Customer Reviews

Minolta Dimage 7i 5MP Digital Camera w/ 7x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I researched many cameras in stores and on line. I wanted high pixel, lots of zoom and movie with sound. Nikon 5700 with 8x zoom is more expensive and was not available. Nikon 5000 does not compare in the zoom.
I was sold on the Minolta. I am still experimenting with all the amazing features. Automatic does a great job. I recommend reading the manual several times,,,, actually I study the manual and then practice on the actual camera. I bought an AC adapter and run an extension cord and practice on that and not use up the batteries,plus walk around the rooms taking pictures connected to the AC adapter...

This camera is like buying a small computer. I love it. It is the best buy out there for a 5+ pixel with the 60 second movie with sound. I love the macro switch for close up work! There is even a menu to shoot black and white if you need to do some art work. You can change so many variables and even label your files that will come up on the PC when you download. In the LDC screen there is a small keyboard that shows up so you type in your own name to a photo file. I also bought a compact flash reader that connects to your USB and I don't even have to download from the camera. Plus with my printer I can just put in the card and print directly. I also bought a compact flash card with more MB. It comes with Sanyo rechargeable batteries and the recharger. I can't say enough about how please I was to find this camera. And actually a review like this about a Dimage 7 helped me realize the Dimage 7i is the newer model with sound for the movie! The investment of $1000 is worth it. This camera's technology will be around for a long time. Have fun !!!

Unlike other 5 megapixel SLRs, this one is reasonably priced, but still has every feature you could imagine. I discovered that standard resolution images, at about 1 MB each, are all you need to make 35mm quality 5x7 prints. I couldn't see any improvement at the fine resolution that requires twice as much memory, and superfine requires so much as to be impractical. The camera only comes with a 16 megabyte memory card, so you will want at least a 256 megabyte CompactFlash card which will store 150+ standard images. Advanced 35mm photographers will be pleased that this camera has all the features you expect on a quality SLR, such as shutter or aperture priority or manual exposure modes, spot metering, exposure and focus lock, auto/manual focus, etc. But on top of that you get the equivalent of a 28mm-200mm f2.8 macro zoom in an incredibly compact package, electronic versions of every color correction filter, a 2x digital zoom (on top of the 7x optical zoom; on my old 2 MP camera, digital zoom was worthless - on this camera I still got acceptable images with digital zoom) and the ability to change "film" speed (which affects the image noise level) from ISO 100 to ISO 800 whenever you want to get more sensitivity. There is also an adequate built in flash, or you can add an external flash. The lens is also threaded for external filters like a UV lens protector. Connection to my Windows XP PC was effortless.

Drawbacks: even with the best 1850 mAh NiMH batteries, this camera is very fast to warn you that your batteries are low, so be sure to get several sets of batteries and fast chargers (one set of batteries and a charger is included). And there are so many buttons and features, it takes a while to remember which feature or menu or option goes with which button; I think there's some logic to it, but I haven't figured it out yet. It does have a simple "put me back in dumb point-and-shoot mode" button, but a technophobe might not appreciate all the capabilities of this camera. Finally, the optional AC adapter is outrageously expensive, but generic ones are available for less than half the price.

Update: 1. If you have your heart set on using the "super-fine" mode, besides the fact that it uses a large amount of memory, be aware that the camera "goes dead" for about a minute while the image is written to the flash card. 2. At first I thought an optical SLR viewfinder would be better than electronic, but I really love this camera's EVF. It lets you see exactly how your shot will be exposed, which is really nice for critical high-contrast shots like landscapes. 3. Next, the camera seems to overexpose slightly outdoors, but this is readily apparent in the EVF and easily compensated for using the digital effects control. 4. Finally, if you want a Remote Cord, they are very expensive, as all the Minolta accessories seem to be.

Update 2: If you want more power than the built in flash, I've discovered that although this camera uses the same Minolta flashes as the Maxxums, generic dedicated flashes made for Maxxums WILL NOT work with this camera, so you have to buy a Minolta flash. The 3600HS(D) is the cheapest and a very nice flash, but still relatively very expensive if you just want a little more power than the built in flash.

