Rating: 
Summary: Great camera!
Review: I love everything about this camera except for the way it chews through batteries. If you buy this camera, make sure you invest in a good battery charger and at least 3 sets of good quality batteries.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost Perfect
Review: I recently purchased the Dimage 5 after doing quite a bit of research on digital cameras in it's class. I bought my first digital camera 4 years ago (olympus 320d) and since then have been waiting for that moment when someone would produce an affordable, high quality digital camera that would give me the flexibility and control that my old Canon Ftb slr did. I have to say I am pleased with the results. The color rendering is accurate without being over saturated. The level of manual control offered and it's accompanying results are very good. The performance of the EVF is quite good even in low light situations. Placement of the controls are convienent once you get used to them. The ability to have 35mmSLR-like control of shutter speed, ISO, manual focus, and a manual zoom ring(not a fan of motorized zoom) is wonderful. Did I mention the lens accepts 49mm filters? I have not experienced what I would consider to be unusual power consumption as some have experienced. I am using 1600 mAh NiMH batteries purchased from the local Radio store. Of course I do take advantage of the power saving features such as setting the EVF to only come on when my eye is at the viewfinder and I rarely frame with the lcd panel. I use it mainly to briefly view a shot after I have taken it. Shooting maximum size shots at the fine setting I had no trouble getting 75 frames over the course of a 2 hour hike along the local river on one set of batteries. Whats missing? Image stabilization and built in noise control for high speed ISO settings and low light shots. Other than that I am completely satisfied with my purchase.
Rating:
Summary: Use the "Correct Batteries" and you won't be dissapointed...
Review: I too was frustrated at first when my camera chewed up a set of Nimh batteries. BUT!!! I looked into how a Nimh works and I learned something. The Mah rating is a detail that you don't want to miss. As of this day of this review that I'm writing the highest Nimh rating for a set of AA batteries is 1800 Mah. Now, the set that I placed in my dimage5 was a 1200 Mah rating. (Fairly quick drainage) Then I went down to Wal-Mart and picked up 2 sets of 4 AA. This set was 1600 Mah and let me tell you that I noticed a huge increase of length of power. Take a look on the side of the Nickel Metal batteries that you are using and see what the Mah is. Chances are you if your camera is chewing up batteries like my uncle Dave is with a turkey at Christmas then the rating is low. A little advice for all of us Camera junkies. Get 3 sets and get a good fast charger. Rayovac sells a one hour charger and they sell an optional car cord online. I havn't used it yet but I'm thinkin' about it.
Rating: 
Summary: HIGH POWER CONSUMPTION
Review: I totally agree with Anthony from Beverly Hills, Ca. : "Great Features, but HIGH POWER CONSUMPTION PROBLEM....THE LARGEST DRAWBACK ON THIS CAMERA IS THE HIGH BATTERY CONSUMPTION. This IS NOT THE CAMERA TO PURCHASE FOR ROADTRIPS UNLESS YOU HAVE 4 SETS OF BATTERIES. This camera drains batteries like a Vampire drains blood on his victims. I purchased this camera and the alkaline batteries lasted only about 15 minutes. I then placed a new set of RECHARGEABLES into the camera and for some REASON the Battery Low INDICATOR lit up in only 5 MINUTES (SEE RAYMOND MOK REVIEW, NOVEMBER 22, 01 who had the same problem)and the camera shut itself off. Sadly, I returned this camera and purchased the Olympus 3040-C, my second choice. Like Raymond Mok said in his review also, I MISS THIS CAMERA." I miss this camera as well, but it was not worth the frustration!
Rating:
Summary: Great Features, but HIGH POWER CONSUMPTION PROBLEM.
Review: I've done ample research on this camera and the product specs. are incredibly amazing...7x zoom, 3.34 megapix, high quality resolution. THE LARGEST DRAWBACK ON THIS CAMERA IS THE HIGH BATTERY CONSUMPTION. This IS NOT THE CAMERA TO PURCHASE FOR ROADTRIPS UNLESS YOU HAVE 4 SETS OF BATTERIES. This camera drains batteries like a Vampire drains blood on his victims. I purchased this camera and the alkaline batteries lasted only about 15 minutes. I then placed a new set of RECHARGEABLES into the camera and for some REASON the Battery Low INDICATOR lit up in only 5 MINUTES (SEE RAYMOND MOK REVIEW, NOVEMBER 22, 01 who had the same problem)and the camera shut itself off. Sadly, I returned this camera and purchased the Olympus 3040-C, my second choice. Like Raymond Mok said in his review also, I MISS THIS CAMERA.
