Unless youre outdoors in VERY bright sunlight, or using the flash, forget about taking decent photos. Ive held the camera solidly against a wall to take indoor photos without flash and all you get is a streaky mess. You cant control the apeture setting, and hence EVERY photo comes out blurry unless you are in bright, direct light.

I spend a good 3-4 minutes with EVERY photo that DOES come out O.K. (not blurry) touching it up in photoshop. For whatever reason, the CCD is just not getting enough photons to take good, crisp, bright photos.

Too bad, too, because in most other ways its a great camera.

The negatives are red eye with every flash shot, and blurring in low light conditions (w/out flash) where there is little contrast (ie exposure problem). Use of flash in low light can take away colour quality.

In summary, and awesome OUTDOOR camera. Not the best for indoors.

Here is my review:

Pros:
very high quality images (PCwold agrees)
Very study built
Tiny & beautiful
Takes two different media cards
lowest price & best value

Cons:
short battery life
Key features are hidden in multi-step menu (such as video)

limited features (because its small :)

Buy this if you are not a pro or advanced shooter. This is the best deal out there ! Pics quality is up there at 97 percentile!

It is a lovely camera but has had one flaw that makes it less than ideal for me.

The problem is the focus, indoors in low light. Its fine for outdoor snaps but most of the pictures I take are indoors. Often the light is low because I am in a meeting room.

In this case, the camera cannot autofocus well and, as there is no manual focus to override it, the problem is impossible to fix.

I returned the camera for service, thinking perhaps it was a manufacturing defect but, sadly, it did not improve.

I am now looking for another camera to replace it.

Its a pity because it is a sweet, compact thing thats easy to carry. It would be a great choice for someone who is mostly interested in outdoor pictures.

However, there were several things I didnt like about it. Someone else made the comment that the sliding lens cover seems to bump the lens - I also found this to be true, which is not a good thing because the lens itself wobbles a little bit if you jiggle it. The steel casing shows fingerprints like crazy- so it gives a somewhat dingy appearence if you dont wipe them off all the time. The steel also makes this camera a brick to carry around, very heavy for its size - youll notice it in your pants pocket. But the kicker and the main reason I returned mine (apart from several stuck pixels in the cameras imaging device), sub-par image quality. Granted its a somewhat subjective thing, it all depends on what youre used too. This camera cant even beat a three year old nikon 2MP digital. The pictures are "soft." Soft not as in -showing depth of feild- soft - soft as in, I just took a shot and not a single thing is crisp. Not blury, just not crisp, grainy and sometimes a little dark.

It is a good camera, especially if you can get a deal; but its not the best. If you want a memory stick compatable camera in this range check out the Sony P8 (excellent camera), otherwise check out something in the Canon digital elph line.

Despite its 4.13 megapixels, this camera suffers in terms of picture quality. A close friend of mine has a Canon A40, and over the course of a few days we took several pictures under similar conditions, both outdoor and indoor. Seeing the shots side-by-side, I noticed a number of disappointing things about the pictures taken with the Konica Revio.

The main thing I noticed was lack of detail in the pictures. The Konica Revio handled bright colors, bright light, and contrasts very poorly. Bright colors, such as red, were super-saturated; all detail was drowned out. Pictures taken in a dark environment using flash suffered from excessive brightness and contrast. Theres no way to turn the flash down. Taking pictures of my friends across a restaurant table at night produced shots where the background was extremely dark and the faces of my friends were lit up so bright they looked like washed-out ghosts. In fact, anytime there was a bright object in the picture, the camera handled it poorly, giving it an overexposed appearance and losing the details.

Indoor shots suffered from a brownish-yellow haze, despite my attempts to adjust the white balance.

The cool blue LED on the front of the camera had an adverse effect on the color in macro shots. I took a close up of some purple orchids at a flower show and they wound up looking white-blue in the photo due to the influence of the blue light.

All in all, it seemed like the colors and lighting werent true with the pictures I took with this camera. For what I paid for it, I expected much better picture quality. And seeing the output side-by-side with another camera confirmed my impressions that it just wasnt taking very good pictures.

