Minolta DiMAGE Xi manual

INSTRUCTION MANUAL E[...]

2 3 B EFORE YOU BEGIN Thank you for purchasing this Minolta product. Please take the time to read through this instruction manual so you can enjoy all the features of your new digital camera. This manual contains information regarding products introduced before October , 2002. T o obtain compatibility information for products released after this da[...]

4 5 F OR PROPER AND SAFE USE W ARNING General warnings and cautions for product use. W ARNING • T ape over the lithium-ion battery contacts to avoid short-circuiting during disposal; always follow local regulations for battery disposal. • If charging is not completed after the specified period elapses, unplug the charger and discontinue chargin[...]

6 7 F OR PROPER AND SAFE USE • Do not use or store these products in a hot or humid environment such as the glove compartment or trunk of a car . It may damage the camera, charger , and battery which may result in burns or injuries caused by heat, fire, explosion, or leaking battery fluid. • If the battery is leaking, discontinue use of the pro[...]

8 9 Special focusing situations .................................................................................................... ..25 Flash modes ............................................................................................................................26 Flash range - Automatic operation .......................................[...]

10 11 N AMES OF P AR TS * This camera is a sophisticated optical instrument. Care should be taken to keep these surfaces clean. Please read the care and storage instructions in the back of this manual (p. 90). Flash (p. 26) Self-timer lamp (p. 32) Lens* Main switch Microphone A V -out-terminal/USB-port cover Viewfinder* Indicator lamp (p. 87) Mode [...]

12 G ETTING UP AND RUNNING GETTING UP AND RUNNING This section covers how to prepare your camera for use. Details on the use and instal- lation of the battery and memory card are given as well as how to attach the hand strap and optional AC adapter . Charging the lithium-ion battery Before the camera can be used, the lithium-ion battery must be cha[...]

14 15 G ETTING UP AND RUNNING Battery-condition indicator Full-battery icon - the battery is fully charged. This icon is dis- played for three seconds when the camera is on or switched between the recording or playback mode. If power is insufficient for camera operation, the indicator lamp next to the viewfinder will turn red and blink for three se[...]

The response time during recording and playback is longer with MultiMediaCards com- pared with SD Memory Cards. This is not a defect, but rather due to the specifications of the cards. When using large capacity cards, some operations like deletion may take longer . The SD Memory Card has a write-protect switch to pre- vent image data from being del[...]

Press the menu button to active the playback menu. Use the right key to highlight the setup 1 tab at the top of the menu. Use the zoom lever to highlight the date/time-set menu option. Press the enter button to display the date/time setting screen. Use the left and right keys to select the item to be changed. Use the zoom lever to adjust the item. [...]

20 21 R ECORDING MODE RECORDING MODE This section covers the basic recording operation as well as advanced recording func- tions. T o start using the camera, read pages 20 through 29. Many of the recording functions are controlled with menus. The menu navigation sections concisely describe how to change menu settings. Descriptions of the settings i[...]

22 R ECORDING MODE Basic recording operation Press the shutter-release button partway down (1) to lock the focus and exposure. • The focus signals (p. 25) on the monitor and the indicator lamp next to the viewfinder will confirm that the image is in focus. If the monitor focus signal is red or the indicator lamp is green and blinks quickly , the [...]

24 25 R ECORDING MODE Focus lock The focus-lock function is used when you want to compose the image with the subject off-center and outside the focus frame. Focus lock may also be used when a special focusing situation prevents the camera from focusing on the subject. This function is controlled with the shutter-release button. Place the subject wi[...]

26 27 R ECORDING MODE Flash range - Automatic operation The camera automatically controls the flash output. For well-exposed images, the subject must be within the flash range. Because of the optical system, the flash range is not the same at the lens’ wide-angle position as it is at the telephoto position. The flash ranged can be changed with ca[...]

Basic Custom Setup 1 Drive mode Image size Quality White balance Single 2048X1536 Standard Auto Camera operations and recording functions are controlled on the menu. Navigating the menu is simple. The menu button turns the menu on and of f. The zoom lever and left and right keys control the cursor and change settings on the menu. The enter button s[...]

The continuous-advance drive mode allows a series of images to be cap- tured while holding down the shutter-release button. The number of images that can be captured at one time and the rate of capture depend on the image-quality and image-size setting. With the image-size setting of 2048 X 1536, the maximum rate of capture is 1.6 fps. If the image[...]

Used for self-portraits, the self-timer will delay the release of the shutter for approximately ten seconds after the shutter-release button is pressed. The self-timer drive mode is selected in the basic section of the recording-mode menu (p. 28). With the camera on a tripod, compose the picture as described in the basic recording operation section[...]

