Minolta Dimage 7i
Minolta has completely and
totally out done themselves with the new 5 mega-pixel Dimage 7i. It is the
perfect camera for the adept amateur, semi-pro, or professional-on-a-budget, who
is seeking that SLR “look and feel” combined with every digital option
imaginable.
Right off the bat, let me say
that this is not the camera for the first time user. Not that the 7i’s fully
automatic mode isn’t simple to use… it is… just turn the dial to record,
point and shoot… that’s it… little 7 year old Jasmine has taken pictures
with it… however, all those
dials, buttons, and settings, that we SLR Photographers adore and love to
“tinker” with, will simply confuse and intimidate the first timer.
The first aspect of the
Dimage 7i that impressed me, is the same thing I loved about the older Dimage
5… this camera looks and feels like an SLR. It’s magnesium alloy
construction far surpasses the high impact plastic of other digitals on the
market. Secondly, all of the most frequently used settings are located where
they should be, on clearly marked dials and buttons right on the body of the
camera. Rarely, do you find yourself scrolling through the menus.
The powerful 28mm to 200mm (SLR EQ) lens totally blows away the majority of the high-end-fixed-lens-digitals on the market today.
Here are two examples taken at 28mm (wide angle) and at 200mm (telephoto)
With Minolta’s use of AA
rechargeables, if I’m out of power… a quick trip to any 24 hour convince store,
and I’m back in business with a set of Duracell AA’s.
The Dimage 7i’s low light
photography is excellent…. But it’s “nearly-no-light-at-all” photography
is simply amazing! For example, at night with the lights off in my bedroom, I
could just make out a trophy on my bookshelf, with the naked eye. When I bring
the camera up, it’s night vision kicks in. I now see a black and white image
of everything in the room, I can literally see more in the viewfinder than with
my eyes. The photograph is taken in full color and appears to have been taken
with the light on, even though it was nearly too dark too see… outrageously
impressive!
If you set the ISO to 100 and use the flash, in dim light, you'll produce an excellent result (within 10 feet, the built in flashes range). Unfortunately, as with most digitals, there is not an Auto Focus illuminator. Even if you attach a Minolta 5600 Flash unit, no AFI... why, only Minolta knows.
The photos below were shot with the lights off at night (it was very dark in the room), flash on.
The two photos below were reduced from 2056 x 1920 to 800 x 600, proportions were maintained. The first is ISO 100 and second is ISO 800.
Below are two other outdoor ISO 100 shots where there is virtual no noise visible at all, these were not touched up...
The 7i is faster than my old
Dimage 5, with quicker auto focus, and cool continuous shots… I get up to 5
pictures in 3.5 seconds at full 2056 x 1920 or … and hold on to your seats….
I can shoot 15 photographs in a blazing 2 seconds in ultra continuous mode,
although the dimensions are a little smaller.
The 7i makes 60 second
movies, just like my Dimage 5 however, they are no longer silent movies. The
Dimage 7i makes movies with sound… sweet.
The image quality is
beautiful but I found the photos to be a little washed out or, dare I say...
"flat", when the camera is in the standard out-of-the-box setting (natural
color, zero color saturation). To over come this, I set my 7i to vivid
color, and enjoy shooting at either +1 or +2 on the color saturation scale. The
+3 setting looks great on landscapes and
wildlife.
The battery consumption is far superior to my old Dimage 5. I was able to shoot a full 125 photos (that currently fills my IBM 340 Microdrive) with 1600 ma batteries; normal shooting, turning the camera off in between shots, using the flash about 20% of the time . I recently shot 76 photos, out doors no flash, EVH only (no LCD) using only a set of Duracell Ultra AA’s.
As for a few "knocks" against the camera...
the EVH is good but not great, it's hard to manually focus correctly using it, a
true SLR would be better. Minolta doesn't offer any propriety accessory lenses
at all, no Minolta 2x or Wide angle (see "tIps" below for what works well).
As for shooting style, I
normally have my 7i set to shoot but only allowing the smaller LCD
in the EVH viewfinder to kick on (via a sensor) when I bring the camera up to
shoot. Other times I turn the camera off. It’s power up time is approximately 3 seconds… that is radically faster
than any other digital I’ve ever owned.
One last, “guilty pleasure” I really love about the camera is… it not only looks like an SLR… it sounds like an SLR. It has a few sound schemes, one of which mimics a Minolta Maxxum’s auto drive when you hit the shutter, ga-gizk, ga-gizk, ga-gizk…. Some folks may think it’s “cheesy”… but I think it’s radically cool.
Dimage 7i Examples:
