First of all, let me say that I LOVE the Z3! I would give it five stars, except for the comments below. The anti-shake technology is impossible to believe until you have used it, then you find yourself doing ridiculous things like hand-holding at an equivalent 300mm and 50th of a second--and getting acceptably sharp photos. I have gotten 1 shot that enlarged to 5x7 nicely, shooting from a braced position at about 1/4 second and ridiculously long zoom, (at least 300mm equiv.,) although I admit that only one shot out of half a dozen was that sharp.

The light weight is a pleasure to work with after my Nikon 35mm's, and at 250+ highest quality images on a 512MB SD card, you just forget about running out of "film." If you start getting low, you can reduce the resolution to 1/2 the 2272x1704 "normal" size and still use low compression, doubling the number of available shots at the cost of big enlargements. (It will also shoot about 30 min. of low-def video on the 512card, but I haven't tried it.) I would happily leave all the Nikons at home and take the Z3 as my primary camera for most anything except for two things.

Now the bad news. The built-in flash sucks, and because the exposure is read off the CCD the only supplemental flashes you can use are hotshoe mounted and dedicated to the Z3. No off-camera flash is available. The built-in flash is useless beyond about eight feet in dim light, which is no big deal because...

You can't see squat in the LCD viewfinder in low light anyway, and the camera doesn't have a supplemental focusing light. In a dimly-lit living room, you just aim blindly, hold down the shutter button, and the camera fires when it thinks things are at optimum. They usually aren't. The flash does a good job at what most built-in flashes do well...fill flash...but don't go anywhere at night or indoors thinking you have a flash on your camera. You mostly don't. And then there's the red-eye problem. My son-in-law has pale blue eyes, and I haven't gotten a really good shot of him yet, even from the side. The camera begs for off-camera capability. Synch plugs take so little space...but then there's the dedication thing.

Having said that, I do primarily nature photography in the daytime, so I haven't felt the need to buy a hotshoe flash or a digital body for my Nikon lenses. The latter, however, is just a matter of time. The Z3 is not a professional's camera, but I'm here to tell you it's a camera that a pro can have a helluve lot of fun with!

If I had it to do over again I'd spend the extra $60 and get the equivalent Panasonic strictly because of the low-light focusing l.e.d. aid, (it, too, has anti-shake, although a different system,) but I'm pleased with the Z3 and expect to have it for a long time.

Overall, the camera is not bad. The light metering can be a bit questionable in low light, and the memory card door is flimsy beyond belief (and catches on my camera bag to boot - I don't know how much longer it will stay on). But the photos are quite acceptable, and the zoom is amazing. I get good life out of my (purchased separately) rechargable batteries, and a 1GB SD card holds about 500 images.

Sadly, the software seems to be flaky - the camera crashes much more than one would expect. In addition, I think the backlights (LCD and viewfinder) are also software controlled, and when I lost both at the same time a few weeks ago, the camera was useless. The viewfinder came back the same day, the LCD a week later, and now I'm waiting for them to die again so I can send the camera in to be replaced. Their service is questionable - I've never gotten a response to my email, and repairs require sending the camera to their service center (no local or regional centers). Given the price to service ratio, I do not believe I will choose to deal with the company on my next (SLR) purchase.

I was looking for an excellent camera that I wouldn't outgrow any time soon and found it in the Minolta Dimage Z3. I had a lot of criteria I wanted in a camera including high optical zoom, image stabilization, high quality video with audio, quick startup and short lag time between exposures, rapid shooting function and a macro mode. This camera does all these things and does them well. The only feature it doesn't have that I kind of wanted was an auto focus assist lamp for taking pictures of people in dark settings.

The only cameras that even came close to this feature set were the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30K (which only takes 320x240 video compared to the Z3's 640x480 and costs quite a bit more but is 5mp) and the Fujifilm Finepix S5100, which is missing the image stabilizer that the Z3 offers but is quite a bit cheaper.

If your needs are similar to mine, you'll probably want to choose between this one and the Panasonic. If you already have a digital camcorder, I'd go for the Panasonic, but otherwise this is probably your best bet.

