!..Worth Every Penny..! (Minolta Dimage 7i)

Member Name: smattyone

Product:	Minolta Dimage 7i
Date:	27/04/03 (312 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: SLR Type, V High Res, Easy To Use Out Of Box

Disadvantages: Bulky?, Recycling time with basic CF Card

As far as I am aware this is the only camera in it's class that has pretty much all the same facilities as a top of the range digital SLR camera.
It has a manual zoom on it. Something that doesn't seem to be mentioned much in their brochures. The big advantage I have found with that. Is when zooming you don't get the delay before the camera stops zooming unlike electronic zooms which seem to only stop moving a split second after you let go of the zoom button.
Also even though some might find the camera a bit bulky, I found that to be very useful as you can get a very nice grip on it and it seems to fit in the hand just perfectly.
Apart from the very advanced functions, it is very easy to use straight out of the box.
It has the best zoom I've ever seen in a digital camera apart from a Pro SLR. The only camera to date with a better zoom is the Nikon 5700 but that is at the time almost £1000 I paid £600 for my Minolta
The movie quality is first class and has sound as well.
A feature I wasn?t expecting, is interval shooting. If you have ever fancied taking a photo of a flower opening or the sunset as it goes down.

The only thing I would say about it on the bad side. Is that when you select the highest resolution and quality. The time it takes before you can take the next photo can be several seconds, but I have found that can be reduced greatly by getting a fast Compact Flash card. If fast photo taking is your thing, you need to go for the Minolta 7Hi as this has a 64mb buffer memory, which means there is much less waiting time between photos.
It also has a standard 49mm lens thread, which means it will take just about any kind of lens filter. It will also take standard 49mm lens adapters, like wide angle, and zoom

In short, this is one fully featured top of the range digital camera, with just about everything you are ever going to need, with out spending £1000?s

Summary: