Minolta D7I - Full Review.

mpenza · 17th June 2002

DImage 7i review's out at imaging-resource:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D7I/D7IP.HTM

Conclusion
It's no secret that I was greatly impressed with the original Dimage 7, when I first reviewed it back in May of 2001. In the intervening time, it's generally aged well, but other products have appeared on the market that offer it strong competition. The new Dimage 7i is a significant upgrade to the original though, more than meeting the competition in a wide range of areas. To my mind, the big story with the Dimage 7i is still the lens, clearly one of the best I've seen on a prosumer digicam. The rest of the camera performs to a very high level as well, with category-leading autofocus speed, excellent, fine-grained control over color and tone, and noticeable improvements to what was already one of the best electronic viewfinders in the industry. As an added bonus, the Dimage 7i integrates beautifully with Minolta's dedicated flash units, with built-in wireless TTL flash metering capability and full control over the flashes' zoom heads. (Minolta's very flexible twin-headed macro flash system deserves special mention here as well, as one of the most flexible macro lighting systems I've seen.) No product is perfect though, and the Dimage 7i is no exception: There are still issues with the difficulty its EVF has in showing highlight detail, and the camera does consume quite a bit of power. (A couple of sets of high-capacity NiMH cells and/or an external LiIon battery pack are strongly recommended accessories.) All in all though, the new Dimage 7i demands serious consideration from anyone shopping at the high end of the "prosumer" digicam market. Highly recommended!

ninelives · 17th June 2002

erm, sorry. there is an update , the url should be : http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D7I/D7IA.HTM

mpenza · 17th June 2002

The url I listed led to the easy to print page

ninelives · 17th June 2002

Quote:

Originally posted by mpenza
The url I listed led to the easy to print page

ooohhhhh....

megaweb · 17th June 2002

just view thru the sample shots at

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D7I/D7IPICS.HTM

the image quality is really POOR

YSLee · 17th June 2002

Really? I don't find it so bad. Care to explain your statement?

megaweb · 17th June 2002

Quote:

Originally posted by YSLee
Really? I don't find it so bad. Care to explain your statement?

dunno leh ...

see thru some samples site at

http://www.steves-digicams.com/2002_...i_samples.html

click on those sky shots .. , they look grainy to me ..

and the sample shots at

http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D7I/D7IPICS.HTM

the shadow got noise ...

mpenza · 17th June 2002

someone mentioned that graininess could be due to the ISO settings auto-selected by the camera.... could that've caused the problem?

ninelives · 17th June 2002

Quote:

Originally posted by mpenza
someone mentioned that graininess could be due to the ISO settings auto-selected by the camera.... could that've caused the problem?

yes, dpreview mentioned it before. yslee also mentioned.

and when u study the photos, read the contents also , for example : "The extreme tonal range of this image makes it a tough shot for many digicams, which is precisely why I set it up this way. The object is to hold highlight and shadow detail without producing a "flat" picture with muddy colors, and the Dimage 7i performed fairly well in that respect."

/me kok yslee.

hehe, long time no kok liao, hand itchy.

17th June 2002	#5
megaweb Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: East Posts: 8,106	just view thru the sample shots at http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D7I/D7IPICS.HTM the image quality is really POOR __________________ See my Photo Gallery at the Clubsnap \| Pbase

17th June 2002	#1
mpenza Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 13,397	DImage 7i review's out at imaging-resource: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D7I/D7IP.HTM Conclusion It's no secret that I was greatly impressed with the original Dimage 7, when I first reviewed it back in May of 2001. In the intervening time, it's generally aged well, but other products have appeared on the market that offer it strong competition. The new Dimage 7i is a significant upgrade to the original though, more than meeting the competition in a wide range of areas. To my mind, the big story with the Dimage 7i is still the lens, clearly one of the best I've seen on a prosumer digicam. The rest of the camera performs to a very high level as well, with category-leading autofocus speed, excellent, fine-grained control over color and tone, and noticeable improvements to what was already one of the best electronic viewfinders in the industry. As an added bonus, the Dimage 7i integrates beautifully with Minolta's dedicated flash units, with built-in wireless TTL flash metering capability and full control over the flashes' zoom heads. (Minolta's very flexible twin-headed macro flash system deserves special mention here as well, as one of the most flexible macro lighting systems I've seen.) No product is perfect though, and the Dimage 7i is no exception: There are still issues with the difficulty its EVF has in showing highlight detail, and the camera does consume quite a bit of power. (A couple of sets of high-capacity NiMH cells and/or an external LiIon battery pack are strongly recommended accessories.) All in all though, the new Dimage 7i demands serious consideration from anyone shopping at the high end of the "prosumer" digicam market. Highly recommended!

17th June 2002	#2
ninelives Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: BB Posts: 2,622	erm, sorry. there is an update , the url should be : http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D7I/D7IA.HTM

17th June 2002	#6
YSLee Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 2,262	Really? I don't find it so bad. Care to explain your statement?