I needed a camera for a cruise we were taking to Anarctica and wanted a digital camera with a large zoom. After trying to decide for about a month, I bought the Z3 and an Olympus C770 together. I decided to keep the Z3 and return the C770, mostly because of some of the great features on the Z3. The antishake really seems to make a difference and I like how fast the camera is. The C770 wasn't exactly slow, but with the test pictures I took with it I got a lot more blurred ones than with the Z3. The ultra high speed shooting modes on the Z3 are great and I got a lot of pictures I would have otherwise missed with slower shooting rates, especially when taking pictures of wildlife. As one of the other reviewers mentioned, it sounds like a machine gun when its taking pictures. I could see it being a lot of fun with candid shots too. The focus is fast and there is almost no lag taking pictures once the object is in focus. Its still not quite SLR fast, but this camera's not an SLR. The zoom is great and when showing pictures to other people on the ship they couldn't believe how close the camera was able to get with just the optical zoom. The pictures it takes are pretty good, there is some purple fringing on some things, particularly in dark areas at higher zooms, but you really have to get in close or blow the pictures up pretty large to notice. I took a few videos on my trip to and thought they were pretty good. The focus seems to hunt a little bit at times which got a little annoying, but this isn't a video camera. I thought the white balance and color was very good and I had only a couple of pictures that I would say the colors were off. The white balance on the Z3 in auto was better than the Olympus, where I seemed to have to manually change the white balance modes, especially when taking pictures outside.

Now for my gripes. The body and its panels all seem on the cheap side. The access door for the USB cable is just a soft plastic flap and the access door for the SD card is kind of flimsy. I've accidently caught the SD card door on things a few times and worry it might get really caught one day and rip off. I've been tempted to but some tape or velcro on it to do a better job keeping it closed, but haven't been able to make myself do it. The Olympus body was metal and the access doors on it seemed a little sturdier. The Z3 also eats alkaline batteries and you'll want to buy a set of high capacity Li-ions. Once I bought a set I would easily get over a full 1GB cards worth of shots (almost 500) before having to change batteries. The Z3 does have a hard time focusing in low light and I agree with the other reviews that a focus assist light would probably help. The Olympus was no better. I also sometimes have a hard time finding the shutter release without hunting for it and every once in a while I catch myself trying to press the bezel surrounding the shutter release rather than the shutter release. I also wish the flash would either pop up automatically or have a button like the Olympus, rather than having to grap a little tab on the side of the section that pops up. It was sometimes really difficult to do with gloves on or even without having to stop what you were doing and look at the top of the camera. Also, plan to buy a higher capacity SD card because 16mb is a joke. I have just a regular speed SD card and have not had any of the problems some people were describing capturing video, but I do wonder if I would be able to capture more continuous shots in the ultra high speed modes without the camera having to pause. The Z3 is also a little larger (maybe bulkier is better word) than the C770 and while I felt I could have fit the C770 in a large pocket or even wife's purse, the Z3 won't fit in either.

So to sum my review up, the Z3 is a good camera with some limitations. Its probably the cheap feeling construction that keeps me from giving it 5 stars.

PROS:
Speed, speed, speed
Anti shake works
Great zoom
Good menu system

CONS:
Cheap feeling construction
Eats Alkaline batteries (plan on buying Li-ion)
Wish flash was easier to pop up
Its a little bulky

Plusses
- 12X zoom with anti-shake lets you take pictures of things that are difficult to capture otherwise. For example, I take quite a few pictures of my animals, and when you get close to them, they tend to move. This camera lets you maintain your distance and get a good shot.
- Video mode is good. High res, and works surprisingly well in low light.
- Very good ergonomics as far as controls are concerned. Menus for various camera modes are well laid out.
- Exceedingly fast operation. Turn it on, and it is ready to go. Repeated shots are also very fast.
- Easy access to real time histogram of current image.
- Reasonably powerful flash.
- Great macro and super macro mode.
- Takes AA batteries and SD cards.

Minuses
- Small LCD display, but with some use, you'll be able to tell if you got a good shot or not.
- I think familiarity with some of the other picture taking modes of the camera is a must (i.e. aperture and shutter priority modes).
- Some purple fringing at high zoom.
- Noise in images, even at low ISOs.
- Some difficulty focusing in low light situations.

I haven't noticed any problems with capturing video to my SD card, like the other reviewer mentioned (I have a Kingmax platinum card). Nor do I think the SD card door is `flimsy'. It is thin to be sure, but I've never had a problem with it.

I think color saturation is fine. Color balance is very natural on normal setting. Vivid color setting produces rich color. Battery life seems decent to me, I use high capacity NiMH cells.

Overall, this is not a SLR, but you're not paying the same money either. Overall, I think this is a decent camera and worth the price.

I bought this camera in factory-refurbished condition, which means the camera was returned to Konica by someone for any reason ranging from dissatisfaction with the camera to it being broken to they bought two different ones and decided on the other one. Konica then put the camera through its refurbishing process, ran it through a number of tests, and then resold it as "refurbished" through a third-party seller at Amazon.

At least, that's how it's supposed to work.

