Best I have found yet!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Battery life, speed, ease of use, professional-type user modes

Cons: Lens cap does not clip on well, no AC adapter

The Bottom Line: 
If you are looking for a good SLR camera, look no farther. Superior to point & shoot cameras. You will not be disappointed!

Author's Review
After trying out several digital cams, I was lucky enough to stumble across the Dimage Z1. What a great camera! It is easy to use, menus are intuitive, photo quality and colors are excellent.

First off, let me say that I am NOT a professional photographer, yet this camera allowed me to take great photos from the beginning. Usually my wife takes all the pics, but even she was impressed with the product I was presenting her.

I recently used the camera on vacation, and was pleasantly surprised all around. I primarily used the auto and "sports" modes, resolution was 1280 X 960, fine mode. I took somewhere around 480 pics on one set of NiMH AA batteries, 1800 MaH type. (and I often let the camera go to "auto-off" in one minute, so that I did not have to turn it on manually; simply touch the photo button, and the camera comes on in just over one second) Switched to a spare set of 2100 MaH batts, no hassle there. The NiMH last quite a bit longer than the Alkalines, but the Alkalines can be had anywhere, not worries about finding spares.

The 10X zoom is incredible, colors & photos are rendered "as is", no distortion found thus far. Over 600 photos taken in 7 days, and my only complaint is the slower auto-focus in low light. I did not attempt to use manual focus for this scenario, though I suspect it would improve image quality/shot speed.

Not the smallest digital camera on the market, such as might be found with a point & shoot, but the body is smaller than your typical SLR camera, and it is light & well-balanced.

Comes with a 16 Mb SD card, definitely not large enough, but that is the norm with digital cams. Bought a 256 Mb card separately, am very pleased with it. Bought the card, 2 sets of rechargeable batteries, and the charger from Wal-Mart, cheapest I have found for those accessories.

The camera also takes high-quality (selectable 30 or 15 fps) video with audio. Most digi cams only offer 15 fps, this camera really shines with near-TV resolution. Around 4 minutes with 30 fps & 640X480 resolution chosen on my 256 Mb card. Switching to 15 fps & 320X240 yields over 11:45 of video on the same card. Not designed to replace a digital video camera, this camera nonetheless has great quality video built in.

Only drawbacks noted thus far:

The lens cap uses friction to stay in place, and is knocked off easily when the camera hangs from my neck. A clip-on design (where a rings fits into a groove) might be better.

No AC adapter provided with the camera, though it is a common plug & voltage (6 Vdc), so one can be found cheaply almost anywhere. Have not tried it yet, but doubt that the batteries will be charged while using the adapter on the camera.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with this camera. Among others I have sampled are the Panasonic Lumix, which has a 12X optical zoom, but battery life was not as good, and it was only 2MP. Optical zoom is important to me, so the normal 3-4X optical zooms fall short, in my opinion, and the other features of this camera are not lacking in comparison.

Updates will be provided if my opinion changes significantly.