegant.  I like that Canon is offering a higher pixel 2" LCD, but do not like the ergonomics of the camera, nor the lack of vertical grip.

Nikon not only has the fully articulated LCD, it doesn't offer a wide angel, nor a superior LCD, nor EVF.  So Nikon for my money has totally lost the challenge.  They do offer a vertical grip however.

Olympus on the other hand doesn't have the right combination of options to make the camera pro enough for my use.  I think Oly is perhaps the most "consumer" oriented camera of the bunch. 5X zoom, no vertical, standard LCD and EVF.

Sony, well, I already covered that.  It has become a pariah.  It will soon sell for $600. And although some people initially liked it for its resolution, and even took the camera on a Safari or two, that was before the rest of the manufacturers put their cards on the table.

Minolta, should be complimented.  I never really noticed them in the past, and sorry to say, was never really a fan.  But as I get to know the A1 and now the A2, I am very impressed at the amount of attention and focus to detail that has been invested in their top of the line gear.  The A2, may not have the sharpest lens in the group, but it has almost 1 meg EVF, vertical grip, the right kind of LCD (not important if it's not the largest of the bunch or the highest in resolution, since they got the EVF right), accepts studio flash, it is so incredibly compact in size, it is almost 30-40% smaller than the Sony, it has anti-shake, automatically selectable EVF/LCD function and 30fps video.  These guys should be awarded.  You can't get any better.

I am certain that Michael will pick A2 as the winner of the bunch.

Kudos to Minolta (now KonicaMinolta).

[Shivz]

Merci "Boku" for pointing it out to me.... I didn't even mention the manual focus ring.  I think only the 828 and the A2 offer that one. S

[Shivz]

I see, 35 instead of 28mm, that's a downside!

I think it is a downside too. if you get the Nikon, you know you are forced to get a wide angle converter, which may not be too bad if it had some other outstanding features that set it apart from the rest... S

[Shivz]

Hi, I have seen shots of the A2 is different ISO settings. The noise is acceptable until 200, then jumps way out in 400 and not useable at 800.  It's just a nice size camera that is over the top as far as features are concerned.  A company like that should be rewarded.  You know the EVF tilts up 90 degrees, also a very nice list of accessories as well.

[Shivz]

Hi Joe, the difference between these two types of LCDs is that, they both rotate up and down, but the fully articulated ones as in the Canon or Nikon, also turn totally over and either act as a LCD cover or enable self photography.  But in order to turn these LCDs up or down, you need to rotate them out, where as with the double axle LCDs, such as Oly or Minolta, they remain in the back of the unit, hence much more compact and elegant.  I guess, it is a matter of taste, more than anything.

[BJL]

It seems rather premature to declare one winner and a bunch of losers. I can see each camera having its advantages for various user tastes. Just on the basis of lenses (given that the sensors are basically all the same!):

A case for the Minolta A2 has already been made above.

The Sony 828 has a lens that is faster than the A2's and the Canon Pro1's, goes wider than the Nikon 8700's and has more tele. reach than the Olympus 8080's.

Nikon has the most tele reach: in my experience, adding wide angle coverage with a wide converter works better than adding tele converage with a tele converter (the latter tend only to work at a narrow range of focal lengths.)

Olympus, by staying with a less extreme zoom range of 5x, has at least a chance of better optical quality, and Olympus seems to be emphasising this aspect; some of the problems seen with the 828 seem to relate to the inherent difficulties of 7x zooms.

Canon has enough friends on this site, so I can probably leave it to others to defend the Pro1; the lens quality should be good if it really lives up to "L" standards and the claims that Canon has made for it.

[BJL]

The oly doesn't appear to have manual focus or zoom rings though.

True, and I suppose that I could turn around and find some disadvantage of each camera compared to the others! I was instead trying to indicate that each might well be preferred by some customers. For my "slow, wide" photographic style, which ever one has the least problems with distortion  and "colour fringing", while reaching 28mm equiv. at the wide end, would get a lot of slack on other weaknesses.

[Scott_H]

Shivz, I'd handle one before you bought it.  I know I am being negative again, but I handled a 7Hi and was pretty put off by the build quality.  Maybe the A2 is a big improvement, and maybe it's all good for you, but I was worried about durability where the 7Hi was concerned.