Minolta Dynax 404SI

My partner purchased this camera from EBay for my birthday as I was still using the ancient Praktica MTL5, which was certainly outdated.

Style:-
The Dynax 404si is quite a compact-sized SLR camera, with performs well in both manual and automatic modes.
It has a silver finish with a black grip and a standard silver and black lens. I feel the colouring used gives the camera a classic, sleek professional look.
The ...
...more compact version than most SLR 35mm cameras. It is lightweight and not easy to scratch or damage (I have already dropped mine!) It is also perfect to handle, with a hand grip on the right hand side of the camera body.

Push button automatics for beginners:-
I would most definitely say that it is great for beginners as they can use the automatic focus (by pushing the button half way) and automatic shutter and aperture settings. ... more

My partner purchased this camera from EBay for my birthday as I was still using the ancient Praktica MTL5, which was certainly outdated.

Style:-
The Dynax 404si is quite a compact-sized SLR camera, with performs well in both manual and automatic modes.
It has a silver finish with a black grip and a standard silver and black lens. I feel the colouring used gives the camera a classic, sleek professional look.
The camera is certainly not ‘big and bulky’ it is a more compact version than most SLR 35mm cameras. It is lightweight and not easy to scratch or damage (I have already dropped mine!) It is also perfect to handle, with a hand grip on the right hand side of the camera body.

Push button automatics for beginners:-
I would most definitely say that it is great for beginners as they can use the automatic focus (by pushing the button half way) and automatic shutter and aperture settings.

Perfection for Professionals:-
For those professional photographers, you have the benefit of setting the camera to fully manual by just the push of a button, or only manual shutter speed with a calculated automatic aperture or visa versa.
For example, if you are trying to take a shot of a flower using the macro lens, and want a longer shutter speed you can manually set this, and it will calculate the aperture accordingly.

Automatic features:-
With this camera you have various automatic features such as the ability to change it into different mode settings (by the push of one button) these are:-

Macro - flowers etc.
Sports - for fast moving objects (good for ‘panning’ shots)
Night mode - for night time photography
Portrait - which focus's on the subject and softens / does not focus on the background
Landscape - which focus's on the landscape

For all of these it sets the shutter speed and aperture accordingly, so for example, for the portrait setting it sets the aperture and shutter speed so that it has a smaller depth of field - focusing on the subject rather than the background. Each setting always takes into consideration the lighting around the subject / landscape.

Extra Functions – the dial control:-
There is also a 'dial control’ on the left hand side of the camera which gives the experienced photographer a chance to play around a little more.

The dial control has the following features:-

P/A/S/M exposure modes - (P is fully automatic, A is manual aperture only, S is manual shutter speed only and M is fully manual)
Red-eye reduction – good to use when using a flash
Wireless/Remote flash
Multiple exposures
ISO setting (this sets automatically when you put a camera film in)

These settings can be changed by rotating the dial to the desired mode then holding down the function button, you can then switch between settings such as the P,A,S,M by rotating the black wheel on the right hand side of the camera.

Marvellous Honeycomb Segmentation:-
Another big plus for this camera is that it has an 8 segment honeycomb pattern metering, this is where the camera measures the exposure levels in 8 separate areas of a picture, and this enables the camera to make sure the subject is correctly exposed.
The system then uses the information from the auto focus this being the subject distance, magnification, motion, and position, to determine the type of photograph and set the best shutter-speed and aperture possible.

Spot Metering:-
The spot metering function allows the camera to concentrate all of the meter’s sensitivity in the centre segment, which is approximately 5.5mm in diameter. This gives precise readings of specific portions of the subject such as a face in shadow or a portrait in front of a window.

Multiple Exposure:-
The multiple exposure setting allows the photographer to overlap two photographs, firstly you switch the camera to multiple exposure mode (using the function dial on the left hand side of the camera body), press the function button (which is located in the centre of the dial), take the first photograph, then take the second photograph, thus the two pictures are overlapped and the aperture and shutter speed are set accordingly for this.

