Rating: 
Summary: I own a Nikon Coolpx 990.....
Review: As a professional medium format film photographer, I give high marks to this camera. It has the feel of a 35mm, the 4X optical
and 4MP makes this a winner.
Also it uses CF cards which I prefer,
they are a bit more sturdy for handling.
I had the opportunity to
shoot and digital process images from the S414 and found the results impressive.
I own a digital Nikon Coolpix 990 with less optical zoom and less MP-
have 4 years on it. This Minolta rivals my Coolpix. Be sure to get the AC adaptor, 128 Mb CF card, 8 rechargeable AA batts and a speedy battery charger.....don't forget to get a inexpensive San Disk
card reader. Protect the lens with a screw in filter.
The price is right on the Minolta---- Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: INCREDIBLE value INCREDIBLE pictures
Review: I cannot begin to tell you how impressed everyone was with the pictures I took with this camera. Many have seen digital... but this is something else. And for under [money]? 4MP images, 4X OPTICAL Zoom -- you won't find that in a Canon for under [money]. Even better -- standard AA batteries so you'll never have to worry about your battery pack being depleted with no options or having your batteries become irreplaceable after a few years. IT takes video too and the 320 x 240 videos are usable, cute, and a nice additional feature. The ease of use is excellent. And best of all the vivid quality of the images combined with the sharpness left me impressed. I didn't need to refer to the manual during first use to get started. Very simple. Need to read to understand all the features.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice when it's not in the shop.
Review: Got this s414 for Christmas, came up with an error the first 24 hours of operation, So i took it back where I bought it from and exchanged it for another s414. This camera worked for 2 months until it fell from my desk to my chair with the flimsy flash card door open. The flimsy door cracked so I glued it to strengthen it. The camera worked for another week, then came up with an error code again. SENT IT TO MINOLTA AND THE REFUSED TO FIX IT UNDER WARANTY- CHARGED ME $140 TO FIX IT. BUYER BEWARE---
Rating: 
Summary: Limited features
Review: I have owned two other digital cameras, this was to be a replacement for a dead 3.2MP Casio QV300EX. I am a point-and-shooter primarily, but like to have the controls when I feel creative. If all you want is an auto setting camera, you can do much worse. However, if you are at all interested in manual control, look elsewhere! The bad:
1. Only two aperature settings
2. Lens does NOT zoom when in Macro mode
3. In manual mode, the LCD does NOT display the focus. The user is expected to view the focus as a number displayed on the LCD, i.e. 0.6m, etc. This makes it impossible to get the correct focus in manual mode.
4. Has problems in low light getting a good focus. My test photos were blury in evening light, the kind of light that makes for some of the best photos. This is probably due to the relatively slow lens.
5. Lacks shutter priority mode. Come on!
6. Battery door seems fragile and is hard to close. The tabs that lock it into place seem to be stuck when sliding the door, I'm afraid over time they would break.
7. Too easily turned-on while in the pocket/bag. The good:
1. Solid metal case
2. Turns on quickly
3. Good battery life
4. Good feel in the hands
Rating: 
Summary: Good with some limitations
Review: A solid camera, fairly easy to use (you really need to read the manual for some features), and pretty flexible when you learn how to use the features. I'm an amatuer photographer, so I'm limited in my price range, but from what I've seen it's a good deal. I did however notice some complaints from other reviews that aren't valid: 1 - No shutter priority mode: there actually is, in manual mode. Necessary for shooting things such as sunsets. 2 - Poor functionality in low light: I have taken some great low light/non-flash shots by adjusting the ASA. The quality degrades a little, but that parallels film usage. 3 - Short battery life: This can easily be avoided by not using the LCD. I've shot 120 frames of hi-res at my daughters soccer games on one set of rechargeables. The LCD is useless in bright sun anyway. Things I like: * Compact size, good feel in the hand
* Solid built, the memory card door and battery door on mine are rock solid.
* Flexibility - BW, Sepia, Enchanced color, Custom white balance, adjustable ASA, different metering modes, adjustable auto shut off, adjustable playback
* Picture quality - I've printed out some great 8 x 10's.
* Continuous shooting - very handy at sporting events for capturing action sequences Things I don't like:
* Lag time in AutoFocus - takes a while before you hear the little *ding*. It's easy to push the shutter halfway, watch the lens focus and take the picture before the *ding*, which usually results in an out of focus picture. I use manual mode for anything that requires a faster response time.
* On/off switch is too easily switched on accidently.
* Will ocassionally (not too often) lock-up and you need to re-boot by removing the batteries.
* Lack of gradual digital zoom
* What you see in the viewfinder is slightly zoomed in from what is actually framed in the picture. Easy to fix in editing, but still...
* Video clip functionality - it works OK, but I never use it. Would rather have a gradual digital zoom. One negative observation - my camera is 6 months old, and the main control button (zoom/select) is getting harder to push in to select something. Frustrating when I'm flipping through menu settings in a hurry. This has been a good intro to digital photography, but my next camera will have to go up a step to switchable lenses (for a larger zoom) and higher pixel resolution.
