Minolta Dimage 7HI is officially announced.

[ninelives]

San Francisco, CA (September 10, 2002) – Minolta Corporation expands its digital camera line with the introduction of the new sleek and stylish Single Lens-Reflex (SLR)-type Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi. Based on the award-winning DiMAGE 7 and incorporating improved features from its sister model - the top-of-the-line DiMAGE 7i - the new DiMAGE 7Hi has been further enhanced with features such as a built-in flash synchronization terminal making it a versatile digital imaging tool in the studio and on location, as well as everyday use.

Features include :

5-megapixel high speed continuous advance.
64MB SDRAM
7x optical zoom
12-bit A/D conversation

and more over here

[jimtong]

Any idea?

[007]

Quote: Originally posted by philaskey Since writing my review of that camera I've had an opportunity to compare it to more, newer, five megapixel digital cameras (such as Nikon's Coolpix 5700). All of these cameras exhibit far lower noise levels at ISO 100 than the 7i, and noise doesn't appear to be any better with the advent of the 7Hi. Minolta, please put at least as much effort into improving image quality (reducing noise).

[ninelives]

Quote: Originally posted by 007

philaskey was bashed . check out the debate about noise here :

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read....essage=3358196

[Larry]

i've tried the DiMage 7i before and i was quite impressed by it already... wonder what else they can possibly include in the 7hi so soon...

so I cashed up and ready to buy.

Anybody know when this cam released in Singapore ?

tx

[ninelives]

probably end of Oct. but not confirmed.

Read this thread to learn more about it :

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthrea...threadid=13423

Will take sometime to digest.

Thanks ninelives. After disposing of my f505v I'm in the market for a 5Mp camera....had decided on either the d7i or coolpix 5700, then heard that d7hi is on it way (available in Japan and US now, shame Singapore always seem last to get new products..). Anyway am disturbed by "noise" issue and may lean toward coolpix 5700 after doing alot of forum reading....real shame, if not for this wud go for it soon as it is available. Now, I have to think hard.

[ninelives]

Quote: Originally posted by doctorcd2002 Thanks ninelives. After disposing of my f505v I'm in the market for a 5Mp camera....had decided on either the d7i or coolpix 5700, then heard that d7hi is on it way (available in Japan and US now, shame Singapore always seem last to get new products..). Anyway am disturbed by "noise" issue and may lean toward coolpix 5700 after doing alot of forum reading....real shame, if not for this wud go for it soon as it is available. Now, I have to think hard.

Do you have the intention to print out or just viewing on monitor? Do you want RAW? If you have read the 60 over replies in dpreview, you can see a lot of user still go for D7i although it was noisy than the others.

Why ?

Coz, they believe in prints. According to many of them, the prints from d7i is much better than others brand /model.

If you never tot of printing out your images, if you want to view your image on screen only. Then you have to re-consider.

I learn a lot after reading the threads/replies.

From now on, we really need to look into review carefully. I rather believe in a user experiences, althought they are a complete stranger.

[jimtong]

It is already out at http://www.tkfoto.com.sg/
They quoted me $1860 (If I remember correctly)

Quote: Originally posted by doctorcd2002 so I cashed up and ready to buy. Anybody know when this cam released in Singapore ? tx

Thanks guys. Checked Cathay Photo at Mandarin and they had no stock or no idea when they would get it. Will check out tkfoto now.

Also thanks Nine, take your point on the noise. The important fact for me is the CCD is the same on the 5700 as it is on the D7Hi. So the difference in the image quality is in the lens and the post capture processing only. But you cant escape the fact that the noise IS there. You can check for yourself on dpreview by downloading similar samples (London Tower Bridge) from the D7i and comparing it to the 5700 after a maximum zoom. The effect is noticeable particularly in a dark shot or a skyscene. I do accept that in photoshop you can correct the image by running a noise filter on speckles that seems to eliminate the effect, but after running the same filter on the 5700 photo I still think the image is better on the 5700.

Its a real shame, since for the same image quality I'd go for the Minolta for sure.

Things I like about the D7Hi cam are the fact you can attach 3rd party filters, it runs AA batteries and has a nice swivel EVF.

Things I like about the 5700 are the pop out / swivel LCD (since I am used to the F505v functionality) and the better image quality. I hate the way I cant attach a filter and I hate the proprietary battery pack.