Built in Flash:-
You also have a built in flash, which when the camera is set to P (fully automatic mode) it will 'pop up' when it is required. The shutter speed, aperture and exposure are set accordingly by the camera. You can switch the flash to automatic, off, or always on via the black button on the left hand side of the centre of the camera body. Alternatively you can attach a wireless or remote flash, if desired.

Exposure (+ and -):-
You also have the ability to change the plus and minus, so you can over expose a photograph or under expose it as required. For example if it is a dull day, and you do not have any spectacular filters which compensate the light, then you can over expose the photograph by 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 etc (as desired). This button is located just below the flash button on the centre left of the camera body.

Manual Shutter Speed and ‘bulb’ setting:-
You also have the ability to not only set the shutter speed to a manual setting of your choice, depending on how long you want the camera to 'expose' for. You can change this down to 30 seconds, but you have the 'bulb' mode which allows you to press the button and keep it pressed for as long as you want, allowing the 'curtains' to stay open and you are manually deciding you own shutter speed.

Self Timer / Remote Cord / Cable Release:-
There is a self timer function on this camera, which I have found useful as I do not have a cable release or remote cord yet, so what I do is manually set the shutter speed to 30 seconds (for example), and whilst the camera is on the tripod ready and set up, I then put the camera self timer on and 'walk away'. Otherwise by pushing the button I may get a 'camera shake' on my photograph - this is just a tip that I’ve picked up!

Lens:-
As standard the camera comes with a 28 - 80mm lens, which is an AF (auto focus lens). Please note that if you are buying this camera and plan to purchase another lens a piece of advice is make sure it is an AF lens, this means you have the ability of using automatic focus with this lens, if you don't get an AF lens you will need to manually focus the lens every time.

OK that’s enough of features, and there are plenty of them!

Prices for the 404si and where to buy from:-
Now my partner purchased this camera for only £30.00GBP from E-bay, he was lucky as they usually go on EBay from anything between £30 and £80 depending on what 'accessories' it comes with. Alternatively you can buy it brand new from a shop, for example I have found Jessops to be the best price which is at www.jessops.com
They usually retail at about £179.90 for the camera body only.

Also try www.warehouseexpress.com as they have some good deals on all photography equipment

Accessories:-
There are a number of accessories you can buy that fit perfectly with the design of the 404si. I have decided to state (briefly) what I have purchased and their functions with this camera, please bear in mind that I am not an expert when it comes to filters, but I have basically stated what I have noticed from using each individual item:-

Skylight 1B Filter – mainly to protect your lens from marks or scratches
Circular Polarizing filter – Eliminates reflections and deepens ‘colour tones’
Yellow Hoya filter – Good for black and white photography as it makes the sky and clouds stand out more. For colour photography it sends everything yellow!
Star / Cross-screen 4 filter – This finds the brightest point such as a candle flame and gives it a 4 point star, you can also get 6 point, 8 point and so on.
Soft Spot Filter – Blurs and makes the edges misty, great for portrait photography

Just to let you know I purchased all of my filters from EBay for about 99p each (except the circular polarizer, which was £7.50).

Camera bag – Jessops bright red one, good sizing and excellent price
Lens cleaning cloth – a handy little cloth to get rid of that dreaded dust
Tripod – Jessops own brand, mini tripod

Summary:-
Ok after this essay I would like to state that I have fallen in love with my Dynax 404si, it was a perfect birthday present, and a big step up from the Praktica MTL5. It has just enough features to keep me going and the automatic functions are excellent for when I cannot be bothered with experimenting. I do recommend this product and give it 10/10. However for those of you that are professional photographers you may feel more at home with the functions of the Dynax 5, as it has a lot more things to experiment with. But personally I am happy with this camera and wouldn’t change it for the world!

Thank you for reading :-) 

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