Minolta Dynax 300si

I am a long way from being any kind of photographer – the majority of my pictures are taken with an idiot proof camera of reasonable quality. Since this has now given up the ghost and gone to the great tripod in the sky, I decided to borrow my father in laws camera to see how I get along with it before buying a new one. This camera is the Minolta Dynax 300si to give its full title! On looking at the camera, it looks pretty daunting to someone who is used to three button cameras! One button to remove the lens cap and one button to turn on the flash, and one to take the picture! Despite ... more

This is the first SLR camera I've owned, and I'm very pleased with it. It currently sells at about £150, but there's a slightly newer, more expensive model that probably has a couple of useless extra features. The model I own has everything I really need from it - auto-focus (with manual option), various pre-programmed shutter speed and flash modes, a timer, built-in flash, red-eye reduction, and so on. The lens supplied is a reasonable 35-70 zoom one, which is OK for general use but'll have to be replaced as soon as I want to do anything close-up. The camera is durable, having taken a couple ... more

Excellent compact SLR camera for the beginner/novice photography who wants point & shoot versatility instead of all the hassle of manual settings. Picture quality is pretty good and the auto light metering does a fine job in most situations. It has 5 pre-programmed modes: portrait mode, landscape mode, close up mode, sports mode and night portrait mode. The built in flash can be turned off and has red eye reduction, but it is not sufficient for taking photos in low light situations where the subject is at a distance of more than 6 metres. The camera is also very compact and light-weight, and ... more