Konica Revio KD-400 Review

Overall Rating

Small size. Excellent build quality. Easy handling. Very fast startup time. Better than many others for 'shutter lag'. Sharp quality at maximum resolution. Takes memory sticks as well as SD cards. Much cheaper than similar 4MP cams.

Not many manual features. No Epson PIM capability. No TIFF file saving. No printed manual or case (in the UK).

If you take this Konica Revio KD-400 digital camera for what it is - aimed at 'point and shoot' merchants - it is really excellent. It starts up MUCH faster than its competitors and is ready to shoot straight away. There is no discernible shutter lag as on other cameras and it feels just right in its handling (for my hands, anyway). It takes memory sticks as well as SD cards (important for me as I have loads of these from other devices such as Sony camcorders) and is very elegant and well made with a steel body giving it that 'chunky' feel - although remaining small. It does not have any manual overrides of any significance and is therefore not really suited for more creative photography (but as I say, stick to decent 35mm SLRs for that, or opt for a much more expensive digicam). It does have some basic manual features such as flash overrides, red-eye reduction, slow shutter speed and macro settings. I have not used the video mode as I have a camcorder for this and I personally think this limited feature is daft on digi-cameras (as is the trend to provide horrible compressed MP3 sound facilities). Instead, Konica have put the money into making a high quality, pocketable auto camera with good lens and resolving power, costing 30% less than similar quality cams. It doesn't store TIFF files either, but again, I wouldn't use this - the high quality JPEGs on maximum setting suffice for me and produce really sharp quality prints up to 10x8" on a bog-standard Epson inkjet printer. I have noticed a very slight 'warm (brownish/pinkish)hue' on some of the shots but this is VERY minor and hard to spot unless you really look for it. In any case, I tend to crop most my pics in a graphics package anyway and this is easily corrected. The battery life seems quite good (I have used the cam for 2 days shooting 50-60 shots so far, mostly with flash, using LCD screen (which is sharp)and the battery still has some juice left. Additional batteries cost around £25 in the UK and the saving on the camera allows you to buy another and still save money. The cam came without manual (supplied on CD), case or image software here in the UK (very disappointing since the printed sheet supplied is next to useless, and I'd at least like a pouch for the cam to protect the body from scratches). BASIC SUMMARY: Excellent pocketable camera ideal for quick point and shoot with 4MP results. Not for photographers wanting manual overrides (it ain't got many!).

Members' Comments onMCN.'s Review

• Loz. on 11th Sep 2002

  A good summary of a good camera!! Macro mode on the KD400 produces stunning results with a bit of effort, showing the hairs on a spiders leg...amazing
  Loz