Minolta Dimage S404 4MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom

How do you make a good camera even better? With more pixels and more power. Think of Minolta's DiMAGE S404 as a "souped up" S304--there's a new 4-megapixel sensor, plus a faster processor for improved performance, but otherwise, it's virtually the same as their nicely designed 3-megapixel point-and-shoot.

An all-glass 7.15-28mm lens (35-140mm in 35mm equivalents) with 4x optical zoom offers more power than the 3x lenses found in most digital cameras. An anomalous dispersion element and twin double-sided aspheric elements work together to minimize chromatic aberrations and reduce curvilinear distortion, giving you crisp, accurate, edge-to-edge imaging. In addition to the optical zoom, the camera includes an additional 2.2x digital zoom. This feature merely crops the edges off your picture and blows up the remaining image, enlarging your picture at the expense of image quality. Most photo-editing software will let you do the same thing to your picture once you've transferred it to your home computer, so it's a camera feature that's not often used. To compose images, watch the 1.8-inch, 122,000-pixel color LCD monitor, or use the optical viewfinder for traditional image composition.

For professional results with the point-and-shoot operation of the S404, you can choose from five preset modes: macro, portrait, landscape, night portrait, and text. For more creative shooting, use a wide variety of adjustable features, including manual focus, selectable ISO, custom white-balance controls, exposure compensation and bracketing, and a digital-effects control that allows adjustment of color saturation, contrast, and sharpening. There's also a histogram function, a feature still found primarily on high-end digital cameras. A histogram is a graph displayed on the screen indicating the relative proportions of different levels of brightness in a shot you've taken, instantly letting you know if you've captured your shot with the correct exposure. A movable focus point allows for off-center compositions. Multisegment metering technology helps to provide accurate exposures. Four resolution modes cover the range from film-quality photographs to images for e-mail. Movie mode allows 60 seconds of live action and a voice-memo feature helps identify your work.

Four AA batteries power the camera (an optional AC adapter is also available if you're planning to do lots of studio photography). The benefit to using standard AA batteries instead of a custom proprietary battery is that AA batteries are widely available, so missing a once-in-a-lifetime shot due to dead batteries won't be an issue. The downside is that a digital camera will kill a set of alkaline batteries extremely quickly, especially if you're using the camera's LCD display. If you're an occasional photographer, you can get by with high-power disposables, but if you plan to take more than a handful of photos a month, a set of rechargeable batteries (scroll up to the Accessories section) is a virtual necessity.

For improved performance, the S404 has a 32 MB internal buffer for temporary storage of images. This improves shot-to-shot speeds and performance in continuous shooting mode.

The DiMAGE S404 comes complete with 16 MB CompactFlash card, A/V cable, USB cable, Minolta Image Viewer Utility CD-ROM, four AA alkaline batteries, lens cap, and neck strap.

Pros:

• 4-megapixel sensor captures filmlike detail in your photos
• Advanced features like shutter- and aperture-priority, plus histograms for more advanced photographers

Cons:

• No connection for external flash
• Included alkaline batteries are only a short-term solution