Pros: The camera is small, compact, and stylish. I kept it in my purse and barely noticed it was there. The LCD screen was nice and bright. The zoom worked well.

Another pro is that there was almost no shutter lag (which can be an issue with digital cameras). It is truly a point-and-shoot camera in the sense that you can take instantaneous snapshots with it.

However, for what it cost, it should have more features and controls, and should take nicer pictures. In the end, I was not happy with this camera.

Im going to try out the Casio Exilim next.

Its diminutive size and tank-like build, makes it ideally suited for travelling and every-day use.

On the down side:- plastic tripod fixing, very few manual override settings and limited range of accessories, are some of the things that may bug you.

Overall though, the positives far outweighs the negatives. For the price, I dont think theres a better point-and-shoot camera.

Update:

After nearly two months of use, the camera is performing very well. Our heavy-handed engineers tend to throw it into their brief cases and tool-boxes (despite the fact that we bought it for its ability to fit into pockets!) but the KD-400Z does its job and produces consistently good results.

I would like to comment on some of the "problems" stated in a couple of previous reviews:

"Focus problem" - The KD-400Z, like all compact digital cameras, does not have an active infra-red focus like some larger cameras. Instead, it relies on image processing of real-time images. This means that the focus can be fooled, especially in low light conditions and low-contrast scenes. In these cases, you should focus on a high-contrast object of equal distance away, and lock the focus before taking the picture. Given these limitations, the focus on the KD-400Z is as good as it gets.

Aother thing that is often mistaken for mis-focus, is camera shake. We found that one of our engineers always seem to take more out-of-focus pictures than others (with all our cameras!). We actually found that this was due to him moving the camera as he pressed on the shutter button.

"Cannot review pictures without opening lens cover" - With cover closed, just press and hold the play the button, its in the manual!

"Cover knocks the lens when closing" - On our KD-400Z, this simply is not possible. No matter how hard you close the cover, it always stop just before the lens. Once the lens have retracted, then the cover can be closed fully.

"Picture quality" - We can not fault the excellent pictures. Colours are vibrant and spot-on. At maximum resolution, the sharpness from the Hexanon lens, coupled with the 4M CCD, is good enough for a full page picture in one of our brochures! Beware thought, the CCD does not have high gain for low-light scenes. The flash however, is suprisingly powerful for its size.

In conclusion, its well-built, easy to use, and produces excellent pictures. We are very satisfied and have bought another two KD-400Zs.

Images can be reviewed without opening the lens cover, by pressing and holding the "play" button.

Its small, silver and stylish!

The biggest concern: poor focusing ability. After taking nearly 100 photos, I found that well over 50% were not in focus. Its particularly noticable when you try and print. Red eyes are a serious problem with the flash although in fairness Ive heard similar complaints from owners of the Canon and other digital cameras.

Also troublesome is the fact I cant review pictures without powering on the camera, which is done by opening the lens cover. Closing the lens cover, I frequently knocked the lens itself, which cant help the longevity of this camera.

In sum, its packaged well, comes with great software, feels great and is simple enough to use. If it focused better, Id certainly have given this camera 4 stars. Perhaps I got a lemon, but Im not wasting time with an exchange; Im trying the popular Canon s230.

Low light pictures are good, although red eye is a problem if you use flash. Youll want to either go for a slow exposure, or correct red eye corrected with Photoshop Elements, which is included in the package (the best software package included with any digital camera). You may want to update your firmware software to improve low light shooting and inbetween flash times. Go to the "Other digicams" forum at dpreview.com and read up on how. The KD-400Z is one of the top rated cameras out there, and a well kept secret.

I bought this camera and the second time I used it, took some pictures and turned it off. When I turned it back on the memory card was empty! (And this was the 16MB card that came w/the camera.) Off to the store I went and bought another card, and one by another maker thinking Id received a bad card. My husband took the camera on a 4 day business trip and took some pictures and they were indeed retained on the card for all four days. Before he headed home(now the fifth day) he turned the camera on and once again the pictures were gone!!!

PROS- Obviously what made me buy it was that it was tiny, clad in steel and packed a very respectable 4mp. It also has dual memory stick and smart media cards (very useful), a tripod stand holder, 1.5" lcd screen as well as a host of other extras mentioned on the top of this page. Technically it is a breeze to use for amateurs and has a few extras to keep serious snappers happy. Many magazine reviews have said that if you are a serious photographer, there are more technical ones out there for the same price.