Rating:
Summary: FINEST DIGITAL CAMERA I'VE OWNED (it's my 6th in 4 years)
Review: I've owned and used a wide range of digital cameras over the last 4 years in my work as a web/graphic designer, and none (at this price) come close to the versatility and quality of the Minolta Dimage 5. I've tried Olympus, HP, and other brands and models, but none pack the punch of this beautiful camera. WHAT'S TO LIKE: It's light and sports a nice 35-mm-like feel (unlike many of the more 'oddly' designed digital cameras). The photo quality is superb and extremely customizable, allowing you to snap shots at four different sizes and four different levels of quality. The lens is heads above similarly priced digital cameras. It has in and about it's body enough bells, whistles, and settings to keep a pro happy about the level of manual control, yet is easy enough for a beginner to take it out of the box and start shooting. Everything seems to be easy with this camera, from setting up and snapping shots, to downloading them to your machine. All around a fabulous piece of technology, and the reason I am now a Minolta fan. WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE: Like any digital camera, this baby is a battery hog. Luckily it comes with a nice set of rechargables. But I still suggest picking up a set that recharges faster. One other small complaint is the fragile feel of some of the knobs and dials. For such an expensive piece of equipment, I'd prefer a more solid feel to some of the settings. It's more important to me than the weight. It also comes with a 16 mb flash card, which if you're taking photos at the higher resolutions, does not hold very many shots. I quickly bought a 128 mb Viking card (through Amazon) and can now shoot well over 100 pictures on one storage device. Well worth the extra money. BOTTOM LINE: If this camera is in your price range, it is worth every penny. The Pros well outweigh the few minor Cons listed above. Beginners and pros will both marvel at how far digital technology has come, and will find a new love for photography.
Rating:
Summary: dimage 5 and power consumption
Review: ok, all people with power consumption problems need to realize the following,
1)alkaline batteries do not provide the same power curve as rechargeables do, why would you even sonsider using them, any good digital will use batteries at an astounding rate accept the olympus' which come with thier own specific lithium batteries, but expensive to replace.
2) rechargeable batteries when brand new need to be charged first or they will not operate at their fullest capacity, the manufacturer does not make them charged also, this camera is awesome, i work in a camera store and the dimage 5 is always fun to play with, and has made some astounding pictures. the camera uses batteries at only a slightly higher rate than other brands, but is still respectable.
Rating:
Summary: The Software
Review: The camera itself is excellent--the software I got for mine is almost impossible to use--way too complicated and contradictory to the printed manual. I`ve noticed this before with Minolta stuff--Great hardware, extremely confusing software.
Rating:
Summary: The truth on the Dimage 5
Review: There was a review posted earlier with some serious errors. This review is to help you make an informed decision about this camera. Yes, this camera is a battery hog. Most digital cameras are. So much that the set of four alkaline AA batteries that came with the camera were good for about 8 pictures. Yes, eight. However, a set of NiMH (nickel metal hydride) rechargeable batteries and a charger was included with my camera. The charger is an overnight charger, so you may wish to consider the purchase of a fast charger and another set or two of NiMH batteries. The camera has several levels of compression when it stores the pictures. The superfine, fine, normal, and economy are in standard JPEG format that DO NOT need to be converted to any other format for use. The sRGB format does, however. This stores images in a 36 bits per pixel format. This is a professional-quality format that requires 9MB per image! If you are going to use this format, get a larger CompactFlash card (or IBM microdrive). The download speed via USB is relatively slow compared to other digital cameras, including my older Toshiba PDR-M70. If you have a large CF card, you may wish to purchase a separate USB CF reader for faster transfer speed. Well, there are the negatives. Unless you dislike a camera with a fast shutter-release speed, incredible levels of manual control (including program shift and manual white balancing capabilities), an incredibly sharp zoom lens, and future-proofing via firmware downloads from the Internet! I've had 5 digital camera previous to this one. While the Minolta has some negatives, it is seriously superior to any digital camera I've owned before. Definitely worth a look!
Rating:
Summary: Overall a great unit, with only 2 concerns
Review: This camera offers much in the way of flexibility... from point and shoot to full manual control. Its controls are easy and comprehensive after a short but necessary learning curve. The onscreen feedback is well designed and intuitive. The picture quality is great on "Fine" and up... don't bother with the lower quality settings unless you're seriously cramped for space. You WILL be disappointed, but then the lowest setting uses something like 75% JPEG compression, so it's to be expected. The "Super Fine" setting uses about 5%, "Fine" about 10%. Perfect for general and "photo" uses. The RAW format, which takes a very long time to save to media, has 0% compression and is a lossless format. It does require the proprietary software to download and use, but if you're looking for a way to store that "special" picture and don't mind the save-time, use it. I used it for a few on-the-couch family sittings from a tripod. Battery life is ok to good using NiMH high amp batteries and skipping the use of the LCD. The simulated TTL EVF negates the need of the LCD for typical picture framing anyway. The only two things that *I* have found to complain about this camera are: 1) It gets a little warm where you hold it with with your right hand after lots of pictures... I'm talking like 100 or more pictures right in a row. click, click, click, click... Average picture takers probably won't notice this, and I never did until I got serious the other night about tweaking and fine-tuning some of the manual settings for different lighting situations in my house. Again, I *only* noticed this due to the pretty much click-after-click use for about 100 - 150 pictures. 2) In non-flash "average lighting" situations, it tends to keep the shutter open longer than I would like, showing ghosting and trailing in *some* pictures. Sitting in my living room the other night with 3 lights on, not using the flash, I noticed the shutter speed was 1/3 while using the flash decreased shutter speed to 1/45 to 1/60. Those settings made for a MUCH more stable pictures. This problem was extremely noticable at my daughter's christening this past weekend when the priest's hands were constantly trailed... he's a very animated fellow. Manually overriding the shutter speed is easy and works mostly well, but again, in some lighting situations, you'll find yourself tweaking ISO and/or f/stop settings. In short... use the flash if at all possible, even if only to fool the camera's computer. Other than that, I give the camera a 4.9999999999999 stars. The shutter speed thing is the only thing stopping the flat 5 stars rating :) Buy it, enjoy it, use it. You won't be disappointed.
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