Digital camera - 5 Megapixel - Optical Zoom: 7 - Digital Zoom: 2x - Weight: 0.5 kg - Flash memory: CompactFlash Card - Viewfinder: without Viewfinder more
With a no-compromise image quality and performance that will satisfy even the most demanding photo and PC enthusiasts, the DiMAGE 7i is set to maintain Minolta's lead in the... more
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adjust the light entering the camera, and more importantly to protect the camera lens. Lens filters improve photographs by giving you control over light and allowing you to emphasize the features of a scene that you consider most important. This filter kit is a combination of the three essential filters no photographer should be without. PLEASE NOTE: Some cameras require an adapter tube to fit the filters. This filter set is compatible with the following camera models: Konica Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi, DiMAGE 7i"
macrophotography, and bulb exposures. It is 100cm long and handy for taking pictures of subjects that are difficult to approach, or to minimize vibration at low shutter speed for close-ups and timed exposure. Pressing the shutter button halfway enables focussing; pressing the shutter button all the way down means releases the shutter. The remote cord also supports taking pictures with time exposure and series-pictures. Therefore you can lock the shutter button.
as a 1 metre corded release or a 100 metre wireless RF remote release. The wireless function works up to 100m (330ft) in ideal conditions and is perfectly capable of working through obstructions at slightly shorter distances; line-of-sight is not required. It has millions of communication codes allowing an interference free operation.Seperate activation buttons on the transmitter unit means that you are able to focus with one, while the second fires the shutter.The WS receiver simply attaches to a compatible camera's accessory shoe (Sony/Minolta cameras require an optional hot shoe adapter) and connects to the camera's remote socket with the supplied cable. It is powered via 2 commonly available Alkaline, Lithium, Oxyride, or Ni-MH rechargeable AAA batteries.
operate as a 80cm corded release or up to 8 metre wireless Infrared remote release, or 3 metre Infrared remote control (using the cameras IR receiver).In wireless mode you can release the shutter instantly or with a 2 second delay; inwired mode it supports bulb mode.The JR receiver simply attaches to a compatible camera's accessory shoe (Sony/Minolta cameras require an optional hot shoe adapter) and connects to the camera's remote socket with the supplied cable. It is powered via 1 CR-2032 Lithium Coin battery.
other electronic appliances. The interchangeable DC plugs included are for center plus and polarity protection. Any setting of the output voltage selector switch is protected against unintentional change of voltage. A power on LED and 2 rubber grips for easy handling rounds off the high specification of a neat, compact and easy to carry power supply for worldwide use. Output voltage in 6 fixed steps 2.4v, 3v, 4.2v, 5v, 6v, 6.5v, 7v, 8.4V to match the voltage specifically needed for most digital cameras. 5 inter changeable centre plus and polarity protected DC plugs included. (Plug dimensions 1.7 x 4.75 / 1.7 x 4 / 1.4 x 3.5 / 0.75 x 2.4 / 5.5 x 2.1 all right angled plugs).
Digital camera - 10.2 Megapixel, 10.2000048828125 - Optical Zoom: 3.9 - Weight: 545 - Flash memory: CompactFlash Type I, Type II - Viewfinder: Optical Viewfinder
A review by Librelola on Minolta DiMAGE 7i August 15th, 2005
Author's product rating:
Picture Quality
Excellent
Range & Quality of Features
Excellent
Ease of Use
Easy
Durability
Excellent
Value for Money
Good
Advantages:
A light, easy to use, full of features and semi - professional camera
Disadvantages:
Battery life and electronic viewfinder
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I bought my Minolta Dimage 7i about 3 years ago, but only started getting really acquainted with it about a year and a half later.
I was travelling a lot and I prefer to use film cameras when I travel and for "serious" photographic work, as I provide a couple of Photo Libraries with images, and most of them still prefer slides, although many do accept digital images of high quality and resolution.