The lcd display is very good and you can zoom in upto 12 times on the taken picture (on screen). When closed, the camera feels robust and safe and close up pictures come out brilliantly. The flash is amazingly powerful and can light up a pitch black room.
When you slide back the cover, the lens comes out straight away and you can go from off to picture taking in 2 seconds. (one of the quickest on the market).

CONS- When you take a picture and put it on your PC. It looks pretty poor, its grainy and not much detail (bar close-ups) is picked out. The maximum size you should blow pictures upto is a small 7inch x 5inch, otherwise quality quickly drops off. I dont know if this is because this is all 4mp has to offer or if its this camera but it [is bad]. Magazines have said 4mp is more than enough, but it doesnt seem that way.

Next is it fragility. Its robust when closed but slide back the casing and the fragile lens appears with its plastic cover. It is amazingly fragile (i.e. you cant touch it). The lenses is always out when you take a picture so this means you cant really take it to parties or concerts (unless you are really careful). To shut off the camera, you have to slide the cover into the lenses side, which prompts the lens to retreat. I am sure this knocking action displaces the lens. It is a really poor idea.

Other dampners include a extremly poor red-eye problem, at night when youre outside, you can only take close ups because of the flash. You need to be extremely still when you take a photo because the slightest movement while cause a blur, (it doesnt show on the 1.5" screen, but it will when you blow it up).

All in all i definatly suggest to research other makes, try before you buy (if you can), and definatly get insurance. I feel for the other reviewer. I dropped the camera and the pitiful lens broke too easily, but luckily i was insured. In conclusion this is the best looking camera but thats not good enough. I wish i could return mine and save up for a better one, but for the moment i cant complain, its semi-decent.

Apart from its very light and easy to hold, the main feature I liked about this camera is you can have two cards in it, and literally have 256M of memory, it may not sound that important, but it definitely made a difference on a long trip.

The quality of the camera was very good, I took beautiful pictures of Bryce Canyon in snow,

The only drawback of it, and probably the drawback of many cameras, is the battery life, I highly recommend you buy another battery, if you are thinking of using it on some serious trips (where you may need to take photos for 6-8 hours between charges)

The camera leaps into action upon liding its steel lens cover to one side within just over a second - greeting you with a Windows like sound from its built-in speaker. Pictures are generally outstanding on wide angle - although there is a tendency to blur on telephoto - particularly with non-static subjects. Macro goes down to 4 inches. The camera is limited to 15 second at a time videos with sound(of very basic quality) irrespective card size. The zoom lens is virtually silent, responsive and lightening fast. The menu system comes in three colours and is generall easy to follow - offering a choice of detailed or basic options and it is possible to review pictures without turning the camera on.An index menu allows 9 images and pictures may be scrolled and zoomed into up to 12x. Some menu items like spot metering and exposure shift are embedded a little deeply in the menu system.And date imprint settings are extremely difficult to master.

This is essentially a sophisticated point and shoot camera with focus lock, exposure control, slow synch, flash settings and spot metering options being the sole overides - but at least they are useful. It is a pity that setting a fast speed manually is not available as this would avoid shake on moving targets - so easy with diminutive cameras.

Despite near instantaneous startup, it takes around 4 seconds to produce subsequent shots and around a second longer with flash. A novel three LED blue panel flashes on startup, self-timer and as pictures are taken. Battery life is reaasonable @ 60 plus pictures with average use of TFT screen and zooming, although a card reader would be useful and a second battery essential. Konica supply an optional case which is jazzy and compact with a pocket for spares, but charge a high price for what it is.

Turning the camera off seems to require a gentle touch since the lens cover is only a quarter of an inch from the 2.8 lens.

Overall, if you are prepared to forego some manual options and risk blurred shots on moving subjects, this is both a gem and an object of stainless desire, sold at a price which easily beats the competition. Photographs have superb colour rendering, exposure,resolution and are accurate and there is very little color noise at low light levels. Highly recommended and beautiful too.