Rating: 
Summary: Fast, small & light, excellent images indoors & out
Review: Photography has been a lifelong hobby of mine. I love to take candids both indoors & out and I have always wanted a camera that was small enough to take anywhere, fast enough for candids, with high image quality and manual features beyond a point & shoot. I have finally found it in this camera. I have already taken hundreds of pictures and the quality has been great. But I was perplexed why many reviews complained about the poor ability of the camera to focus indoors while others have said they get perfect results.
In fact the autofocus light does continue to blink annoyingly on most indoor shots, even in good lighting, indicating that the autofocus is not locked . But the camera allows you to take the shot anyway and the results always appear to be in focus.. I tried shots even in total darkness (using flash, of course) and the results are fine, despite the fact that the autofocus indicator says that focus in not locked. How could this be? To see if the autofocus was really working in the dark I tried a simple test. I took a picture in a poorly lit room with the focus light indicating focus was not locked and another of the same subject with the lights turned up, allowing me to lock focus. Much to my surprise I found negligible difference in sharpness- This camera's autofocus in low light actually exceeded my expectation. But you need to get past the fact that the camera is indicating the focus cannot lock and simply look at the results. Pros
Very small & light weight
Super fast response: opening, closing, and shot to shot
Well priced
Packed with manual features
High image quality: very good sharpness and excellent color accuracy
Easy to use - Menu is a bit complex but fine once you are used to it Cons (All minor issues)
Poor Minolta customer service
No printed manual
Camera front is easily scratched
Rating:
Summary: Fast, small & light, excellent images indoors & out
Review: Photography has been a lifelong hobby of mine. I love to take candids both indoors & out and I have always wanted a camera that was small enough to take anywhere, fast enough for candids, with high image quality and manual features beyond a point & shoot. I have finally found it in this camera. I have already taken hundreds of pictures and the quality has been great. But I was perplexed why many reviews complained about the poor ability of the camera to focus indoors while others have said they get perfect results.
In fact the autofocus light does continue to blink annoyingly on most indoor shots, even in good lighting, indicating that the autofocus is not locked . But the camera allows you to take the shot anyway and the results always appear to be in focus.. I tried shots even in total darkness (using flash, of course) and the results are fine, despite the fact that the autofocus indicator says that focus in not locked. How could this be? To see if the autofocus was really working in the dark I tried a simple test. I took a picture in a poorly lit room with the focus light indicating focus was not locked and another of the same subject with the lights turned up, allowing me to lock focus. Much to my surprise I found negligible difference in sharpness- This camera's autofocus in low light actually exceeded my expectation. But you need to get past the fact that the camera is indicating the focus cannot lock and simply look at the results. Pros
Very small & light weight
Super fast response: opening, closing, and shot to shot
Well priced
Packed with manual features
High image quality: very good sharpness and excellent color accuracy
Easy to use - Menu is a bit complex but fine once you are used to it Cons (All minor issues)
Poor Minolta customer service
No printed manual
Camera front is easily scratched
Rating: 
Summary: Admirable P&S camera but poor low-light AF performance
Review: Pros:
Recognized as a generic mass storage device under Windows XP - No drivers from device vendor required
Small size. Easy to take with you
Manual controls
34mm equivalent wide angle (most P&S cameras are in the 35-39mm range)
SD and Memory Stick slots
Decent battery life
LCD can still be seen reasonably well in bright sun
Good picture quality
Low shutter lag
Decent flash
Many features for the price Cons:
Big:
Poor AF performance in low light despite Minolta hype to the contrary
Nit picky:
No diopter setting for the viewfinder (Not need by me, yet)
Blue LED on front that does nothing
Unintuitive menuing system takes some getting used to
Zoom not continuous
No date stamp feature
Speaker placement on top left corner is easily blocked by left index finger so the "click" sound cannot be heard
Typos in menus and documentation
Depression on back right of camera angled wrong making the camera more difficult to grip
Non-existent technical support (no reply to my email regarding poor low-light AF performance)
No TV-out option
Rating:
Summary: Great camera! Buy it.
Review: Several camera forums and users speak of difficulty focusing in low light. Mine focuses perfectly in near total blackness and in all shades of darkness to bright light-- It focuses in all modes equally well. It focuses perfectly every time. I can't get it to not focus perfectly. Are we talking about the same camera? Is there a quality control issue with this camera?
