Rating: 
Summary: Poor image quality
Review: I bought this camera for a two-week trip to Europe. Although I was very satisfied with the day time shots (only a few of those turned out too blurry to be useful), the night shots were terrible. I took over 400 pictures on the trip and not a single night shot turned out. They were all blurry and I always had to find a fixed object to support the camera while taking the shot. Most of the time I could not tell the shot was blurry, since it looked fine on the little screen. However as soon as I got home and saw it on the computer I was immediately disappointed. I went ahead and got them developed anyways, but ended up buying postcards on the trip to fill in for the bad pictures. I did not try the manual focus option, so I do not know how that would have worked, but it seems like the night focus should have worked better than it did. For an expensive camera, this poor performance has made me start shopping for another camera for my next trip.
Rating: 
Summary: great buy
Review: alot of these people are complaining about the batteries they use most likely becuase they buy cheap batteries. i bought a 4 pack of monster 2000 batteries with a charger. with these batteries mine will last for a week taking around 20 pictures a day, thats witht the lcd on and flash and reviewing. the batteries w/ charger cost me 40, which is alot less than most people spent on a memory card upgrade. which i get by fine on the 16MB card, fine res gets you 32 pictures. the battery door is a little fragile WHEN ITS OPEN, closed its solid as a rock. i take my s414 to rock/punk shows with mosh pits, lets just say ive beaten the living daylights out of this camera and its done nothing but give great high quality pics. having a metal case definatly makes it more sturdy. the 4x zoom was great at the flogging molly show last night and the quality is so good i can almost smell the sweat dripping off the guitarists hands, the digital zoom is also very good *as long as you set it for high quality* but i rarely use it. the difficulty most people have with back lit/dark/bright situations is due to unfamiliarity with the camera, read the manual. ive never had the memory card door pop open either. the only thing i dont like about the camera is that it wont fit in my pants *i wear 4$$ graber pants so nothing ever fits in my pockets* and it didnt come with a case, i got a really nice case at circuit city for 10 bucks. finally, i bought this brand new, with box, warrenty card etc.. from a friend of mine for extremly cheap. ive had this camera for a while - im only writing this review because of all the negative reviews it got on amazon.
Rating:
Summary: Great camera
Review: This is a great camera for a good price. It does just about anything I could ask of it. If I had 2 point out flaws they would only be the odd lense thread side and the microphone mounted on top of the camera where you tend to put your finger over it. I have no problem with battery life when using high Ma rechargables and I let an photographer friend of mine loose with it and the picture were great. I didn't see any issues with color or exposure.
Rating:
Summary: Very un-impressed
Review: I was attracted to this camera because of the 4x optical zoom, and I have to admit, because it uses CompactFlash cards, of which I happened to have a supply, so it made the camera more economical right from the start. I did some reading, perused reviews on various websites, and felt pretty confident with my decision.I spent two days really trying to like this camera. But out of maybe 200 photos, I might have taken two that were keepers. Problems -
I think the worst problem I had was color accuracy. Sunlit pictures had a funny yellow tint, a cloudy day produced truly cold colors. When I used the White Balance settings to correct, the colors over-compensated. Autofocus was less than spectacular. In lower light, with or without flash, autofocus did not work correctly. The manual focus is impossible to use effectively, because it only works in increments - you have to know what the exact distance is between the camera and the subject, then set it. There are three settings for sharpness. Even on the highest setting, I didn't get the same sharpness as I did from my almost 3-year-old 2-megapixel camera. I have to admit, I did like the exposure preview on the LCD screen when I set apertures and shutter speeds in manual mode. On-screen menus could have been more intuitive, and the *tiny* font/colors were not easy on the eyes. The battery door is clumsy and fragile (the demo model in the camera store broke when the store clerk tried to load batteries into it). The camera is easy to turn on when slipping it into a case, so batteries are wasted more easily. And did I mention its appetite for batteries? This camera gobbles down AA's, 4 at a time! Way worse than my previous digital. But the real test for any camera is image quality, and like I said, this was a total disappointment. Poor color, focus, and sharpness add up to a loser in my book. I returned the S414 and bought a less expensive 3-meg, 4X zoom camera, and I was happy with that one from the first picture I took.
