Konica Minolta A2 Review

There are now, or will be by early April, 2004, a total of five crossover digicams using the Sony 8 Megapixel 2/3" imaging chip. These include theSony F828,Olympus C-8080,Canon Pro 1, Nikon 8700, and the subject of this review theKonica Minolta A2. Since these five cameras all use the same chip, and most have fairly similarly configured lenses, it is very interesting to have a look at how these cameras differ, not only in their design, features and construction, but also in the image quality that they are able to obtain.
Engineers as Photographers
After some 40 years as a photographer, and almost half that time writing equipment reviews, it never ceases to amaze me how dumb camera designers can sometimes be. I am convinced that at several companies in Japan the folks that design cameras likely never actually take photographs with their creations — otherwise there's no explanation for some of the stupid and ill-conceived designs that we sometimes get.
But I'm happy to say t...