Minolta Dimage F300 5.3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

by Konica-Minolta

Product Details

Product Manual [2.33mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 1.3 x 4.4 x 2.1 inches ; 6.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000087KY5
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,081 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 8, 2003

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Minolta Dimage F300 5.3-megapixel digital camera produces high-quality images and incorporates advanced automatic functions. It features a sleek, contoured design similar to Minolta's F100, but offers increased resolution and zoom range, a new noise-reduction option, and Minolta's award-winning subject-tracking autofocus (AF) and Minolta's area AF.

Optics and Resolution
The Dimage F300 features a 5.3-megapixel primary-color CCD with 5.0 million effective pixels for high-resolution images. It incorporates a built-in 3x optical zoom Minolta GT lens for color accuracy, and its 4x digital zoom capability combines with a compact lens design for a wide image-capture range. Three aspheric lens elements ensure sharp images at all focal lengths. With a focal range of 7.8-23.4mm, the lens is equivalent to a 38-114mm 35mm zoom lens.

The image formed on the camera’s CCD sensor is enhanced by Minolta’s exclusive CxProcess image-processing technology to optimize sharpness, color reproduction, tonal gradation, and noise to create clear and natural-looking images. The Dimage F300’s wide dynamic range is provided by 12-bit A/D (analog to digital) conversion to ensure natural color and accurate tonal reproduction.

Storage and Transfer
Images are stored on Secure Digital memory cards, and a 32 MB card is included. Images can be downloaded to either a Mac or PC via USB connectivity, which means it can be connected to any USB-based Windows 98 Rev2Me/2000/XP and Mac OS 8.6 or later computer without installing any software.

More Features
A versatile camera, the Dimage F300 allows complete control over exposure, color, contrast, saturation, white balance, camera sensitivity, and focus. It can also record movies and audio.

Like the Dimage F100, the F300 also comes equipped with subject-tracking AF and Minolta’s area AF. These technologies work together to locate and follow the subject through three-dimensional space within the camera’s extra-wide focusing area, making the autofocus system ready to take a picture whenever you're ready to shoot.

The Dimage F300 combats noise (which can give a grainy look to digital images) by employing a large signal-to-noise ratio to minimize its effect even with higher CCD gain--as well as allowing photographers to select noise reduction to control image quality.

This stylish camera features a slim aluminum body exterior and stainless-steel accents around the lens barrel with an easy-to-hold elegant grip and ergonomic control layout.

Power, Size, and Contents
The camera is powered by one CR-V3 lithium battery and four rechargeable NiMH batteries. It measures 4.3 by 2.1 by 1.3 inches and weighs 6.5 ounces. This package includes the Dimage F300 digital camera, batteries and NiMH battery charger, 32 MB Secure Digital memory card, USB and AV cables, hand strap, sports case, and a CD-ROM with Dimage Viewer and ArcSoft Funhouse software, and USB drivers for Windows and Mac.

From the Manufacturer

Once you use the DiMAGE F300 you'll know it's a high-quality digital camera. From the elegant design and rich metal body to the sophisticated performance features including a 5.0 megapixel CCD, an ultra-compact Minolta GT 3X zoom lens, UHS continuous advance, 12-bit A/D conversion, and Minolta's advanced CxProcess, the DiMAGE F300 ensures that the beauty and details of the original scene are preserved in the digital image. Additionally, the DiMAGE F300 can take over control for point & shoot ease, or give you complete control over exposure, color, contrast, saturation, sharpness, white balance, camera sensitivity, and focus. A complete multimedia tool, the DiMAGE F300 also records movie clips and audio.

Features:

5.0 Megapixel CCD for High-Resolution Images
Using technology from Minolta's the top-of-the-line DiMAGE 7Hi, the F300's high-precision electro-optical system maximizes image quality. The system starts with a 5.3 megapixels CCD, 1/1.8-type interline primary-color CCD with 5.0 million effective pixels for fine, high-resolution images. The CCD's pixel resolution will produce 13 x 17 inch, 150-dpi prints or 6.5 x 8.5 inch photo-quality prints, creating a print size larger than both A3 and A5 respectively.

