The Minolta A1 I just purchased has a "magnify" button whose function is
controlled by a menu option. Option 1 is a 2x digital zoom (empty
magnification but providing a quick and handy 2x view on the EVF and
LCD). Option 2 is a 2x or 8x magnification on the screens but without
zooming the final image. A minor annoyance is that option 2 is only
operative when in manual focus and, having selected that mode on the
setup screen, the 2x zoom view is disabled in autofocus.
Since the EVF screen is 320x240 the 8x view was apparently chosen to
provide a 1:1 pixel display of the 2560x1920 image on the EVF. It
certainly magnifies the image but this mode is best used on a tripod
since the image is bobbing around to much in a restricted view window
for easy focusing. Since the just announced A2 has a 640x480 EVF and a
3264x2448 image I would guess that the max magnification is 5x and may
be easier to hand hold for critical manual focus.
ps: I now have a little usage time on the A1 and anyone who is
interested in this as their "bridge" camera is invited to contact me off
list with specific questions.
First observations: feature rich (still haven't gotten all the way
through the 170 page manual), good, moderately fast lens with amazing
zoom range, pretty good macro, a bit noisy at ISO 100, generally well
built with metal frame but with cheapy plastic in places. EVF
frustrating compared to SLR but much better than peep hole optical
window. Diopter adjustment works well for me. Metering and focus seem
very accurate as long as you pay attention to what it's actually
focusing on. Autofocus point can be manually scrolled around the image
if necessary.
Main reliability concern is a couple of slide switches which move too
freely for a new camera and flimsy CF door and plastic snap lock (wear
point) on lens hood. Hood must be removed when using built-in pop-up
flash as the flash is not high enough to avoid being shaded by the hood.
Chuck Norcutt
C.H.Ling wrote:
> Both macro and tele is easire to tell even with low resolution LCD. At
> the meam time as the DOF is smaller the AF sensor works better under
> these conditions too and there is much less error. Just like the E-10, I
> seen quite some problem in focusing at the wide end, there was almost
> no problem at tele. No matter how sharp your eyes are, the LCD has too
> low resolution to identify a sharp focus at the wide end unless the object
> is very close.
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