Rating: 
Summary: a little disappointed
Review: We wanted a simple digital camera which it sort of is but images not of the sharpest quality. Camera is easy to navigate and layout of controls comfortable. You need to invest in rechargable batteries because the camera eats them up. And camera is easily accidentally turned on. Pictures too often come out blurry. Without flash pictures a little too dark but with flash they were washed out.
Rating:
Summary: bulky, often doesn't focus, battery hog, but great images
Review: I wanted a new digital camera to upgrade from my old Kodak 2 MP DC280. The old one was fine, just way too bulky for normal everyday use. If you leave the camera home because it's too heavy to slip into a pocket, it doesn't matter how good the camera is. Unfortunately, I didn't see any customer reviews at the time of my purchase that let me know how bulky this camera is, so it was quite a surprise to take this big brick of a camera out of the box when it arrived. It's even thicker than the old Kodak, so I can't even fit it into the old carrying pouch I used for the old one. In addition, the camera strap isn't just a small wrist string, but a big, around-the-neck strap. More bulk. If you look at the product photo, you'll see a small dial on the top back edge of the camera. That's the on/off dial. Since it's on the edge, it's very easy to bump the dial into "on" position when you're putting the camera into a carrying case or a (very large) pocket. The battery door is also very flimsy, and I suspect the life of the battery door will determine the life of the camera. The lens cap doesn't pop off when the camera's turned on, so a new user (perhaps someone else at the party) is likely to pick it up, turn it on, look through the little view window, and snap a few photos of the inside of the lens cap. When I use the camera, it has odd focusing issues. It has difficulty focusing sometimes. For example, it often leaves a group of people posing awkwardly, while the camera lens goes back and forth and back and forth and back and forth...and the final image might show the group out of focus, but a tree somewhere in the background in perfect focus. It also can't take photos from close range, less than about 18 inches. I tried to take a photo of a small receipt I was submitting to my health insurance company, since I don't have a scanner. It took about ten photos before I got one in focus. I had to pull the camera way back from the receipt, then zoom all the way forward. And boy, does this camera eat batteries. Don't even think of going away from home overnight without bringing your battery charger and a set of spares. It uses four AA batteries, so consider the additional bulk of the charger and spares if you often take many photos in between uploads to your computer. On the positive side, image quality is great, if you manage to get a photo properly focused. No distortion at the edges of the frame, just perfect images (provided the focus is right). Also, saving time to the CompactFlash card is really fast, so you can snap away with photo after photo, without that embarrassing "everyone hold that pose a little longer, the camera's saving the last photos" explanation. I'm living overseas, so my 30-day guarantee from Amazon expired around the time I received the camera. I wish I'd ordered it on a US trip, so I could have returned it right away and bought a more compact model. I'm stuck with it now, but I suspect I'll be buying another camera within the next year or so, when I get tired of lugging this thing around. UPDATE FROM JANUARY 2004: The camera stopped working entirely and wouldn't take any more photos. I went to the Minolta.com website to find where to take the camera for warranty service, now that I'm back in the US. But the only way to get your camera serviced is to mail it to some address in New Jersey. I e-mailed Minolta's customer service multiple times, and no one ever replied. What a huge mistake it was to buy this camera. I wish there were some way to get any of my money back.
Rating:
Summary: BATTERY HOG-DIFFICULT TO FOCUS
Review: I disliked this camera more than any other camera I have ever owned. I've owned 4 point and shoot digitals and hated this Minolta. The batteries (rechargeable NiMH) drained very quickly. I could not get it to focus no matter how hard I tried. Even in Auto everything, half of my pictures came out blurry. I took a series of shots with the self timer to experiment with the focus. Not one of them turned out.
No matter what I tried, only half of the first 100 or so shots I took turned out.
This camera was so bad I hope that something was wrong with it. I returned it before I could find out.
After this I bought the Canon A70 and could not be happier.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely stunning
Review: I bought this camera a few months back. I am big on 35mm (Nikon) and had an old Sony. Never convinced to go digital, I settled for this camera because of the average definition and price. Also, one of the few with 4x optical zoom.
I used my camera mostly for work but on a recent trip to Europe I brought it with me. The results are stunning. I am now a complete believer on digital photography.