Changing image size affects the number of pixels in each image. The greater the image size, the larger the file size. Choose image size based on the final use of the image - smaller images will be more suitable for web sites whereas larger sizes will produce higher quality prints. Image size must be set before the picture is taken. Image size is se[...]

The number of images that can be stored on a memory card is determined by the size and type of card and the file size of the images. The actual file size is determined by the scene; some subjects can be compressed further than others. 36 37 R ECORDING MODE Image quality S. FIN FINE STD ECON Economy - the smallest file sizes. LCD monitor display Sup[...]

38 39 R ECORDING MODE White balance is the camera’s ability to make dif ferent types of lighting appear neutral. The effect is similar to selecting daylight or tungsten film, or using color compensating filters in conventional photography . One automatic and four preset white-balance setting are available with still image and movie recording. Whe[...]

When using the movie-recording drive mode, the 4X digital zoom is active even when the 2X zoom is set. When the digital zoom is active, the wide focus frame and spot focus area (p.50) are enlarged. 41 40 R ECORDING MODE Auto reset Digital zoom Assisting the optical zoom is a 2X and 4X digital zoom. The digital zoom is activated in the custom sectio[...]

43 R ECORDING MODE Instant playback After a still image is captured, it can be displayed on the monitor for two seconds before being saved. Instant playback shows the last frame in the series when used with the continuous- advance drive mode (p. 31). When the LCD monitor is turned off (p. 52), it will automatically activate for the instant playback[...]

45 44 R ECORDING MODE Four camera sensitivity settings can be selected with a still image: Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400; the numerical values are based on an ISO equivalent. ISO is the standard used to indicate film sensitivity: the higher the number , the more sensitive the film. Sensitivity can be activated in the custom section of the recording-mode [...]

46 47 R ECORDING MODE Setting the date and time It is important to accurately set the clock. When a recording is made, the date and time of the recording are saved with the file and are displayed in playback mode or with the DiMAGE Viewer software included on the CD-ROM. The date and time are set in the setup 1 section of the recording and playback[...]

Sometimes the camera’s exposure meter is deceived by certain sub- jects. Exposure compensation can be used in these situations. For example, a very bright scene, such as a snowy landscape or a white sandy beach, can appear too dark in the captured image. Before taking the picture, adjusting the exposure by +1 or +2 Ev will result in an image with[...]

51 50 R ECORDING MODE Spot AF The spot AF is used for selective focusing. Both focus and exposure are determined with the spot focus area. Press and hold the enter button (1) to switch between the wide focus frame and the spot focus area. Place the sub- ject inside the spot focus area (2) and pressing the shutter-release button part- way down to lo[...]

Photography can be a rewarding pursuit. This guide is an introduction to some basic photographic principles. The zoom lens does not only affect how large the subject is in the picture, but it also influences the depth of field and perspective. Depth of field is the area between the closest object in focus and the furthest object in focus. As the le[...]

A movie-camera icon at the bottom of the monitor indicates a movie clip. T o play back the movie clip, press the enter button (3). • T o pause and restart the movie playback, press the enter button. Pressing the menu button cancels the playback. • During playback, the zoom lever adjusts the volume. A note icon at the bottom of the monitor indic[...]

56 57 P LA YBACK MODE Full display In index playback, the left and right keys, and zoom lever moves the yellow border around the index thumbnails. When the image is highlighted with the border , the date of recording, audio-track indicator , the lock and printing status, e-mail copy indicator and the frame number of the image are displayed at the b[...]

This frame All frames Marked frames Enter When the desired menu section is displayed, use the zoom lever to scroll through the menu options. Highlight the option whose setting needs to be changed. With the menu option to be changed highlighted, press the right key; the settings will be displayed with the current setting indicated by an arrow . • [...]

Press the enter button (1) to start recording. • If an audio track is already attached to the image file, a confirmation screen will appear . Choosing and entering “Y es” will start the audio caption recording replacing the previous audio track. “No” will cancel the audio-caption operation. A still image can have a fifteen-second audio ca[...]

62 63 P LA YBACK MODE Single, multiple, or all image or audio files on the memory card can be deleted with the playback-mode menu. Before a file is deleted, a confirmation screen will appear; choosing “Y es” will execute the operation, “No” will cancel the operation. Single files can also be deleted with the flash- mode/delete button in the[...]

64 65 P LA YBACK MODE The print menu option is used to set an order for standard prints from still images on the memory card. Single, multiple, or all images can be printed. When selecting images, take care not to select an e-mail copy (p. 66) of an original picture as the print quality may be lower . E-mail copies are indicated with an envelope ic[...]

All recorded images are stored in folders on the memory card. Folder names come in two formats: standard and date. Standard folders have an eight character name. The initial folder is named 100ML T15. The first three digits are the folder ’s serial number , which will increase by one each time a new folder is created. The next three letters refer[...]