I've spent some time looking for a digital camera. I was looking for the best value in about ~[$$$]range and this camera is probably one of the best choices. What is so special in this camera?

- 28-200 zoom. It's very unusual to find a digital camera with zoom starting as low as 28 mm. And it makes a huge difference when you take pictures inside buildings. 28mm means significantly wider view then 35 or fourty something.
- Manual zoom. Many close competititors have motorized zoom. It's slow. Manual zoom gives you better control.
- Autofocus. It's just great. It's fast and if there is not enough light it switches to B&W mode so if you can see anything yourself in most cases your camera will be able to get autofocus to work.
- Manual focus. There is a ring and you can focus manually or tune after AF.
- EVF. Some people like optical viewfinders but keep in mind that on EVF you see what will be on your picture real time. Like if you shoot man on the snow you can see if his face too dark or too light before you press the button, not after.
- Lots of features. Minolta has probably the richest set of features in the class.

I really enjoy this camera. Highly, Highly recommended.

I was very hesitant to buy a digital camera being an avid SLR fan.But I'm pleased to say the 7i has exceeded my expectations & I can say goodbye to conventional film. I've discovered it is a power hog but I've overcome this obstacle by purchasing 2 sets of Monster batteries(note the battteries that come with the camera are useless).I can shoot around 300 pictures w/flash no problem plus I have the ac adapter for home use when I'm snapping pictures of the kids.I can blow up my pictures to any size and the clarity is awesome! You lose no resolution.In fine I find I can take good action shots, when you get into superfine or RAW it takes the camera a few seconds to catch up to you. This camera is not for amateur's. It's too complex, but if you are an advanced photographer you will find this camera to be a thrill! You will need to purchase a flashcard a minimum of 256mb.I ordered a 256mb card because the 16 mb card that comes with this camera is a joke! You can take 1 picture in RAW or Superfine and maybe 8 in fine. I'm looking to get at least a GIG for vacations probably 2.Another important consideration is that this is compatible with Minolta Vectis SLR lenses & flash units a huge mark to its favor.

I have a great deal of experience in photography, I have a degree in Audio/Visual Production, I used to teach Photography and I am an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society. I am at present working on an exhibition about poverty in Albania. The Dimage 7i is my first digital camera after a very long and very costly line of Canon EOS cameras and lenses.
Minolta Corporation is a traditional camera manufacturer of long experience, and excellent lens quality who made a slow but calculated entry into the digital marketplace as did I. Like its popular line of 35mm slrs, Minolta's Dimage Digital Cameras are developing a reputation for innovative technology in light metering, exposure control, and autofocus systems. Their lenses in particular are worth high praise for their optical quality.

Minolta shook up the high end of the semi-pro market, by beating everyone else to the punch with the first five megapixel semi-pro digital camera. - And it wasn't just "any" five megapixel model either, but the Dimage 7, an electronic SLR design with a remarkably high quality 7x optical zoom lens, a host of advanced image-control functions, and an all-new electronic viewfinder using ferroelectric LCD technology for impressive low light performance.

Now, just over a year later, Minolta has upped the ante again, with the Dimage 7i, a substantial upgrade to the original Dimage 7. The list of added features and improvements is long and impressive, but the most salient are a dramatic improvement in autofocus speed and shutter delay, the addition of high-speed sequence and movie modes, and a significant change in the camera's native color space. Many of the 7i's improvements are impressive enough in themselves, but viewed collectively the effect is that of an almost entirely new camera. Perhaps more to the point the upgrades aren't just changes for the sake of change itself, but the obvious result of listening carefully to the Dimage 7's existing community of users. Overall, an impressive upgrade to what was already an excellent camera. Read on for all the details!