High-Performance 12X Zoom (3X Optical, 4X Digital)
The DiMAGE F300 is equipped with a built-in Minolta GT zoom lens. This sophisticated 3X lens is less than an inch long when retracted. With a focal range of 7.8 - 23.4mm, it is equivalent to a 38 - 114mm zoom lens on a 35mm camera. This range covers everything from scenic landscapes to interiors and group shots to portraits and detailed close-ups. Three internal aspheric lens elements ensure sharp, high-contrast images at all focal lengths.

The DiMAGE F300's digital zoom seamlessly takes over from the maximum focal length of the optical zoom without interrupting the monitor image. The digital zoom can extend the optical zoom's performance up to four times in 0.1X increments, giving the F300 the equivalent of a 456mm super-telephoto lens on a 35mm camera. The combined optical and digital zooms produce an amazing 12X zoom range.

CxProcess Image-Processing Technology
Minolta's CxProcess ensures that the image from the CCD will faithfully reproduce the original scene. CxProcess controls image sharpness, color, and contrast while minimizing noise to produce vivid, natural images with smooth gradations and fine detail.

Area Autofocus plus Subject Tracking Autofocus
Minolta's Area AF and Subject Tracking AF make focusing quick and precise. Together, these systems locate and track subject movement within the camera's extra-wide focusing area with razor-sharp clarity. Simply point the camera at the scene and AF does the rest; subjects no longer have to be placed in the center of the picture.

Using technology developed for the top-of-the-line Minolta Maxxum 9 and 7, Area AF evaluates the objects in the focus frames and locks the focus on the main subject, displaying the active AF sensor to confirm the focus point. The extra-wide focus frames cover approximately 50% of the horizontal and vertical field-of-view.

Subject Tracking AF complements Area AF by following subject movement in three dimensions. Once Area AF locates the subject, Subject Tracking AF follows and maintains focus on that subject regardless of the direction of motion.

Automatic Digital Subject Program Selection
In automatic Program mode, the DiMAGE F300 analyzes subject and scene characteristics and automatically selects the best Digital Subject Program to match that condition. This frees you from having to set camera controls each time a shooting situation changes. With split-second precision, the F300 automatically responds to each new challenge and sets the exposure, white balance, and image-processing controls to ensure the best results.

The Digital Subject Programs can also be selected manually:

Portrait: Reproduces warm, soft skin tones and creates slightly defocused backgrounds.

Sports/Action: Captures clear, sharp images of fast moving subjects.

Landscape: Ensures sharp images of expansive scenes.

Sunset: Reproduces rich, warm sunsets.

Night Portrait: For romantic night scenes such as city skylines. When used with the built-in flash, the flash illumination on the subject is balanced with the background brightness.

Macro: Ensures maximum depth-of-field for sharp details with subjects as close as 5.7 - 21.5 inches in front of the lens (This mode is not included in the automatic function and must be selected manually by the user).

UHS (Ultra High Speed) Continuous Advance
Capturing the perfect moment has never been easier. Two continuous advance modes let you catch the action with multiple images as it unfolds. UHS (Ultra High Speed) continuous advance can capture eleven 1280 x 960 size images in as little as one second - ideal for documenting a tennis or golf swing. Standard continuous advance gives the choice of capturing 1.2 frames per second at any image size.

12-Bit A/D Conversion
12-bit A/D conversion preserves the subtleties of the original image. With billions of colors and 4,096 levels in each color channel, images possess near-lifelike color and detail. This is especially evident in portraits: smooth complexion, fine hair detail, and vivid eye color.

Digital Effects Control
The Digital Effects Control is an image-processing center built into the camera. Color, contrast, saturation, and sharpness can be adjusted before the image is captured, allowing image data to be maximized at the scene. Color switches between Natural Color, Vivid Color, and Black & White (Natural Color preserves the actual colors of the scene; Vivid Color accentuates them). Contrast controls the difference between brightness levels; increasing the contrast makes the highlights brighter and the shadows darker. Color Saturation changes the vividness of the colors. Sharpness accents or softens image detail.