I think the color and saturation of the pics are perfect and the camera is easy to use. I can correct exposure very easily (for night shots). Posted the results, but in lower definition, at the following link: http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/muckinello/slideshow?&.dir=/Europe+2003&.src=ph Definetively worth the money, this camera will give you plenty of satisfaction.
Rating:
Summary: Way too bulky, drains the battery in no time
Review: I am NOT HAPPY with this camera. Here's why...:
1. This camera is very bulky compared with almost any camera (for the same resolution) out there in the market. Since this camera is not available for display in popular electronic stores, you really cannot hold it in your hand and get a feel for it BEFORE you buy it. I like my camera to be slim and small. Else I don't feel like carrying it with me when I ought to. What then is the point of buying a camera? 2. This camera is power hungry!. It sucks the juice out of the batteries in no time. I find myself changing batteries all the time. And yes, I do use NiMH batteries as the manufacturer reccomends. Talking of replacing batteries, the battery compartment door looks pretty flimsy and doesn't lock very well. I have a premonition that this door is going to dictate the life of this camera. 3. I use a 256 MB compact flash card and it takes forever to save an image after clicking. IMHO, there are smaller/slimmer cameras (that use just 2 AA batteries) available for the same or lesser price.
Rating: 
Summary: Digital shooting is FUN!!!
Review: Now I have this camera for about 6 month. It was a gift for my wife since I preferred camcorders. But lately my camcorder stays at home while I'm looking around with this camera for the perfect motive. After about 5.000 shots I rate this product as follows:
Pro
* uses AA: You get `em everywhere and the rechargeable NiMH are inexpensive. ( No hidden cost in sometimes very spendy special batteries other manufactures use).
* the same about the Compact Flash Card. Here you get the best bang (MB)for the buck among all Flash Memory. (Go and compare XD or Sony Memory stick...).
* 4x optical is no standard in this price class
* solid metal body
* fast internal memory enables this camera to take 5-7 consecutive shots - very fast. After that it takes about 20 sec. until the camera is ready to shoot again.
* has Aperture priority, Shutter prior., and Manual. Manual conrols Shutter, Aperture, ISO, and you can focus if you want. Maybe I should mention this under Cons, but I mainly use the Manual mode since I feel that the Automatic mode often doesn't get the right setting.
* good Macro, gets you up to about 6inches from the object. I came to realize that getting close the autofocus is often inaccurate and so I swithc to manual focusing.
* with 4 Mb you can magnify and still keep impressiv detail.
* I love the LCD not only for "what you see is what you get" but also for it very helpfull impression how the exposure of the picture will look like.
* I used to have a SLR and couldn't shoot slower than 1/60 in my hand. With this one I was able to get very nice 1/15 out of my hand.
* produces clear and lively colors - I prefer the Vivid color mode. Cons:
* The camera turns itself on when you push it into the bag. I learned to avoid this problem by pushing it into the bag with the wider side of the camera (battery compartment) first. That way the mode wheel will be turned towards the OFF position, and ON when you pull it out of the bag which isn't really a problem.
Unless you don't use this trick you will turn the camera accidently ON while it is in the bag. The camera tries to extract the lenses and it hangs up. To get it running again you have to open the battery compartment which will reset the camera.
* when I download the pictures on my PC (XP) I'm using the standard picture watching tool in the explorer. This tool gives you the option to turn pictures vertically. This will erase the information about how the picture was taken in the software that came with this camera, the DimageViewer. Very often the Dimage Viewer hangs up when I try to open a folder, with pictures turned vertically. This problem occured on all 3 of my PCs. Migth as well be a problem of XP, but just that you know what might affect your Dimager Viewer.
* The focusing in dim light condition is horrible. The LCD doesn't let you know that the picture is blurry, until you find out later on the PC monitor. Manual focusing helps it.
* battery drains in about 1 h, with LCD and permanent autofocus on.
* a little bit more clumsy compared to other models.
* no possibility to adjust flash / no chance to use flash in closeups, beyond 8 feet it becomes useless. I`m using my fingers in front of the flash light to adjust intensity.
* the door from the battery compartment looks somewhat shaky to me but the overall impression is that you have a piece of quality in your hand. A nice Point and Shoot camera. Exceptional value for the money. You will be glad you made this decision.
| 