This camera has nearly every manual feature you can ask for. The blue light that someone complained about can be turned off (but yes--it does nothing). Someone else complained about not being able to date stamp the pictures. This is wrong. Page 98 of the manual explains how that is done. Another complaint was with Red Eye which is a given with tiny cameras where the flash is right by the lens. Just turn on the red eye reduction setting and that fixes that. You can even adjust flash brightness and LCD brightness. The manual is quite large because there are so many features that most people aren't aware of because they haven't taken time to read it 3 times. It takes 3 times because there are so many custom settings available.
Pictures inside and outside are crisp and vivid. (Angel mode with correct white balance make very beautiful skin tones. . . .) Do I have any complaints? Yes:
1. Lousy tech support (called them before buying the camera. They were worthless. Have not needed to call them since)
2. Manual is PDF on CD. Have to print it off. Bummer.
3. Navigation through menus is funky. I agree with previous reviewer that your hands are moving all over the place in order to navigate. But after awhile you get it down. Part of the reason you have to read the manual 3 times is to understand the navigation and setting selections. No camera is perfect. Everyone has complaints on one thing or another. The best camera is one you have with you when you want to take a picture. That usually means small enough to put in a pocket so it is wherever you are and fast enought to turn on and take a picture in a flash before the moment is gone. This camera does it in 1.5 seconds. And of course it must have great photos or why even own it? This is the camera--very fun and fast. Just wish that menu system was a bit easier. . . .
Rating:
Summary: compact camera offers superb image quality
Review: Since making a foray into digital photography a few years ago, I've been waiting until technology and price converged with a camera that offered enough over the 1.3 MP camera I had been using to make it worth the jump. My requirements were good macro to short range (a few feet) performance, high image quality and color rendition, fast startup and pocketable.
I chose the Minolta after considering similar models from other manufacturers. The protective, sliding style lens cover was the type of design I preferred, with a sturdy, stainless steel body. It's a newer model with faster startup than the G500. This, for me, plus the smaller size outweighed the increased sensor resolution (and price) of the latter.
The camera startup time (well under 1 second, essentially instantaneous) is one of its strongest features. Opening the lens cover is tricky, however. It's easy to smudge the lens if your fingers slip. I've found that using my index and middle fingers to slide the cover using the "ears" on the "chevron" part of the cover, while holding the camera with my other hand, avoids lens smudges.
For most candids and point-n-shoot situations it was best to use full auto (usually with flash disabled). Switching between auto and manual takes just a few pushes of the mode and navigation buttons, and comes quickly after some practice. Thankfully, there are dedicated buttons to enable macro mode and setting the flash modes, which are retained across power-ups.
The manual camera mode with auto flash exposure and 100 ISO setting gave the best quality, provided that there was enough time to compose the shot. However, the auto-focus often fails for closeups (3 feet or less). Reviewing the images after shooting was mandatory for closeup shots. If only there were an easy way to manually focus.
The camera delivered what I expected regarding image quality. The color rendition was superb. However, examining images, one looks more critically for shortcomings rather than strong points. Highlights and colors tend to get blown out easily in contrasty, sunlit scenes, and I used -0.7 EV or greater underexposure compensation to avoid this. Consequently, shadow areas can be noisy.These limitations are true of all consumer digicams, however. There are many sample photos to be found on pbase; navigate to the camera-specific gallery for the Minolta G400. Some photos are posted at full resolution so you can have a good look.
The camera uses the same battery as the new G600 model. That's good, because it will insure a supply of replacements on the market when the time comes to replace the battery. Buy an extra battery, keep one in charger and one in camera. Swap them when your memory card fills up.
Two unfortunate notes regarding my experiences with the camera:
- If kept in a snug pocket, it's easy to snag the lens cover "ears" when quickly withdrawing the camera, causing the camera to switch on while still inside the pocket. This apparently happened one time too many, and the lens became frozen in the closed position. Fortunately, Minolta's warranty service was very responsive and I received the camera two weeks (the standard estimate is 4 weeks) after returning it for no-cost repair.
- I splashed it with (black) coffee. After drying for several hours, it returned to life, but remained flaky. I sent it back, and the repair wasn't covered ($160).
