It wasn’t so long ago that the first 8 megapixel digital compact camera (the Sony CyberShot F828) was released, costing nearly £1,000 when it was initially launched in August 2003. Just 18 months on and how times have changed, with 8 megapixel digital cameras now available for under £500. One such model is the Konica Minolta DiMAGE A200, first announced in September 2004 and sitting just under the DiMAGE A2 in the Konica Minolta pecking order. Konica Minolta cameras have always led the market in offering advanced technological features, and the DiMAGE A200 is no different, with its unique CCD-shift anti-shake mechanism that enables you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than ever before. It’s great to see Konica Minolta offering a manual zooming ring on the A200, in my opinion a much quicker and more intuitive method of zooming than the typical zooming levers and buttons found on most digicams. Other noteworthy features include the vari-angle LCD monitor, which rotates 270° vertically and 180° horizontally, the 7x wide-angle optical zoom lens that is equivalent to 28-200mm on a 35mm SLR camera, and of course that 8 megapixel sensor which produces massive image sizes that are perfect for large prints.