Back to Photography

Back to Reviews

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)

(Click the thumbnails below to see a larger more detailed image)      

Lake_House_28mm.jpg (103633 bytes)    Lake_House_200mm.jpg (121287 bytes)                     Cameta_28mm.jpg (96554 bytes)    Cameta_200mm.jpg (77764 bytes)   

 

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. With other Camera manufactures specialized batteries,  if you’re out of power, you are out of luck. Just think how much it would suck if you’re at a party, the batteries in your Nikon 5700 are dead, and Paul McCartney walks into the room! I’m off to 7-11 for a set of AA’s … while you’re off to the wall to bang your head against it!

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! The only issue at all with low light photography is that the camera changes ISO settings from a sharp ISO 100 to nearly unusable ISO 200... the 400 and 800 settings produce an atrocious result if you intend to crop or zoom in on the photo.

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.

800x600 ISO 100.jpg (70323 bytes)    800x600 ISO 800.jpg (68309 bytes)
 

Below are two other outdoor ISO 100 shots where there is virtual no noise visible at all, these were not touched up...

aPICT0030.jpg (146279 bytes)    a 28 PICT0016.jpg (100090 bytes)    

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 movies display on well the computer  but are a little too grainy on the TV screen. The photos however,  look fabulous on the TV.

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). The "Sports" mode would be awesome if it did what it is designed to do. It's suppose to focus continually, to allow you to shot a fast moving sports scene at the highest possible shutter speed; keep in mind the Dimage 7i can go as high as 1/2000th of a second. But alas, it does not function very well. Minolta doesn't include a remote or wireless remote for the shutter, as others do. Although ISO produces a great result.... noise is quite noticeable in any ISO higher than 100, essentially unusable in ISO 800 if you intend to crop or zoom in at all.  Every now and then the 7i sorta ignores me when I hit the shutter, I have to release the focus lock and make a second attempt at the photo. Lastly, the camera strap hangs and blocks the door when you plug the cameras USB cable in or remove the Compaq Flash card... this one is just plain stupid... how the engineers at Minolta let that little irritation get through production line is beyond me.

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.

In a nutshell, this camera is simply “too cool for school”, it’s outrageously awesome, and simply… in a word… sweet.

Dimage 7i Examples:

                   

   

Dimage 7i tips:

In 99% of situations… I’ve found the best results come with the following settings:
ISO: 100
Image size: 2560x1920
Quality: Fine
VIVD COLOR
Contrast: 0
 Color Saturation: +1 or + 2 for people…. +3 for animals and landscapes
 

 A few other tips… Watch the shutter speed with that awesome 200mm lens. If you zoom all the way to 200mm, make sure the shutter speed is at 1/250th of a second or higher that will help keep the focus and eliminate camera shake. User shutter priority mode for that. In low light that will be difficult of course.

For landscapes, try 28mm to 50mm, go to Aperture Priority mode, and set it to the narrowest aperture (F8 is ideal)… that will keep everything in focus from the foreground to the background. That too is difficult in low light.

For portraits, try shooting at 100mm. That will focus the subject but, blur the background… ideal for portraits.
 

As for accessories I’ve found to work well….

The Olympus A-200 1.5x… gives you a TRUE 300mm photo, which can be then doubled in software or digital 2x to the equivalent of a 600mm shot… and still look great. http://www.congiano.com/Photography/A200/a200.htm

For wide angle the Phoenix .25x super fisheye is simply amazing. http://www.congiano.com/Photography/PoenixFisheye.htm

The two lenses compliment each other well…. Resulting in an 8.75mm to 300mm set. http://www.congiano.com/Photography/Dimage/lenses.htm

For a Flash I would suggest a Sigma DG Super Review coming soon