Minolta Dimage 5 3MP Digital Camera w/ 7x Optical Zoom

Rating:
Summary: good camera
Review: This camera takes very good pictures. The only major drawback is that it is a battery hog. If you buy this camera make sure you buy at least two sets of rechargeable batteries and a recharger that can recharge them quickly. You will be amazed at how quick this camera can kill batteries.
The camera takes very good pictures and offers a lot of features that might be too much for the average user. If you want a simple point and shoot digital camera this is not for you. If you are buying for high quality pictures and a lot of features you will love this camera.
The reason I gave it four stars is because of how fast it goes through batteries. There is nothing worse than wanting to take a picture and realizing that both sets of batteries are dead. This has infuriated me many times over.

Rating:
Summary: Great features, great lens.
Review: This is my third dig. camera. I like it a lot. It has lots of great features such as 35 to 250 mm optical zoom, varies exposure controls, SLR with EVF....
However, if you are considering this camera you have to aware the following 3 points:
1)The viewfinder is electronic screen. It is fine but the subject is still cannot compare to optical viewfinder. If you need high detail view, then you need to consider.
2)All photos need to resave with Minota's own software in order to convert the file into the correct sRGB color space ( don't ask me what it is) according to some major dig. camera review sites. Yes, every single photos.
The above two points are acceptable as long as it produces fine photos. But...
3)Power consumption is unacceptably high. I put a fully charged NIMH cells in and it only last about 5 minutes and the battery icon started to blink. And the camera shut itself off.
I've heard that this camera is power hunger but don't know that bad.
I hope it was my camera that has a problem and I have to return it.
I still miss this camera.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely worth considering.
Review: This itineration of the Dimage series brings excellent quality and useful features to the buyer in the 'upper middle' segment of the digicam market. The Dimage 5 is almost identical to the Dimage 7, though it sells for roughly 1/2 the price, with the only difference being the 3.3 megapixel resolution of the Dimage 5 vs the 5 megapixel resolution of the Dimage 7. If you are not planning on shooting pictures ultimately intended to be blown up to poster size, 5 megapixels is not going to be worth the money.
This camera is well made, well balanced (though slightly large for my preferences) and features an excellent electronic viewfinder, great optics and a very powerful and accurate 7x optical zoom (bumped by a 2x digital zoom if needed). Its controls offer a lot of options for creativity, while the fully auto setting makes life simple for those who like it so. It does require the purchase of a much larger (128) memory card and a second set of batteries, but otherwise is ready to go as is. The main competitor, in my opinion, would be the Olympus 2100, which has a more powerful zoom (10x) and the highly desireable image stabilization.