Rating: Summary: Minolta has made the best little point and shoot ever! Review: I was looking for a small camera that I could shove in a pocket and take wherever I went so that if a photo oportunity came about, I would have a camera ready. I was low on money, and found this camera refurbished. I read lots of reviews and compared this camera to other cameras with the same features. Buying this camera is definitely not a mistake! I have the basic case and an extra battery, and since the batteries only take about an hour and a half to charge I always have one ready when the battery in the camera dies (Which is usually after a full day of continuous photography). The camera is incredible rugged, I have dropped it on more than one occasion, and it still works. Whether I am in school, at home, or pretty much anywhere, this I know that I am sure to get a good picture. Now to adress some of the problems that people say this camera has: 1. anemic flash - Although the flash is a little wimpy, when you use it within about 12 feet of your subject it is fine. 2. picture quality - the picture quality is as good as any 3.2 megapixel camera. It just depends what setting you have it on. I always keep mine of the largest picture and fine quality(next level below tiff). If you are complaining about image quality, get a film camera, and wait until digital cameras get better. Film is the equivalent of about 15-20 megapixels. 3. 16 megabyte card - duh, you can't get many pictures on here that are even somewhat decent in quality. No matter what camera you buy, you will still have to buy a larger card if you want a good amount of pictures. I have a 256 megabyte card that holds 160 pictures on fine and about 38 in tiff mode. 4. Finger in the picture - yeah, I agree that if you have big hands this can become a problem. The best way to hold this camera, is to use the controls and take the picture with your right hand and hold the bottom left hand corner of the camera with your left hand to steady it. 5. this camera is not for professionals - I agree. If you want all the controls of a manually controlled camera, keep looking, however, the autofocus does do a nice job, and I don't understand why a camera with more things to adjust would be better for snapshots and and active lifestyle. All in all, this camera is truly one of the most handy electronic gadgets that I can think of and I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS CAMERA TO ANYONE.
Rating: Summary: Where's my camera? Review: I would like to rate and review this camera which I ordered on Dec. 8, but it has yet to arrive, though it is now Feb. 14 and the mailing date is listed as Jan. 23, and the product curently advertises "deliver in one to two days". What's going on here?
Rating: Summary: Fabulous little camera. Review: I'm 64 and have been taking photos all my adult life. Starting with a Kodak Brownie, Argus C3, 4 x 5 press camera, Mamayiaflex, Nikons and Nikonmats. The Dimage Xi is my fourth digital camera and it is simply maverlous. I don't see how a camera can get any better. In one lifetime it's come to this.It's a jewelbox, small as a compact. The first thing I did was test its capabilities, taking a flash photo in the back yard at night, a closeup of a credit card, a movie, a sound file attachment and a solo sound file. The inclulded 16 meg memory card hold 45 standard photos, the 128 meg card holds 360. The optical viewfinder tracks with the optical zoom. I connected the camera to the iPhoto program on my Mac and -zip - the photos were ready to look at. Excellent quality. This is a marvelous camera. I keep it in my pocket all the time, something I could not easily do with my very good Sony Mavica 83. A really fine little camera.
Rating: Summary: Portable, easy to use, small, lots of functionalities Review: I've been using this camera for a while and it's just wonder. Pros: Small - I can put it in my Minolta leather camera holder and wear it on a belt. Very portable, good for traveling. Movie - 35 seconds movie in QuickTime format. Pretty good quality WITH SOUND!! Can zoom while shooting movie. Functionalities - You can choose TIFF or JPEG format. 35 sec. audio memos for each picture and 30 mins audio recording. Different ISO settings, night time photo exposure compensation, can zoom-in when viewing pictures on the LCD, e-mail format, EXIF photo printer format Zoom - 3x optical zoom using built-in prism. No protruding lens during zoom. Awesome! Memories - comes with 16MB but not enough. So, I got the 128Mb which is more than enough for my use. About 130 high quality 4x6" type of photo (not the largest size and highest quality yet). Battery - small and last for a whole day at least. I used the Olympus before and its AAA battery runs out so quickly. This Lithium battery in the Minolta is so much better. Cons: Software - Slow to load up pics and kinda useless. But I used Photoshop for editing and ACDSee for viewing anyway. Moive - on 35sec Max even if you have a 128M memory card. Conclusions: Cons is minimal. It's definitely worth it. Very eye-catching, easy to use, easy to upload pics. Definitely need a 128Mb memory card, an extra battery.
