Rating: 
Summary: the competition has caught up with this camera series
Review: the Dimage Xt is the third generation of minolta's X-series ultracompact cameras. the first X was a hit because it was ahead of its competition. but that competition has not stood still and today, there are other (better) cameras at the same price point with the same capabilities.pros:
- 3MP resolution, 3x optical zoom.
- smaller size than the Xi (this camera's predecessor) with dimensions of 3.4 x 2.6 x 0.8 in, weighing in at 4.2oz.
- colors are vivid and natural-looking.
- automatic white balance performs well.
- has spot metering.
- AF locks rapidly and decisively in good light.
- short shutter lag in good light.
- fast startup.
- fast shot-to-shot speeds.
- ability to record in movie mode until memory card is full.
- supports TIFF mode. cons:
- above average noise at ISO 400.
- frequent underexposures.
- some purple fringing.
- corners are soft.
- some vignetting.
- above average barrel distortion.
- some redeye occurrence.
- no manual controls.
- RAW format not supported.
- no AF illuminator - this would really help shutter lag when using this camera in low light.
- so-so battery life.
- 16MB SD card provided is inadequate so add $$ to your budget to buy more memory.
- uses proprietary batteries so again, more $$ for a spare. the Xt is a great looking ultracompact camera but the quality of the images you take could be better. as already mentioned, there's more competition for the dimage X-series these days. i would recommend the optio s or casio ex-z3 over the dimage Xt. for even better image quality (in a slightly bigger package), also consider canon's sd100. i hope this helps you with your buying decision. peace.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome tiny digicam!
Review: I'm VERY happy with this as my first digicam. I've had it for a month and it's SO easy to work with. I hesitated jumping into the digital world but I'm glad I did. I won't get technical on you. I bought it b/c: previous Minolta user, 3.2 mp w/digital zoom, tiny size, quick start-up time, enough advanced features but doesn't overwhelm me (111 pg manual, easy to read), sleek, no moving parts, did I mention how small it is?!?! I throw it in my purse, diaper bag, pants pocket, fanny pack - it fits in the palm of your hand...the XT goes with me EVERYWHERE! I immediately bought a wallet-size case for the tight fit, neck strap and a set of clear LCD Protectors (a must!) I take pictures of something everyday and just know to charge the battery regularly, as well as download the pix to my computer regularly so I haven't used the 256 SD memory card I have. I will eventually by an extra battery & the Minolta belt case. It comes with a basic Photoshop type Dimage Viewer program that fixes any problems I had in taking a photo. I'm a mom who takes pix of the kids, eBay items, PT business use and this is perfect for this once-loving SLR fan. You can't beat keeping only the pictures you like & being able to take photos without lugging a bag of stuff around. I hated taking a whole roll of pictures & discover only 2 pictures are good. Picture quality is great for this scrapbooking mom; takes photos fast, real shutter time: ??? - the usual lagtime it sounds like most digicams have but other reviewers say it's faster than most, but it's fast enough not to miss what the kids do...so it doesn't bother me. Besides there's a continuous advance shot mode. It makes cool sounds (you can choose or record your own) when you push buttons so you know something "registered." There aren't a lot of buttons to push to get it to do what you want so it's very user-friendly, even the menus. XT can take color, B&W and sepia-tone photos; recording movie & audio will be something I use one of these days & another reviewer mentioned that you can focus in on a portion of a photo you've taken (i.e. let's you see if someone's smiling or their eyes are closed) I read a lot of reviews prior to purchase, professional & consumer and almost bought a Sony Cybershot, but this XT's micro size is it's best feature, you'll want to take it everywhere and you REALLY can. I mean, if you're spending the money, you want to be able to use it ALL the time right? My husband took a great photo of our ceiling fan, it was on medium speed and the XT made it look like a still-shot...ok, not a big deal but it's just a real cool fun camera - you won't be disappointed with this purchase!!!
Rating:
Summary: sleek and practical
Review: i bought this camera as a birthday gift for my fiance in the military. he will be deploying again soon and i figured it would be smart for me to get him a camera he could use to add to email communication between us. i bought it at costco for a very reasonable price, and when he opened it we started playing with it right away.
it takes very sharp, high quality pictures, the flash works very well, and it is fast. it offers several ways to share your snapshots: it comes with a cable that can be connected directly to a printer, cables to connect to a TV, a memory card reader to connect to a computer, and a cable to connect the camera directly to the computer as well. it is compatible with both mac and pc (which is important to me as i use a mac and he uses a pc), and is very practical for it's price.
it will record about 30 minutes of audio which is really cool, and will also record short videos (i think we got it to do just under a minute). it fits comfortably in a pocket and has a quick startup time, so it's pretty much ready when you are.
definetly a great buy! it leaves me jealous! my toshiba is nice, but the minolta is so much better.
the only thing i can think of that would make it better would be if it came with a protective carrying case, but those can of course be purchased extra.
Rating:
Summary: Great little package
Review: I just bought this camera to take with me to Harley-Davidson's 100year anniversary celebration in Milwaukee. I already had a Fuji Finepix 4700 digital camera, but wanted something smaller & easier to carry. I also chose the Dimage Xt because of it's 3X optical internal zoom which works with the Minolta Marine Case (MC-DG200). I also wanted to take the camera kayaking and underwater. The Dimage Xt appears to have many features which I have yet to use. I found taking regular snapshots easy. However, changing settings was not as quick as on my Fuji. The small built in flash is not the best. Even group shots at night caused the shutter to be too slow and the resulting photos shakey. But we have to make compromises for the advantages that the size of this camera provides. Its so easy to slip into a pocket and have with you for those "non-Kodak moments". Quality of daylight photos were very good. Overall, I recommend this camera to anyone who is looking for a pocket-size camera that will take sharp enough pictures for most purposes. Add the Marine Case if you want to turn it into a nice underwater digital camera that you can take down to 100 feet. Add an extra battery too. You'll need it.