A big reason for not using it more often at first was my unfamiliarity with digital cameras prior to my purchasing the Dimage 7i, but the main reason is the fact that I still prefer the colour intensity of my Fuji Velvias and Provias.
I started using the Dimage 7i more and more for practical reasons: it is so light (608g with batteries - dimensions are 117 x 91 x 113mm, which is 4.6 x 3.6x 4.5 in) compared to the SLRs I am used to carrying around. Of course, compared to the tiny cameras you get nowadays, it isn't the lightest, but it is semi-professional, has a lot of features, 5.0 megapixels and a zoom range of 28mm to 200mm (a 7x optical zoom), but I will go into its features a little later.
Nowadays, I like to keep it in my bag almost every time I go out, I take a lot of pictures of my son and you never know when this magic ray of light is going to strike for a few seconds on a tree trunk or flower and then disappear again as if is it was just an illusion. This is when you have to grab the camera and be quick, but precise.
I have now grown to love my Dimage 7i, it is easy to handle, has a very useful hand grip that allows you to grab it firmly without fearing it will slip out. Its LCD monitor is quite large at 1.8 inches, but I find the electronic view finder not wide enough to use with full confidence. While I tend to use the LCD more often, this is almost impossible in bright light, as you can hardly see anything, unless you keep moving it about, but then this ruins your composition and you have to use the viewfinder in order to get a decent picture. The electronic viewfinder can be moved up and down, but I did not find that this helped me much.
Along with the narrow viewfinder (to my liking anyway), the only other thing that annoys me with this camera is the rather low life of the rechargeable batteries. I always carry an extra set or two if I know I may be taking lots of pictures, but I am always frustrated when the first set of batteries dies out after about 60 or 70 pictures. I do take some time in preparing the composition, so the camera is on a lot, but I feel that a photographer, amateur or professional, should not have to feel stressed while taking pictures because of battery matters, at least not at such an early time…perhaps I just take too many pictures. But I think most digital cameras do eat up battery life much faster than SLRs do. In any case, as long as you are well prepared, all should be swell.
The zoom is very easy to use and you can switch from auto-focus to manual focus, which is very useful. It also has a very handy macro feature, which allows you to focus at a distance of 13cm, the normal focus range is 38cm, which is not bad at all.
The Minolta Dimage 7i has a lot of features, I would say too many almost, but if you like to play around, they are fun, although I do not use them much.
The features which I find to be the most useful are the Aperture and shutter priority and the full manual mode (the aperture range is f2.8-f3.5/f8 and the shutter speed range is bulb at 30 sec for the slowest and 1/2000sec for the fastest). It has an exposure compensation of -2 EV to +2 EV in 1/3 EV steps, this is usually what you get on most SLRs.
Metering modes are multi-segment, center-weighted and spot metering.
It has a built-in flash, good for close portraits but do not use it for anything too remote (I think 2 metres is already a bit far). You can change the flash mode from auto to fill-in to red-eye reduction to slow sync, but it will only really work if you are using an external flash, for which the camera has a hot-shoe.
It has different filter modes for taking pictures in black and white, infrared and sepia style, which are a nice extra.
You can change the picture quality from fine to standard to economy, to save memory. The maximum resolution is 2560 x 1920 and the low resolutions are 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 960 and 640 x 480.
And this brings us to the fact that card it uses is a compact flash card, this is what is so nice about digital cameras, you take lots of pictures on one or more cards, depending on the megabytes it has (the camera comes with a 16MB card), download them onto your computer, save them onto a disc (I advise always making extra copies) and then erase them and use the card again. What an economy.
The camera comes with a USB adapter to allow you to download them but if you have a flashcard slot on your computer, it is, of course, much better. And you save batteries unless you buy the special adapter, which I never have, as it was a bit expensive.
You can also record short movies of up to 60 sec, a feature which I have often used and which is a useful bonus.
