The camera is known for its small size, zoom capability, and design cues from Konica's APS film cameras. Its production was targeted at the enthusiast market, with users seeking a compact, portable, everyday-use camera featuring easy-to-use features.
Features include a 1.27-inch 3.3MP CCD sensor, a fixed-focus 5.1mm lens (equivalent to a 34mm lens on a full-frame camera) with 4x zoom and 2-step manual adjustment, an optical viewfinder, a built-in electronic flash, and an 80,000-dot 1.6-inch TFT LCD Screen.
The lens focuses down to 0.2 meters in Macro mode, and from 0.8 meters to infinity in Normal shooting mode. Shutter speeds are 1/4 to 1/1000 second mechanical, and 1/1000 second electronic. ISO sensitivity is from 100 to 200.
The camera's functions are controlled by a Mode Dial with settings for Shooting, Playback, Movie Clip, and Setup, and by buttons on the back of the camera for engaging the Menu system and the LCD screen.
A directional keypad with functions for SET & Zoom-Up (right), Self-Timer (up), Zoom-Down (left), and for setting the Flash (down) to Auto flash, Auto flash with Red-Eye Reduction, Night Scene, Fill-in flash, and Flash off, is also available.
Images are recorded at 2560x1920 (via interpolation), 2048x1536, 1600x1200, or 1280x960, and saved to SD cards. The camera has approximately 16 MB of internal memory, measures 94 x 66 x 41mm, weighs 140 grams, and is powered by 2 AA-sized batteries.
Though seemingly more complex than current counterparts, operating the camera is quite simple and straightforward, as long as you remember the routine - slide open the lens cover, turn the Power Switch to On, set the Mode Dial to Shooting Mode, and select the Focus Range mode to Macro or Normal.
Use the Joystick Pad's right arrow to zoom in on the image, the left arrow to zoom out, and the down arrow to cycle through the Flash mode settings, and you are ready to shoot.
Images (as also seen in the following Photo of the Day postings) are, of course, characterized by a distinct, nostalgic "digicam" aesthetic from the 2000s, marked by vibrant, punchy colors, gentle highlight roll-off (bloom), low resolution, and their own unique noise patterns.
The KD-30M, by today's standard, is painfully slow with its image capture sequence. Take your time with the shutter release and image recording interval, savor the tactile experience of taking the shot as if on film with an analog camera.