Small Size, Light Weight
The DiMAGE F300 is one of the smallest and lightest 5.0 megapixel digital cameras with a built-in lens. With the lens retracted, the camera is 4.4 inches wide, 2.1 inches high, and 1.3 inches deep. Weighing only 6.5 ounces, the compact and lightweight F300 can be easily slipped into a pocket, purse, or fanny pack, and taken wherever you go.

High-Performance Exposure System with Creative Control
The DiMAGE F300 is truly a creative imaging tool. It features three metering modes: multi-segment, center-weighted, and spot. Four exposure modes are available: program (automatic digital subject program selection), aperture priority, shutter priority, and manual. Any of the digital subject programs can be selected manually. Plus, 15-second bulb exposures can be made in manual exposure mode (to eliminate hand-held camera shake the camera can be mounted on a tripod and the shutter can be released with the optional remote control RC-3).

Multi-Segment Exposure Metering
The DiMAGE F300's advanced multi-segment metering evaluates subject and scene brightness and continuously monitors the situation for even the slightest changes.

The camera uses information about subject location from the AF systems along with 256 metering segments to calculate the optimum exposure based on subject and background brightness. There is no need to worry that the subject will be lost in deep shadows or washed out in front of dark backgrounds. Additionally, the built-in flash is activated automatically in backlit or low-light conditions.

Additional Exposure Controls plus Bracketing
Both ambient and flash exposures can be compensated independently by ±2 Ev in 1/3 Ev increments. Camera sensitivity can be set to auto, or to one of four ISO equivalents: 64, 100, 200, or 400. Plus, an automatic three-frame exposure bracket can be made.

High Memory Capacity for High-Speed Response
A large built-in memory gives the DiMAGE F300 its super-fast responsiveness. The 32MB buffer memory allows large numbers of images to be captured smoothly in the continuous-advance drive modes; then played back with fluid operation. In playback mode, still images are loaded in approximately 0.2 seconds regardless of resolution and file type, and movie clips can be rewound and fast forwarded quickly.

Easy Operation
The DiMAGE F300's controls and dials are laid out for clear, intuitive operation. All shooting controls are placed around the grip area. Audio signals are used to make positive confirmation of button settings. A shutter sound effect accompanies shutter release (in addition to the electronic and mechanical shutter sounds, a personalized shutter effect can be recorded using the camera's built-in microphone).

Noise Reduction
Noise, an ever-present problem in electronic systems, manifests itself by giving a grainy or sandy appearance to a digital image. The F300 combats noise with a high signal-to-noise ratio plus selectable noise reduction. The new noise reduction feature compensates for dark noise caused by exposures of one second or longer.

Automatic Monitor Amplification
In low light, digital cameras often fail to display a bright monitor image because of exposure limitations of the monitor frame rate. The DiMAGE F300's automatic monitor amplification adjusts monitor gain so that a color image is visible even under less than ideal lighting shooting conditions.

Copy Functions
E-mail Copy allows a still image to be copied and resized to a VGA format so that it may be attached to an e-mail message or posted on the Internet. Standard Copy makes a direct copy of a file onto the same or another memory card.

Movie Recording
The DiMAGE F300 is not limited to recording still images, and new movie recording features expand its digital video capabilities. Two image sizes can be selected: 160 x 120 pixels and 320 x 240 pixels. The new XR (Extended Recording) movie processing allows a 20-minute 160 x 120 movie clip or a 3-minute 320 x 240 clip to be recorded. Night Movies enables recording in low light. All white balance controls are available for movie recording.

Night Movie Mode
With many digital cameras, recording digital video can be difficult in low light. But with the F300, when light levels fall below a certain point the camera automatically activates Night Movie mode to ensure color recordings under low-light conditions.

Audio Recording
Thoughts and comments can be recorded with or without a still image. Audio recording mode records up to 180 minutes of audio. Voice memo allows up to 15 seconds of audio to be attached to an image when it is captured. The audio-caption function can attach an audio track to any recorded still-image. The audio tracks can be played back in the camera.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT picture quality/ lots of fun options, March 6, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Minolta Dimage F300 5.3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

After much research, I decided to purchase the F300 because I was looking for more than just a "point and shoot" digital camera. The F300 offers a good balance between manual control and point and shoot or any combination of the two.

