Digital Trends

Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D

September 15th, 2005 | by David Elrich

Features and Design

The Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D is a bruiser of a camera, weighing in at 20.8 ounces for the body only, six ounces less than the 7D. The 7D has a magnesium body accounting for the extra weight. When you add the things you'll need such as a lens, CompactFlash card and battery it tips the scales at 33.4 ounces. Remember: D-SLRs are commitments so expect to buy a bag in order to carry all the goodies around.

The black-bodied camera is made of carbon fiber and plastic. Although slightly less intimidating than its more expensive sibling, it still reeks of heavy-duty photo firepower. There's no mistaking this for a Canon Digital ELPH. There's a nice grip with a conveniently placed shutter button as well as a control wheel to make manual adjustments. The front is fairly plain but the key thing to note is the “AS Anti-Shake” logo—and of course the slot for interchangeable lenses. The built-in Anti-Shake CCD is one of the key selling points of this D-SLR since it acts as an image stabilizer, letting you shoot at slower shutter speeds without blur. And it works with all Minolta AF lenses so you don't have to buy expensive glass with built-in image stabilization as offered by Canon and Nikon. The front also has the Depth of Field preview button.

The top of the 5D has that analog (35mm SLR) feel with dials used to adjust white balance and the various modes including Program Auto Exposure settings such as Portrait, Landscape and so on. In the old days the dials were used to wind the film and change shutter speeds—thank God for progress! You'll also find an ISO button, a self-timer/burst button as well as a cap for the hot shoe and the flash that has to be manually raised. It's on the rear of the 5D that you'll see the biggest differences with the 7D. Many of advanced settings such as a Spot AF button and a Focus Area switch are gone. However, there's still plenty to play with. There's a 2.5-inch LCD to read the very clear menus and review your shots, the optical viewfinder with eye sensor that shuts off the LCD when you bring the camera to your face and the Anti-Shake on/off switch. The 5D's LCD is rated 115k pixels while the 7D is 207k, a huge difference. There are also keys for Fn, +/- and AEL that stand for Function and Auto Exposure Lock. The +/- lets you adjust exposure compensation, enlarge the playback image and more.

By pressing the Fn button you can access features that show this camera is for serious hobbyists such as advanced metering and focus modes as well as overall color tone (natural, B&W, two types of Adobe RGB).

One side of the camera has the CompactFlash card slot while on the opposite side you'll find a key to switch between auto and manual focus.

The camera is supplied with a neck strap, body cap, a Lithium Ion battery and charger, two CDs with DiMage Master Lite, Kodak EasyShare software and instruction manuals in various languages. There's also a 148-page printed owner's manual but no Quick Start guide, something a camera this intimidating needs for first-timers and film converts. Like all D-SLRs, no memory card is supplied so budget for a 512MB or 1GB high-speed card. A 1GB SanDisk Ultra II such as the one I used is $129 on the company site but a web search will find better prices. After charging the battery, attaching the 18-70mm kit lens that equals 27-105mm in 35mm terms, loading the card and setting the resolution to RAW+JPEG it was time to fire away.

Image Courtesy of Konica Minolta