Pros: super fast start-up time, good color fidelity, low levels of compression artifacts in midtones, one-button selection of flash and macro modes, sturdy, compact stainless steel body, relatively easy to navigate menus.
Cons: unreliable autofocus if closer than 3 feet; lens cover can snag on pocket, leading to unwanted camera activation and possible damage.
Since purchasing the camera, the price has dropped considerably, making it a terrific value.
Rating:
Summary: How strong is the flash?
Review: Sorry for using this as a question board, but how strong is the flash for this camera? The specs say 6.2 feet, which is about 2/3rd that of the minolta xt, and 1/2 of the canon s400. I want to get this one, but the flash is the one thing that is totally putting me off. p.s. I promise to edit this review once I get this camera.
Rating:
Summary: Good for outdoor use, struggles a bit indoors
Review: The G400 is a small, fast camera that performs quite well outdoors. It does not focus well in indoor lighting, though - struggling to get focus lock in moderate to low lighting conditions. Size wize, the camera is very pocketable. It's not quite as small as the Pentax Optio S series, but it's one of the smaller optical zoom enabled cameras out there. Its construction is quite solid and the camera has a good 'feel' to it. The menu system isn't what I'd describe as intuitive - it's actually close to cumbersome, but it's not too bad to navigate through (though you will find your hands moving all over the place to press different buttons, as opposed to having everything on a 4-way 'OK' controller like most digicams). Outdoors, the camera really shines. Startup time is tremendously fast - the camera is ready to shoot before you can get it up to your face. Auto focus time is quite quick, especially in good light. Shutter lag with prefocus is non-existant. Total shutter lag with autofocus is quick - under a second in good light. Shot to shot time is good, too - even flash recycle time is quick - 2-3 seconds. No lost shots waiting for startup or flash recycle. Image quality is very nice - colors look realistic, low noise (for a small camera) and good resolution. It's no SLR, but you're not going to stick an SLR in your shirt pocket, either. There are trade-offs to get this to this size. Indoors the performance is not so good. The camera fails to lock focus in most 'normal' lighting situations. Continuing to take the picture without lock will usually result in a decently focused pic if your target is fairly close, and there is a manual focus mode as well as 'scene' modes that set a specific focus range. However, it is frustrating for the camera not to lock when other cameras in its class can. The flash is quite strong and shots made with flash are quite good when in focus. However, if you are primarilly looking for a camera for indoor snapshots, you should look elsewhere. If Minolta could improve this aspect of the camera, they'd have a superb product. As it stands now, they have a nice product that works great in good light. Pros:
Fast start up, focus lock and cycle time
Solid construction
True 'pocketable' size
Good battery life
Lots of options / manual controls
Strong flash
Very nice image quality Cons:
Poor moderate to low light focusing abilities
Cumbersome menu
No printed manual included - only on PDF (yuck - 200 pages of PDF? Who's going to print that?)
Redeye - but that's a given on small cameras with strong flashes
Rating: 
Summary: No good for outdoor night pictures...
Review: The G400 makes for great daytime pictures, it's compact, speedy power up and the menus are pretty easy to figure out (i thought the canon s400 was a lot more difficult to navigate). It also has a continous shutter mode where you can take shots in quick succession for sport events.
The main complaint I have is that night pictures of the outdoors are extremely blurred (you need a tripod to stabilize the camera otherwise the pictures are useless) and often don't have sufficient brightness in the images. I was also disappointed that the software has no support for stiching images together to create a panoramic photograph.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera. Nice size and easy to use.
Review: This camera has been great and takes accurate, true to life colors. It's very small and durable. Very easy to figure out for the most part. Some of the stuff on the menu I do not use but have loved having the long exposure setting for taking pictures at night with a tripod. Upgraded memory to 256 and been able to store about 170 pic's on fine setting. Well worth the money.
p.s. I live with my Grandma
Rating:
Summary: Mine Broke
Review: This is a nice camera but mine broke after 2 weeks of ownership. The lens failed to deploy and the lcd saie error moooc ???????? Target gladly refunded my money.
When the camera was working it took good pictures but did have a bit of a focus problem. I foundthat it took the best pictures on night mode with the flash on all the time. The color was good and the camera is verry conveinent to use and cary. It aquires the image fast and recovers quickly.
I will get another from target as soon as one arrives.
Vince
| 