The quality of the images (I always use the highest resolution) is very good, with fantastic sharpness and the colours are very natural.
The thing I most dislike about printing digital images at home is that, the image you see on the computer is almost never the one that will print out. Depending on the program you are using (photoshop elements, photoshop 6 or 5….) the paper you are using, the way you have saved your image and other little details, you will get a different image. You also spend a lot of money on ink. But if you stick to one sort of paper (I recomment Ilford Galerie smooth or classic) and ink, after a while, you know whether you have to add or take away contrast or brightness from the image etc… It is a matter of practice and patience.
The camera comes with a battery charger and 4 rechargeable batteries (AA NiMH), but I bought different batteries which last longer than the ones it came with (I bought the Fameart rechargeable Ni.MH 1.2V - 2300mAh)
It has a remote control as well, which I have never used, and the self-timer lasts 10 sec, and thankfully, it has a tripod mount.
I really do like this camera, but I don't use it for professional work. I think it is fantastic if you are an amateur and do not intend to sell your pictures, it is very flexible and the Minolta customer assistance have been very helpful when I had a problem with a camera once, which turned out to be my fault, and this is my only warning to you:
Never EVER open the Compact Flash compartment either to put or remove a card, when the camera is on and the light is still on in the data panel, as this will erase all your pictures and render the card unusable. This is the mistake I made and I lost 70 photos… this really hurt. I do believe this goes not only for the Dimage 7i but for all digital cameras. Please do remember this.
When I bought my camera, it cost £900, it is cheaper now. But I am happy that I've got it.
If I said that I do not use it for professional work, it is simply that the photo libraries I provide images to do not take digital photos yet, and because I sooooo enjoy slides and printing my own B&W photos, there is something magical about this and I love to "paint with light" in the darkroom.
But, having said this, I have taken some superb photos with the 7i, if I knew how to add photos to this review, I would add them but I don't, so I can't!
Another thing is, you can mess around so much with digital photos by using photoshop and other programs and create ever so easily (sometimes not, when you have a precise idea in mind) really weird images by sing the brightness/contrast and levels features and so many others. If you haven't yet, do try it, it is really fun.
So all in all, I think this camera is great. And I do believe that both film cameras and digital ones each have their special magic, which, one has to learn to appreciate.
Patience, constancy and a lot of love… this should do the trick.
Advantages: Strong lens, quick focus, good feature set, great customer service Disadvantages: Some grain on areas of flat colour, eats non-rechargeable batts quickly!
...model. I spoke to Minolta UK who were knowledgeable and helpful and advised me to send it to them. They said it would receive priority service (as it was a recall) and should be turned around inside 3 days. This seemed good to me, so I expected to be disappointed :-) But no: I posted it on a Monday afternoon and it was back with me on the Friday of that week. If only all customer service was as efficient. Well done Minolta! ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Feels Good, Looks Good, Fantatic Pictures Disadvantages: No Battery Pack - uses AA batteries
Hi,
I have owned this camera for about 2 years now, what Can I say, impressive.
BUILD QUALITY
Excellent build - feels robust, feels solid, feels reliable (which it is)
LENS
The lens is a 7x Optical 28 - 200mm lens. With the manual control of the zoom you dont get the annoying jerkiness of the motor controlled zooms of lesser cameras. Detail is excellent, no fringing, or other artefacts, no purple edges on dark/light areas, no pin-cushionng at ... ...both lelephoto and wide angle you can get right in on the detail. Excellent fast autofocus - even in dull conditions
Manual focus for perfet results - and point focus for a specific area of the photo.
Many manual controls - white balance, PASM programme mode, apeture mode, shutter speed mode or manual mode make this very versatile, many drive modes, high speed, timer, movie mode etc.
Built in colour filters, contrast, exposure and other controls.
...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Excellent lens and zoom, massive range of feartures Disadvantages: Batteries ! Fiddly dials, replaced by 7Hi
I bought the Dimage 7i with an extensive kit from a US supplier - the savings available are large, although you WILL pay the customs charge (believe me !)