69 68 P LA YBACK MODE File Number (#) Memory If file number memory is selected, when a new folder is created, the first file stored in the folder will have a number one greater than the last file saved. If the file # memory is disabled, the image file name will have a number one greater than the last image saved in the folder . File number starts f[...]

View images as described in the playback section. • Use the television controls to adjust the volume of the audio playback. Insert the A V cable into the camera’s A V -out / USB terminal. Plug the other end of the A V cable into the video and audio input terminals on the television. • The yellow plug is for the video output. The white plug is[...]

3 72 73 D ATA - TRANSFER MODE DA T A-TRANSFER MODE Read this section carefully before connecting the camera to a computer . Details on using and installing the DiMAGE Viewer software are found in the supplied software manual. The DiMAGE manuals do not cover the basic operation of computers or their operating systems; please refer to the manual supp[...]

When the camera is properly connected to the computer , a drive icon, or volume, will appear . When using Windows XP or Mac OS X, a window will open requesting instructions on what to do with the image data; follow the directions in the window . 74 75 D ATA - TRANSFER MODE T urn on the camera to initiate the USB connection. • While the camera is [...]

76 77 D ATA - TRANSFER MODE Choose the recommended search for a suitable driver . Click “Next.” Choose to specify the location of the dri- ver . The browse window can be used to indicate the driver location. When the location is shown in the window , click “Next.” • The driver should be located in the CD- ROM drive at :Win98USB. Manual [...]

1. T urn off the camera. 2. Disconnect the USB cable. 3. Change the memory card. 4. Reconnect the USB cable. 5. Turn on the camera to remake the USB connection. 78 79 D ATA - TRANSFER MODE Connecting to Mac OS 8.6 T o access this camera with a computer with Mac OS 8.6, the USB storage support 1.3.5.smi must be installed first. This software is supp[...]

PICT0001.THM 80 81 D ATA - TRANSFER MODE Files and folders on the memory card can be deleted using the computer . Do not change the name of a file on the card or add a date to the card with a computer . Never format the memory card from the computer; always use the camera to format the card (p. 58, 70). The number in the image file name may not cor[...]

82 83 D ATA - TRANSFER MODE Confirm the indicator lamp is not lit and then drag the mass-storage device icon and drop it into the trash. Disconnect the USB cable and turn off the camera. • If the USB cable is disconnected before performing the first step, an alert message will appear . Always complete the first step before disconnecting the USB c[...]

84 85 T ROUBLESHOOTING A PPENDIX Pictures are not sharp. Focus signal is red and the viewfinder indicator lamp is green and blinking quick- ly . Subject is too close. Make sure the subject is within the autofocus range of 25cm (0.8ft.) to infinity . A special situation is pre- venting the autofocus system from focusing (p.25) Use the focus-lock fun[...]

86 87 T ROUBLESHOOTING A PPENDIX The indicator lamp next to the viewfinder can be used to diag- nose camera operations. The lamp colors change between green, red, and orange, and the lamp can glow steadily or blink at two rates. Color State Indication Green Red Orange Steady Blinking slowly Blinking quickly Camera ready to take an image. Camera-sha[...]

89 88 S YSTEM A CCESSORIES (sold separately) Marine Case MC-DG1 10 Protects the camera down to a depth of 30m (approximately 100ft.) underwater . The extremely compact shell retains the camera’s portability while protecting it from the elements on land or sea. All camera operations are available when the case is sealed. Availability depends on th[...]

90 91 C ARE AND ST ORAGE • If the camera or the outside of the lens is dirty , gently wipe it with a soft, clean, dry cloth. If the camera or lens comes in contact with sand, gently blow away loose parti- cles. Wiping may scratch the surface. • T o clean the lens surface, first blow away any dust or sand, then, if necessary , moist- en a lens t[...]

This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. Changes or modifications not approved by the party responsible for complia[...]

94 95 T ECHNICAL SPECIFICA TIONS Approximately 170 frames: based on Minolta ’ s stan- dard test method: NP-200 lithium-ion battery , LCD monitor off, full-size images (2048 X 1536), standard image quality , no instant playback, no voice memo, flash used with 50% of the frames. Battery performance (playback): Approximate continuous playback time: [...]

Minolta Co., Ltd. 3-13, 2-Chome, Azuchi-Machi, Chuo-Ku, Osaka 541-8556, Japan Minolta Corporation 101 Williams Drive, Ramsey , New Jersey 07446, U.S.A. Minolta Canada Inc. 369 Britannia Road East, Mississauga, Ontario L4Z 2H5, Canada Minolta Europe GmbH Minoltaring 1 1, D-30855 Langenhagen, Germany Reparatur/Repair Senator-Helmken-Strasse 1, D-2819[...]