Any further ideas to help persuade me....please!

[rubric]

Thanks for the tip-off! This is the reply I got from TKfoto, less than 30mins after I emailed them:


Hi,
thanks for your mail. The 7hi have arrived. Our price :

Dimage 7i---------S$1600 with gst and free 64 mb card plus free delivery
Dimage 7hi---------S$1850 with gst and free delivery in singapore
Please do contact me at 93857244 if you are interested as goods are limited.

Regards,
Allen Ng
TKFOTO
93857244


Has anyone bought anything from TKPhoto before?

[rubric]

Quote: Originally posted by doctorcd2002 Thanks ninelives. After disposing of my f505v I'm in the market for a 5Mp camera....had decided on either the d7i or coolpix 5700, then heard that d7hi is on it way (available in Japan and US now, shame Singapore always seem last to get new products..). Anyway am disturbed by "noise" issue and may lean toward coolpix 5700 after doing alot of forum reading....real shame, if not for this wud go for it soon as it is available. Now, I have to think hard.

If you are to check out reviews of the 7i at Photographyreview.com you'll notice that not a single user complains about noise. One of the photographers has even printed photos to A3 size and considers them flawless! My guess is that the whole issue is blown out of proportion. Why don't you bring your memory card to a shop and test their 7i/7hi and 5700, then print out some of the photos? It's probably fairer to compare that way.

Note also that there will always be people out there who are convinced that Canon/Nikon/Sony/Minolta has the best digital cameras, no matter what you say to them and what evidences you present. I'll say take their comments with a pinch of salt, and make that a large pint!

BTW, I'm not saying you're one of them. Have fun trying out the cams!

Thanks for that link Rubric, but I'm not reading you right. The first review I read there is full of noise complaints (review by Okayla 21/9)

Quote: Picture quality overall above my expectations, except that digital noise should be better suppresed.

and by the same reviewer

Quote: Noise is worse than Nikon 5700 or Sony 707 (all uses the same Sony ccd), ISO 200 getting pretty noisy, ISO 400 significantly hinders photo quality and ISO 800 picture quality simply not bearable. Minolta really have to work on this particular problem.

Also on your link from another reviewer:

Quote: was never designed for studio use & it shows- really a 'consumer' grade camera with lots of questionable bells & whistles still suffers from noise more than the E-20 (just go to D7 (i) forums and see how many are using neat image or similar)to clean up images.

Also on price ex TKFOTO, here's the reply I got, at least they are consistent with price.


Nikon Coolpix 5700----------S$1660 with gst and free delivery in
singapore
Minolta Dimage 7hi-----------S$1850 with gst and free delivery in
singapore
IBM 1gig microdrive---------S$430 with gst and free delivery


price on D7i I got from Cathay was S$ 1640 so it seems TKFOTO is pretty sharp. Reckon price of D7i must drop fast since hard to see any buyer go for this with D7Hi in stock, if only S$250 price difference.

But now D7Hi is quite a bit more pricey than Coolpix 5700...agonizing decision.

[ninelives]

doctorcd2002,

have u finished reading all the threads in dpreview I provided?

[jimtong]

Depend how you look at it. tkfoto give 64MB memory instead of the usual bundled 16 MB. Think about it.

Quote: Originally posted by doctorcd2002 price on D7i I got from Cathay was S$ 1640 so it seems TKFOTO is pretty sharp. Reckon price of D7i must drop fast since hard to see any buyer go for this with D7Hi in stock, if only S$250 price difference. But now D7Hi is quite a bit more pricey than Coolpix 5700...agonizing decision.

Yes I have read the thread, thanks nine. Most interesting was the formal advice from Minolta.

A question for you nine, based on your personal preference which would you choose, the D7hi or the Coolpix 5700 ?

One interesting point to note, nine is using a Minolta camera...heeheehee

[mpenza]

Quote: Originally posted by doctorcd2002 IBM 1gig microdrive---------S$430 with gst and free delivery

this is overpriced though.... will be cheaper at Cathay Photo and SLS.

[Jeffery]

Quote: Originally posted by mpenza this is overpriced though.... will be cheaper at Cathay Photo and SLS.

Last I checked was abt $375-380 w/GST a week ago.

Rgds,
Jeffery