Rating: Summary: A most versatile camera available Review: If you are an outdoor enthusiast who loves to take pictures but deplore the weight and size of most conventional digital or 35mm cameras, then this camera is the one for you. Weighing only 4.6 ounces and smaller than a pkg of cigarettes this little beauty has a case that will attach to your belt and allow you complete freedom of motion. Technically, a marvel: 3.2mpx plus 3x optical zoom with no lens to retract or extend ( all this is done WITHIN the camera !!!) and sharp quality pictures. Negatively, the software could be better and the camera is expensive. This is the classic example of the old cliche: you get what you pay for.
Rating: Summary: Small Form Factor Packs a BIG Punch Review: If you're looking for an EXTREMELY portable digital camera with reasonable resolution, you should seriously consider the DiMAGE Xi. About 2+ years ago, I purchased a Sony DSC-F505V (which is a nice digital camera - read the reviews here on Amazon). The problem is that it is a rather bulky camera and my wife refused to use it because it was too difficult to carry while trying to keep up with our two young children. She resorted to going back to her old film based point-and-shoot camera because of its smaller, more portable size. The DiMAGE Xi has now completely coverted her over to digital photography. We have found that the DiMAGE Xi is definitely a take anywhere camera. What is most impressive is that the DiMAGE packs nearly the same, key everyday user features as my Sony F505V but in the form factor that is only a bit larger than a tin of Altoids! Recommend getting a backup battery and upgrade the SD memory to at least 256Mb - expect this to add around $... to the overall price. Pros: Extremely small form factor, 3x optical zoom for such a small form factor and no protruding lenses, fairly intuitive menu (particularly if you are already somewhat familiar with digital cameras), has both a viewfinder AND LCD display. Cons: Flash is a bit limited, body of camera does tend to get a bit warm (dissipates a bit of power) when LCD display is being used, only comes with 16Mb SD memory card
Rating: Summary: Small Form Factor Packs a BIG Punch Review: If you're looking for an EXTREMELY portable digital camera with reasonable resolution, you should seriously consider the DiMAGE Xi. About 2+ years ago, I purchased a Sony DSC-F505V (which is a nice digital camera - read the reviews here on Amazon). The problem is that it is a rather bulky camera and my wife refused to use it because it was too difficult to carry while trying to keep up with our two young children. She resorted to going back to her old film based point-and-shoot camera because of its smaller, more portable size. The DiMAGE Xi has now completely coverted her over to digital photography. We have found that the DiMAGE Xi is definitely a take anywhere camera. What is most impressive is that the DiMAGE packs nearly the same, key everyday user features as my Sony F505V but in the form factor that is only a bit larger than a tin of Altoids! Recommend getting a backup battery and upgrade the SD memory to at least 256Mb - expect this to add around $... to the overall price. Pros: Extremely small form factor, 3x optical zoom for such a small form factor and no protruding lenses, fairly intuitive menu (particularly if you are already somewhat familiar with digital cameras), has both a viewfinder AND LCD display. Cons: Flash is a bit limited, body of camera does tend to get a bit warm (dissipates a bit of power) when LCD display is being used, only comes with 16Mb SD memory card
Rating: Summary: Terrific Camera Review: Outstanding camera. Pictures, movie clips, and audio. Very easy to use. Connected effortlessly to Imac running OS 8.6 with the USB storage support 1.3.5.smi update. Incredible features for this size. LCD screen diffiult to see in bright sunlight but can then default to viewfinder if parallex not problem. Highly recommend.
Rating: Summary: Best Daytime pictures Review: Overall this camera takes very good pictures and it is very compact. The only downside if any is when taking pictures in low light. Using flash the image is slightly underexposed and clor balance slightly off(can be easily corrected digitally later). In low light there is some noise at max resolution. If the image size is reduced to 2MP this noise is not seen but it reduces the resolution. Overall very satisfied with the camera. I have also used a1000mA AC adapter at 4.5V to power it and it works fine.
Rating: Summary: Short your Ag stocks, if it's not too late! Review: The Dimage Xi exceeded all my expectations. The small package is unbelieveable. It is simple to use out of the box, yet I can see it has a lot of capabilities that I will have to learn about. But I can tell you this, my three year old 35mm Rebel SLR just got put on the shelf next to the buggywhip. I can't imagine why I would ever use it again, and it's a good camera! No more waiting in line @ one hour photo, and hoping more that 25% of pics are good. I'd short your Kodak and silver stocks! The 16meg memory that comes with the Xi is not enough. I bought a 256meg and an extra battery. Can't wait to use it's full capabilities, but in the mean time it is cool as is.
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