I was pretty impressed with the specs and performance of Minolta's new little DiMAGE Z1 long-zoom camera back when I first previewed a prototype unit, particularly in light of the unit's low selling price. Now that I've fully tested a production-level model, I like the camera more than ever. A very nice little 3-megapixel, 10x-zooom model, the Z1 uses an unusual "flipping LCD" design to cut costs by using the same LCD panel for both eyelevel and rear-panel displays. This does result in a low price, but in other respects, the Z1 more than holds its own with the higher-priced competition. It offers a full range of exposure controls, has a very good quality lens (I've found that Minolta's digicams generally have excellent lenses on them), and perhaps best of all, has much better than average shutter lag performance. Oh - and battery life is really exceptional. The combination makes this an excellent digicam for sports or wildlife shooting, where you need both a long telephoto lens and good shuttter response, but the Z1 is by no means limited to such use: I think it'd make a great choice for an all-around camera as well. I haven't heard a lot about this model from other reviewers or in the marketplace, but I think it has the potential to be a really big seller. (I'm not personally crazy about its external design aesthetics, but would happily overlook that in exchange for great performance at an aggressive price.) Check it out!
Full production-level update to Minolta DiMAGE Z1 posted!