Rating:
Summary: Very nice camera
Review: I love this camera, I bought it about 9 months ago and have taken it all around Europe traveling and snapping photos. It takes great pics, day or night and I'm only using it as point and click (my daughter gets the same results and she's 10). The movies come out nice too and it's very easy to use. The only drawback it has is the dial button for the camera option, since that also turns on the camera I have had it turn on when I carry with just the shoulder strap. The camera will bump my side and accidentally get 'dialed' on. Best bet is to keep it in a camera case. I would easily buy this camera again and would recommend it to my friends (with the caution about the ease of the dial button coming on, which is the only reason for 4 instead of 5 stars).
Rating:
Summary: Very pleased with this purchase
Review: This camera taught me so much about digital photography! I researched features, prices, accessories and customer satisfaction for just about every camera this size (4 MP) and without ever physically holding the camera, purchased the Minolta DiMAGE S414 from Amazon. The first hard lesson I learned was that this camera barely functions without Monster's Ultra-High Capacity batteries (2000 mAh). Invest the extra fifty bucks for a set of four rechargeable Monsters and the rapid charger and you will be so glad you did. I upgraded to a 256MB CF card for seventy bucks and will never fill the thing to its capacity, even on a week-long vacation. My husband is a novice to digital photography, but took to the DiMAGE like a fish to water and is so pleased with the ease-of-use and quality of it. The photos are spectacular. We have logged such events as our daughter's first ballet recital, our annual beach vacation, and even 4th of July fireworks with most pleasing results. We will be taking a trip to the Caribbean in October and while I am hesitant to travel with my new toy, I would be foolish not to take it along. The colors are crisp, the details *amazing*, and if you take the time to read the short manual and research the features before using the camera, you will be in love with the DiMAGE. The camera itself is chunky and professional looking, easy to hold and even take one-handed photos if necessary. The "movie with sound" feature is cute, although the files are typically too large for email to the grandparents. I use my DiMAGE in combination with HP's Photosmart 7350, which I found at Staples (refurbished) for under a hundred bucks, and found that HP's printer software compliments the package nicely with automatic photo reduction for email, super easy red-eye removal and very professional quality photos on any type of photo paper (the 4x6's are amazing.) I have read every review posted about this model camera and with enough detailed research, you can resolve most problems. Probably not a good camera for the electronically challenged. I recommend this camera without hesitation.
Rating:
Summary: Great value for a 4 megapixel camera
Review: Love this camera, and the pictures come out great on our Canon S-820 with glossy 4x6 paper. Two complaints:
1. Delay between pressing the button all the way down (after pushing half-way for AF) and the actual snapshot can be slow at times, and makes quick snaps harder. Maybe I'll try more manual mode shooting to solve this... 2. Battery muncher. I keep two sets of 4 AA 1800+ mA batteries handy since it chews through them quickly. I'm not sure if using the LCD less would make a big improvement, but that's my next test. Overall, easy to use, lots of manual features for the more serious photo jock, and a great bargain for a quality DC.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Price...Average Camera
Review: I had previously used a Canon s30 and I figured that it was time to grab a new camera with a little higher resolution before my (expensive) Compactflash collection becomes obsolete. But after taking a few shots in auto and comparing them to the Canon pics I immediatley noticed how grainy and yellow the pictures looked. Messed around with manual controls and I was able to remedy the yellow hue problem but the pictures remained grainy with a soft focus. Returned after a few days of messing with settings. Pros:
-price
-features
-4x optical zoom Cons:
-camera is gigantic
-poor image processing
-overly soft focus
Rating:
Summary: 50 - 50...
Review: have used it frequently for about 10 months. here are some pros and cons:
PROs:
- price/value (mostly the manual functions)
- nice lens (sometimes very little chromatic aberration)
- some pictures are really nice
- not very slow operation (i really have no comparison)
- uses CF - cheap, good and popular CONs:
- baterry eater
- terrible noise at higher ISOs. 400 is almost useless
- poor and wrongly-located microphone
- needs very good light for movie mode
- no zoom/focus/white balance control in movie mode
- poor auto white balance (not good for flash) - it's not really "auto"-it's fixed
- poor image processing - "auto levels" in photoshop is a must with most shots
- pictures often a bit greenish or yellowish - "auto color" in PS solves it quickly
- hangs up sometimes (but my girlfriend's doesn't) - have to take out the batteries and loses last shot
- not very good flash
- fixed zoom at macro
- macro min. distance is too big
- often indicates good focus in macro mode, although object is too close
- poor low-light focus, no low-light AF assist lamp
- optical viewfinder's view differs much from the lcd
- tripod mount is on the left side, while heavy batteries are on the right
- AC adapter too expencive. it's better to buy 2 sets of good rechargables and a CF card reader (USB 1.1 on the reader is much MUCH faster than on the camera!) well, in the PROs I could write every useful function, so it would be really 50-50, but you find it in the specs :)
If your not too ambitious, this cam is not bad. I liked it first, than (through it's possibilities) became an ambitious amateur and need to change it for a higher-shelf one...
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