When I opened the box, there was a Konica sticker on it that said "refurbished condition," and inside was a card offering a 3-month warranty. The camera didn't work. It froze repeatedly, and couldn't be turned off with the power button; the batteries had to be removed. The zoom stopped working halfway through a video. The autofocus seemed to be the source of most of the problems with the camera; it would attempt to focus on something, suddenly go blurry, and then freeze. Several times when I turned it on, it froze before I could even take a picture.

Needless to say, I'll be returning the camera. My advice is that no one purchase it in refurbished condition; whatever tests they supposedly ran on it at Konica to ensure that it was in proper working order failed miserably. I don't understand how this camera could have passed any kind of test. Save your dollars and buy it new. It seems like it would be a great camera--if it worked.

I'm more of a point and click kind of guy so I won't get into the technical aspect of the camera.

I purchased this camera about 8 months ago. I've taken it on every outdoor adventure that I've been on since. Mount McKinley, Yosemite, Ruth Glacier, ice and rock climbing, a couple 2 week long sea kayak trips, etc, etc.

About 2 months ago on a sea kayak trip in the Gulf of Alaska, the zoom and auto focus stopped working(I beat my gear but I didn't think that I beat it TOO hard). By the way, I really take my gear to the limits, so don't allow this malfunction to change your mind about this camera.

Fully expecting to have a huge problem getting this camera serviced under warranty, I sent it in with an invoice printed from Amazon.com.

I had my camera back within 10 days. No questions asked.

If only all of my warranty work went so well!

I opened my box, camera was scratched on lcd viewer, was supposed to be NEW condition...then after reading instructions, found that it would not function unless the batteries were like new..took to soccer match as I shoot a lot of sports pics...well, would not focus clearly at all at over 100 yards..all my shots were blurred at this distance...do not like the idea of no protector over the lcd viewer.(also, nearly impossible to see in light) .was obviously scratched in shipment as was sitting on it in the box..parts were not included in the box as stated on line...talked with factory rep. told me it should be returned for service,etc..I am waiting on replacement from AMAZON an will see if it is any better, if not, will go back for a different brand, type, etc..

Overall, the camera is not bad. The light metering can be a bit questionable in low light, and the memory card door is flimsy beyond belief (and catches on my camera bag to boot - I don't know how much longer it will stay on). But the photos are quite acceptable, and the zoom is amazing. I get good life out of my (purchased separately) rechargable batteries, and a 1GB SD card holds about 500 images. Image quality is pretty good, although it is all JPG - this may or may not make you happy.

The camera I bought had flaky software and hardware, which survived to some degree for almost the length of the warranty before giving up the ghost. Service was not the most friendly (some of my emails simply never got a response), but they did fix the camera and now everything works fine.

The biggest problem with this camera is the focusing apparatus...much too sensitive and frequently does not work. The pictures are never as clear as my SLR Canon and I shall go back to that. The viewer is entirely too small and difficult to see whether the clarity is truly there. The wide angle adaptor lens is also not productive. Especially annoying with the camera is with a small group of people at relatively same range of distance......most of them are out of focus (and, yes, I did focus on the one at mid-range. The company at 47th street disregarded my request for a new operator's manual and suggested I get one through Google......fine, but I couldn't download it onto a disc with my limited features on my computer! Writing to Konika Minolta in New Jersey over three months ago brought no satisfaction from them, either. Incidentally, I misplaced the operator's manual while returning from a painting trip to Florence, Italy the early part of October 2005. Nothing but frustration with this Konika Minolta and the representatives!

I have owned this camera for 16 months. I'd guess I am an average user in respect to how often I use the camera. I have taken extremely good care of it. Not a single mark on it. One day it just stopped working. Wouldn't turn on. It's currently at Minolta to be fixed to the tune of $160. Personally I find this unacceptable. My suggestion is to look at other brands.

one word to describe this camera would be "QUICK" startup. battery life is excellent. LCD(not optical) viewfinder is a cool addition. though autofocus is a little slow under high zoom, i like the other features. simplicity is what you will find when you operate the software. it is a very good buy compared to similar cameras with 12x zoom with Anti-Shake. 4MP is a little low for big natural scenaries, but it suits me just fine. i shall always recommend this camera for beginners and intermediate photographers.

