Minolta Dimage 7i 5MP Digital Camera w/ 7x Optical Zoom

The good:Great zoom range. It's the only ZLR that goes as wide as 28mm (35mm equivalent).The bad:Very poor focusing, especially in low light.The ugly:More noise than you'd expect. A better alogarithm is need. A digital camera is only as good as its programming.The electronic viewfinder is virtually useless. The low pixel count and distorted viewfinder optics do it in.

I recently purchased a 7i through Amazon's marketplace, and have been having a blast with it. The lens is fantastic- wide angle all the way to long zoom. The manual zoom makes this camera feel like a proper SLR. The camera gives great feedback on the LCD about what an exposure will look like. The autofocus is good, but hunts a bit sometimes... so locking on to something and keeping the shutter half down is the way to go. The battery usage is pretty heavy, and you need a spare set (or two) of good new NiMH batteries if you're planning on shooting more than 150 shots in a day. In my experience, 2100 mah hybrid NiMH batteries last about 3 days of intermittent use.The images that come out of this camera have been uniformly great. Some people have complained about noise at higher ISO settings, and yes, there is noise... that looks just like high ISO film grain. Sometimes I want that grainy effect, and cranking the ISO to 800 gets it for me.I'm very happy with this camera, even if it is 6 years old. It is a shame that Minolta went out of the camera business, because this is a fantastic image catcher.

This is getting a one star for now because the camera is advertised to come with the batteries and charger as well as memory card and it came with absolutely nothing other than a camera that won't work without those vital pieces. If the seller would like to fix this issue then I'd love to change my review, but until then it will remain a one star.

The camera was shipped on time and appears to be in good working order however I could not just put in a memory card and try out the all the features there was no "PCMCIA Compact Flash Type I or II Adapter" in the camera I had to order onethis should have been a part of the cameranew correction! EVRERYTHING WORKS GREAT! now that I understand that the CF typeII card was all I needed. THIS WAS MY ERROR

I own two Minolta Dimage 7i cameras. The first one took beautiful photographs. I had it only nine months when the manual zoom adjustment started acting up. Within a week the lens fell out in my hand. Calling a few camera shops I was quoted average $300+ for parts and labor to repair it. I could buy a used one for less. Since I had recently gotten a TTL flash, and had several lenses and wired remote for the 7i, and was quite happy with the quality of the photos, I decided to buy a used one to replace the broken one.The first photos I took with the replacement camera were very noisy, washed out color, and not true-color. I attributed it to low light, it was evening, and maybe I hadn't adjusted somthing right. After taking more photos over the next week I came to realize that this camera just took bad photos. Very noisy, the auto focus rarely focused correctly like my first one had, it took terrible photographs. I even upgraded the flash rom to the latest one available on the Minolta web site. This didn't help. Then I started noticing there were small differences in the two camera bodies, so checked their serial numbers. My first one that took beautiful photos has a serial number in the 290,000 range, the replacement camera serial number is in the 94,000,000 range. A much newer camera and obviously made with inferior cheaper parts than the older one.I had owned the newer one about two months, and hadn't taken that many photographs with it because they come out terrible, most are unusable photos, when the manual focus ring started acting up just like my first one had. My heart sank into my stomach. I know what it means.. it won't be long before the lens falls off this camera too. I havn't taken many photos with it since because I know it's life isn't long.I don't know when I'll be able to afford to buy another camera to replace it. But I know one thing for sure... it won't be a Minolta. Don 'Duck' Landes

I have never challenged my photography skills until I got this camera. The first month or so that I had it, (got in August 2002) I used it in the fully automatic mode. Learning all of the features and settings is a challenge -- that's not a complaint - this camera is so packed with functionality that you will have to learn it over time. I never heard of White Balance until I got this camera. I am now using the manual modes and taking photographs I never thought were possible. Don't get me wrong, the manual modes are great but when you want to push the limits of your creativity - this camera will allow you to do it.

Camera is in great shape.I have not fully tested thiscamera but so far it is perfect.The packing was the bestI've seen to protect a product.Shipping was fast.I'm happy with this purchase.

I GAVE THIS ITEM AS A GIFT.I BOUGHT IT 30 DAYS OR SO BEFORE I NEEDED IT. GOT WORD THAT IT WAS DEFECTIVE. I EMAILED THE COMPANY THROUGH AMAZON WITH NO RESPONSE SO I CALLED THE COMPANY AND LEFT A MESSAGE, NO RESPONSE. BE CAREFUL.