Highlights
True 4.95-megapixel CCD delivering resolutions as high as 2,560 x 1,920 pixels. 12-Bit A/D conversion.
Digital Hyper Electronic viewfinder with 90-degree variable position.
1.8-inch TFT color LCD monitor.
7.2-50.8mm lens (equivalent to a 28-200mm lens on a 35mm camera) with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 to f/3.5, depending on the zoom setting.
2x digital zoom.
Auto and Manual focus.
Macro option at maximum telephoto or wide angle zoom settings.
Program AE, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual, and Subject Program shooting modes.
Shutter speeds from 1/2,000 to four seconds, with Bulb setting for longer exposures (up to 30 seconds), up to 1/4,000 under certain conditions.
300 segment Multi-Segment, Center-Weighted, and Spot metering options, with AE Lock function.
Adjustable ISO with five settings.
Built-in, pop-up flash with three operating modes, a dual-mode flash metering system, and manually adjustable intensity.
External flash hot-shoe for Minolta accessory flash units.
Built-in support for wireless TTL flash exposure with certain Minolta flashes. (Very slick!)
Continuous Shooting, Interval, and Movie shooting modes.
Digital Effects Control for Exposure, Color Saturation, Contrast Compensation, and Hue (color filter) control, with Bracketing
Adjustable White Balance with six modes.
Sharpness and Color control via menu options. Color modes include Standard, Vivid Color, Black & White, and Solarization.
RAW, uncompressed TIFF, and JPEG file formats.
Images saved to CompactFlash Type I or II memory cards (16MB card included), Microdrive compatible.
"Storage-Class" USB interface.
USB cable and interface software for connecting to a computer and downloading images.
NTSC or PAL selectable video output signal, with cable included.
Power supplied by four AA batteries or separate AC adapter (available as an accessory).
DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) compliant.

Many of our readers are familiar with the original Dimage 7, so I put together the following feature comparison between the Dimage 7i and its predecessor. (There could be other differences as well, but these are the ones I'm aware of.) The sheer length of this list will give you some idea of the extent of the improvements Minolta has made in the Dimage 7's design:

I purchased this camera for a photo-shoot in Albania, it truly gives my older Canon EOS 35mm system a run for its money. I was so impressed with this Minolta that I bought my wife the Minolta Dimage F100, also a great camera for stooting on the move.

I usually shoot in Fine mode with an Image Size of 1600 x 1200, using the amazing IBM 1gb Microdrive this gives me about 825 images on a drive!

My only regret is that Canon have nothing of this quality at this price point.

I bought this camera right before a vacation that featured the Reno Air Races, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, and Yosemite. To go with it I picked up a second set of rechargeable AA's and a 1gb Microdrive.

I am beyond pleased with the results.

At the Races...
I was able to stop props on planes flying near 500 mph and got several very nicely framed shots. The biggest drawback was that I was able to take only one picture per 20-25 seconds on the highest resolution (the write to the card after each picture forces this), so I had to lower the resolution to get a burst of pictures or risk missing a shot either in framing or in the delay. When I hit right I loved the action photos, but this was my biggest disappointment. I had to leave the autofocus off on several of the shots of the fastest planes or the delay would cause lose the picture, but the manual focus was fine for this.

In Tahoe and Yosemite...
Excellent shots with rich vibrant color. Playing with the options on the camera helped find bring out the colors in the sunsets and forest scenes. I did not bring any filters and I really needed a graded filter for some of the low-light situations as I was forced to choose exposures for the Ground or the sky, but that was my fault. Occasionally I had a different goal than the automatic settings, but this camera is a dream manually.

In San Francisco...
Incredible night scenes. The camera performed beautifully. I was able to get great pictures of Muir Woods and the Golden Gate.

Overall...
I wish - just a little - that the 7hi had been out before I went. Per the Minolta website it's able to take three picture bursts at the highest resolution before writing to disk and I think the black will wear better.

The battery life didn't hurt me as long as I had the second set, but I did have to change and charge every day and once had to switch to an emergency set of Alkalines (which it ate and spat out so quickly I thought it must have been an error)
But I took a few of the best pictures of my life and I ended with 7 gig of pictures to stroll through at my leisure and the 8 X 10's I have printed have been amazing.

I am very happy with my purchase and give it five stars because it does everything it says it does very well. But with the 7hi the bar goes a little higher yet.

This is my 5th digital camera in approximately the last 4 years. The Dimage 7i a serious upgrade compared to the Nikon 990(3.34 megapixel) I was using. The Nikon is a nice camera, but the Minolta 7i has more functions and greater resolution.