We love this camera. We have owned if for about 6 mos now and have no complaints about it. We returned the better rated Olympus Camedia C755 and bought this instead and have not regretted it for a moment. We have none of the low light shooting problems that others have reported. Nor have we experienced any descrepancy in the viewfinder image quality versus the actual image quality. It is very user-friendly and the design is very comfortable, and I like the way it looks. The fact that this camera has been discontinued along with all Konica Cameras was a bit of a concern, but they farmed the customer support out to sony so you would not be completely left hanging if something did go wrong. But with any electronic product it is a crap shoot that you will never have to use their horrible customer service. It seems to me this is no different. My only complaint is that it runs on AA batteries instead of a rechargeable battery pack. This is nice because you will never run out of battery power when you really need it, but it sure gets expensive. This camera does not run through batteries exceptionally fast but it still adds up quickly. We love this camera and would recommend it to anybody.

My high school-aged son bought this camera to use in his photography class. If I had written the review earlier, I would have had nothing but good to say, with the exception of noting that this camera does not have RAW files. The image stabilization feature for a camera in this price range is a wonderful feature; however it is the one that has malfunctioned. Prior to this problem, neither my son nor I had any complaints. From macro shots to telephoto shots, all were incredibly sharp. Color was true-to-life. Ease of use was fantastic, right out of the box. However, about a month into my son using it every day in school for photography class and the annual staff, he noticed a warning light for the image stabilization feature. A call to tech services confirmed that this camera has a malfunction that needs repair. I cannot speak to the quality of service, as my son needs this camera through the end of the semester. After that, we will send it in for repairs. I would keep in mind that this is a 16 year-old boy that owns the camera. He is fairly responsible (especially with things HIS money purchases)but is possibly more rough on a camera in a school setting than an adult would be in most situations. Even without the anti-shake, we love this camera. Just don't know if this is a common problem.

I'm just a vacation picture taker and only used this camera while on vacation about 2 times a year for 2 years. It suddenly stopped working properly. The lens started shaking when turned on and then it wouldn't take pictures. This camera was not mistreated! I was very pleased with its performance up to this point. Great pix and great features but not worth fixing at $181.00 by Sony.

i love this product and mine is referb the anti shake is ausome u really need that when you lock your shutter open it is the best this is not a camera that you want if you want to point and shoot so it is not a camera for a starting kid

If you like manual photography on a budget, this camera is for you. It's cheaper than a real SLR, but offers many of the same features.

In full manual mode, the shutter is lightning fast. There's no delay. You can use this for sports photography. The macro mode is amazing.

The downside? The flash is weak and the flash angle is bad. To make best use of the internal flash, use a diffuser (or bounce the flash using a bit of paper) and slow down your shutter.

The white balance needs to be reset whenever your lighting changes. Don't trust the auto mode.

Don't trust most of the automatic features for that matter unless your are taking photos in bright sunlight. They frequently choose the wrong settings and they add a lot of delay to your pictures.

The low light performance of this camera is amazing for its size (in manual mode). You can take flashless photos thanks to the large sensor size and anti-shake technology. I've handheld shots for a second or more with no visible blurring.

All in all, the manual controls are the only reason to get this cameral. If you like having control over your camera as much as I do, this camera is best in class. If you want to point-and-shoot in anything other than bright light, look elsewhere.

I used this camera a lot. It took great pictures. My wife is visually impaired and took great pictures ( this was the first camera she was able to do that with ). BUT two years later the zoom stuck in one position, sent it to Sony for repairs and was quoted $211 and some change. NO THANK YOU!!

Minolta Dimage Z3, 02-2008
This was exactly as indicated on the net and was received in a very timely fashion. Great Cooperation.

The Z3 is a great little camera; I bought it 3-4 years ago to tide me over until DSLRs came into my price range (which they did a couple of years before I had expected). Still I find the Z3 is a handy grab-and-go camera when I don't want to be bothered with my DSLR (maybe when I get an 18-250 lens for my DSLR the Z3 will be retired---maybe). I also like the ability to use it as a video camera, though the duration that will fit on the SD cards is not all that long.

The long zoom range (35mm equivalent of 35-420) makes it an incredibly versatile camera and with the anti-shake feature the telephoto range is usable. The camera provides a range of manual adjustments that rival those found on SLRs. The image quality is good. If the camera had an optical viewfinder rather than an EVF I would rate it 5 stars (the best that there is for its niche); as it is the EVF makes it hard to see the fine details in a shot sometimes. I don't use the LCD on the back for shooting since I don't like taking pictures with the camera at arms reach.

I purchased this Dimage Z3 Digital Camera as a replacement for an identical one I had that got damaged beyond repair. My original had gone to places as far reaching as Churchill ,Canada to see the Polar Bears, and Africa on safari. The photos I have taken have been really excellent and often as good, or better, than some taken with much more expensive SLR cameras. The anti- shake technology works very well. I'm not a pro, but this camera makes me look like one.Konica Minolta Dimage Z3 4MP Digital Camera with Anti Shake 12x Optical Zoom