Most reviews I read (and Minolta's website, of course) said the camera's buttons ,menus, and function were very "intuitive"; while this is true for the Auto mode, I did have to read the directions for quite a few things--and the directions were not always that clear (see p. 68 then 73 then 54) but I managed to blunder my way to what I wanted after a few minutes of button- pressing.

The software that comes with the camera is cruddy compared to my Photoshop and luckily I didn't have to rely on Minolta's software. I have a Mac, though, so maybe the software looks/functions better on a real computer.

You'll definitely have to get more/ 256 MB SD memory cards since the 32 MB one provided only holds one high-quality picture ( I'm guessing you want a 5 mp camera in the first place because you want many good pictures). The photo quailty is really excellent in many modes and this camera is great at noise reduction.

Lastly, I know this is supposed to be a product review, but kudos to Amazon for not skimping on the accessories and trying to sell off things separately! Everything was included that the mfr recommends and everything was shipped to me EIGHT DAYS EARLY!!

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars solid feature set, 5MP, 3x optical, nice pics., September 22, 2003

By 

jemaerca (River Forest, IL, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Minolta Dimage F300 5.3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

the minolta dimage f300 is a solid camera but there are a few complaints that lead to this 4 star rating: no AF assist light, noisier images than competition, a slow moving lens, and all but useless TIFF mode (takes too long to save).

pros:
- 5MP resolution and 3X optical zoom.
- good photo quality, very sharp images.
- LCD on top of camera displays essential info (very rare in this camera class) - to be truly useful though, this should have included shutter speed and aperture.
- subject tracking autofocus performs well.
- good color balance.
- full set of manual controls - aperture/shutter priority, manual exposure, manual focus.
- intuitive user interface plus simple menu system.
- wide ISO sensitivity range for a compact (ISO 100 - 800).
- good macro performance.
- solid build quality, aluminium body.
- good shot to shot times.
- selectable AF points, reasonable AF speed.
- tracking AF workings for slow moving high contrast subjects.
- USB connectivity.
- non-proprietary AA batteries used.
- automatic lens cover.
- small and light: 4.4"W x 2.1"H x 1.3"D, weighing 7.8oz.

cons:
- more noise in images than competition.
- no auto focus assist light - makes focusing in low light difficult, if not impossible.
- slow moving lens - over 3 seconds to go from wide to telephoto!
- slow moving lens leads to slow startup time.
- shutter lag is noticeably worse than competition.
- noticeable barrel distortion from lens at wide angle.
- default tonal balance leads to lost shadow detail, clipped highlights.
- no flash power control.
- only TIFF format is supported, if you prefer RAW format, look elsewhere.
- saving a TIFF file means a virtual camera shutdown for about 30 seconds! this is a deal breaker for me.
- metal case scratches easily.
- doors for memory and battery feel flimsy.
- the included 32MB memory card is inadequate; be ready to shell out additional $$ for more memory.

as already mentioned, the f300 is a competent camera that is compact and quite stylish. if you don't plan to use the TIFF mode, the long save time is a non-issue. the shutter lag is troublesome though and the lack of an AF assist light is annoying. nevertheless, this camera has a lot going for it and is worthy of consideration. in the end, i would recommend the canon s50 over this.

i hope this helps your purchasing decision. peace.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful images, sharp resolution, April 16, 2003

By 

Toh Newin "tohn" (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Minolta Dimage F300 5.3MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

The images I can produce on this camera in its plethora of manual modes is amazing. The controls are fast and intuitive. It's in the same class as the Canon G2 and other "pro-sumer" cameras - full manual features, large CCD. The only thing it (and others) lacks is a professional class lens. I'm absolutely happy with it, but if I were to object:

The camera works best indoors with a tripod (which I have) because the ISO 400 mode generates too much noise. Outdoors this isn't a problem, but night photography seems to suffer a tad.

Battery meter only has "full, warning and shutdown" so it's hard to tell how far you can go. I use up my 2 NiMHs in 40-50 shots, including post-view of the shots.

I wish the movie mode also had a time lapse mode (where you can set the time), because it's just something to add to software. This would make the camera so much more functional.

The autofocus indicator works well, but it's sometimes hard to get focus on indoor portraits.