Battery life was my primary concern prior to purchasing the Dimage 7i. That turned out not to be an issue using good NiMH rechargable batteries (1600mAh or above). I was able to get over 70 photos on one set of batteries. I would recommend using the electronic view finder vs the LCD monitor to conserve battery life.

Because the camera is 5 megapixel, have several memory cards at least 128MB, preferably 256MB or above. They fill up fast when using at the higher resolutions.

Take a few minutes to read the manual to learn the tricks of the camera, it is well worth it.

As a freelance photographer I have really put this camera through the ropes. It offers outstanding features and lets you see "real time" the effect you're having on the exposure as you change the settings. It has a really convenient quick-view mode, which allows you to quickly flick through pictures without putting the camera on "view" mode.

These are the camera's strong points:

- Great built in filters
- A wealth of top-shelf features
- Amazing zoom range, and
- Very intuitive traditional controls

But alas nothing in life is perfect. Most reviewers here have faulted battery life - trivial compared to these issues:

TIFF and RAW - Completely useless. Don't ever bother with them if you want to shoot multiple shots. TIFF and RAW files take an outrageous amount of time to save to the compact flash card rendering them useless. Don't use, unless you have an unchanging subject and all day to shoot it.

Auto ISO - It will always pick a ISO setting that is too high and generate an unacceptable amount of noise in your images, especially in low light. If you notice noisy pictures, just set the ISO manually and counter balance it with your exposure biasing.

To sum up, a great camera with only two flaws. That's the least I've ever experienced with any camera. Go for it!

I purchased the Dimage 7i plus an IBM 1 Gig Microdrive. I am not sure which is more impressive, the Dimage or the Microdrive! The images one gets with this camera are 90% of the time 100% impressive.. indistiguishable from a flatbed scanned 8X10 glossy photograph. The auto focus feature is generally acceptable, however, the viewfinder or the LCD screen makes it nearly impossible to tell whether or not the subject is truely in focus; both are just to pixely to be sure. If the subject matter is important, I always snap a few extras just in case. At 100% resolution using the fine setting, the microdrive is able to hold upwards of 350 images at a time. (nearly 10 rolls of 36 exp film!) I very much recommend getting the microdrive for this camera as it increases it's overall value 100%. Too, the camera w/microdrive can be used as a storage device for anything on your PC. Connection to the computer via USP is very easy, although not fast if you are transferring large amounts of hi res images from a microdrive. I recommend getting a cup of coffee during such transfers. :O)

I also recommend buying at least three extra sets of NI-MH batteries and keep them charged at all times. (very inexpensive 4 packs available at Ritz Camera)

The memory and setup features on the camera can be confusing and yield unexpected results at times. (i am still not sure I have setup completely figured out)

The thing that really burned me about this product is that it does not come with an AC Adapter even though the box states that one is enclosed!... The quality of the images makes the Dimage 7i a very decent studio camera and an AC Adapter would be a must for this use.

Final thoughts: Buy it, and get the 500meg or 1gig microdrive... and a stash of rechargable batteries!

After almost a year of waiting, I finally bought it. I have been doing an intensive research about the Minolta Dimage 7 regarding its performance and how user friendly the camera is. And I keep coming to the conclusion that this camera is well made. The picture quality is superb, very high quality. Its color saturation is excellent and the picture detail is true to life.

The camera was designed to look and feel like a 35mm single reflex camera. It has a 7X optical zoom, which make a big difference if you are comparing zoom quality. As always, to me optical zoom is far better than digital zoom. Another nice feature to the camera is its manual zoom mechanism. This gives you a better control when zooming. The lens also has an adapter thread ring so you can add a whole lot of filters and lens effects. The option to add a hot shoe mount for the flash is another nice option that the Minolta people added to this camera.

One of the biggest complains to the Dimage 7 is that it consume batteries like a child eats candies. Its not the end of the world. Think positive. There are battery packs and rechargeable you can buy if you are not happy. But the best thing about the battery situation is it uses AA batteries and if you ran out, you can always go to a corner store and buy some. Or better yet, you can always take away that batteries you gave your kid for their hand held video games.