Having used it for 6 months or so, it is quite simply the best sub £1000 digital camera I have ever used !
For the amateur, the simple point-and-click automatic functions will have you taking stunning pictures from day 1. The more experience you gain, the more you will find the camera can offer ... ...semi-pro photographer will be satisfied with the features available - this is one camera that will be support you no matter what your level of expertise.
Coupled with a good photo quality printer and you will be producing breathtaking prints in no time.
So, its perfect, go out and buy one?
Well....
On the negative side, the battery consumption is something that has to be seen to be believed - don't even think about using non-rechargeables and ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: Great Resolution Disadvantages: Quite Heavy to carry
I think that Minolta DIMAGE 7i is one of the best cameras you can buy at the moment: it's reliable, very powerful, and it's resolution is fantastic!! The design is accurate and stylish but the dimension is a weak point. In fact it's quite heavy to carry around and almost impossible to put it in your pocket. This is not a camera for everyone; it's a camera for serious photographers, for someone that wants perfection from his / her pictures. You can ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Advantages: good picture quality, lightweight, well balanced Disadvantages: poor quality control dial for price.
...flash card isn`t really practical for good quality work and I would recommend getting a 128mb card.
Overall it is a good quality product ith the only negative point being the weak dial but I understand that Minolta are recalling all affected cameras to rectify the problem. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful
Expansion Slot(s): 1 x CompactFlash Card - type I/II
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Manufacturer's product description
With a no-compromise image quality and performance that will satisfy even the most demanding photo and PC enthusiasts, the DiMAGE 7i is set to maintain Minolta's lead in the high-performance SLR-style digital camera segment. In spite of improved image quality, performance and professional-style features, the DiMAGE 7i comes at a competitive price to make it an attractive proposition for the enthusiastic amateur or professional photographer. When quality and control are the required qualities, the DiMAGE 7i comes into its own as a digital imaging center, controlling all the essentials of high-quality photography: sharpness, exposure, contrast, color and saturation. The DiMAGE 7i is built around a high-precision electro-optical system designed to maximize image quality. The system starts with a 5.24 megapixel CCD that delivers 4.95 million effective pixels for fine high-resolution images, e.g. A3+ in 150 dpi prints and A5+ in photo quality. Minolta's image-processing technology, CxProcess, controls image sharpness, color and contrast while minimizing noise to produce vivid, natural pictures with real depth. 12-bit A/D conversion and CxProcess ensure that what you see is what you capture. Minolta has introduced numerous improvements into the DiMAGE 7i. A choice of three selectable focusing screens gives you the same kind of flexibility as a SLR camera in framing your shots. There is standard AF frame, a matte field with grid, and a matte field with vertical and horizontal scales. Advanced technology gives the camera professional-style versatility, e.g. a 3-point wide AF system for fast, accurate focusing, Flex Focus Point for precise control over the focusing area and a Direct Manual Focus (DMF) feature normally found in professional-level film cameras like the award-winning Dynax 7. After the AF system has focused and locked on the subject, DMF enables the focus to be fine-tuned manually. The DiMAGE 7i is the first Minolta digital camera to incorporate Direct Manual Focus (DMF). The DiMAGE 7i can record high-quality 16-bit audio with still and moving images. Along with standard QVGA digital movies, three new movie functions have been added. Night movies allow monochrome images to be recorded in low light; time-lapse movies capture the imperceptible motions of the world, and UHS continuous-advance movies show unfolding events. All these features are housed in a durable but feather-light and surprisingly compact magnesium-alloy body with an elegant silver finish and comfortable contoured grip. What's more, despite such sophistication the DiMAGE 7i retains the same simple ergonomic control layout of its predecessor. Numerous professional-style features and functions plus all the fun of a digital camera - that's the DiMAGE 7i from Minolta.