Rating:
Summary: Sooooo goooood
Review: buy it, just buy it. i could not have been more pleased with the preformace of this little camera (it really is small). There are sooo many features that i can't even begin to go thourgh them all, just read the editorial above (the official one) it gets most of them. my favorite however, is the zoom function which allows you to zoom in on areas of images you have already taken. very cool. i had the comprable sony model (~3 MP) and i like this one better by far. my one word of advice, buy a 256MB lexar SECURE DIGITAL card! (i found one on amazon.com for about $$$!!) make sure you get SD and not MMC, as the camera was designed to use SD and will record more quickly to this media. I love it, you will too.
Rating: 
Summary: A marvelous way to capture your memories
Review: After extensively researching the smaller family of digital cameras available on the market, I chose to purchase the Minolta Dimage Xt, and I am very pleased with it so far. About the only other camera I researched that came close was the Casio Exlim, which is somewhat smaller, but did not have optical zoom or any lense protection, both of which this camera has. The camera is small. Smaller than my wallet, and I have a small wallet. I often take it with me when I leave the office for lunch or just go out to dinner with a friend, regardless of whether I plan to take pictures, because this camera is so small, that you can take it anywhere and it won't be a burden. The automatic mode only adjusts the ISO equivalent from 50-160, so it is not useful in low-light situations with the flash off. However, you can manually set the ISO equivalent to 400. This just takes longer than automatic. The video is of fine quality for capturing memories, though with 15 fps, you aren't going to be making any feature films. I can capture 12 MINUTES of video with sound on my 256MB card. This is sufficient for capturing glimpses of your life without lugging around a huge camera. One of the features about this camera that really impressed me was the e-mail feature. With this feature, you can take your pictures at high-res, then by going through the menu system, you can select which pictures you anticipate wanting to e-mail. The camera will then make copies of those pictures in a seperate folder on your card at 640 x 480, a fine resolution for web. One thing I would change about this camera is that whatever setting you have the camera on, lets say you are in a museum so you have the flash off and consequently have the camera set to ISO 400, when you turn the camera off (or if it goes through auto shut-off) and turn it back on, it will default back to automatic ISO with the flash on automatic. This is my biggest complaint about this camera and it wastes alot of time. I also found the menu system on this camera a little difficult to work with at first. When a dialog box for something like deleting pictures comes up, lets say it says "delete the pictures: 'yes' or 'no'" the boxes for yes and no are not sufficiently differentiated to communicate which option is actually selected. One is just dark and one is light. To make matters worse, on some features, the default selection will be "yes," while on others, the default feature will be "no." I think they could graphically communicate which one is selected better and prevent alot of inadvertant picture deletion. Maybe a dotted line? If you are looking for the smallest camera with optical zoom and a flash that you can take out with your friends, and it is near now (September 4, 2003). Look no further. This is the camera for you. If you look around more you will be wasting your time. If control is your priority, you may want to look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Just wonderful!
Review: A terrific camera and much better than I thought it would be. It does more than my clunky Panasonic which is a great camera but such a bother to carry. The Minolta is very small and light, will fit into your purse or pocket although you want to get a case so you don't scratch it. I haven't used all the bells and whistles yet, but I can see it's very fast, shots are good quality and the guide book is easy to understand. You will be up and running within minutes of opening the box! You will never miss a shot with this baby! Charge the battery in the camera while on the stand (quickly) or by itself out of the camera (even faster charging). Be sure to get a larger memory card - the 16MB card that comes with the unit will not be enough if you want to use all the features. I must thank the customer review section as I found the comments most helpful in deciding to buy this camera. You will not regret it - especially if you are not a techie. Believe me, no one will ever know. Kudos, Minolta.
Rating:
Summary: Almost exactly what I wanted
Review: I'd really give this 4 1/2 stars if I could--it fits all of my digicam needs and I have only a few minor quibbles with it. I bought this as a replacement for a larger, slower digital camera and I have to say that I really love it. It is incredibly light, it fits easily into my jeans pocket (the camera is a tad smaller than a deck of cards, if that helps you picture it), the controls are surprisingly user-friendly (especially considering the size), and the pictures seem to be very good. I do think the flash could be better (it doesn't really fill the picture the way I'd like it to), but that's nothing I can't fix in Photoshop. Other people here have commented on the technical stuff--I'll just say that it's a nice-looking and smoothly-operating machine (the lack of moving parts on the outside is very reassuring) and I recommend it highly if you need an on-the-go camera for snapshots and such. You should definitely buy a bigger SD card for more pictures and movies, and I went ahead and bought an extra battery just to be safe, but I haven't had any major battery-drainage issues yet. This is definitely a good buy if you're looking for a super-small but good-quality digital camera.
Rating:
Summary: Xt is Xtraordinary
Review: First, the bad news: 1) The plastic tab on the handstrap of the XT can stratch the LCD - DON'T use the strap if you are going to keep the camera in a confined space, such as a pocket - the strap will drift over the LCD and the damage will be done. This is clearly a design defect. If you must use a strap, make your own, one without the power to abrade the LCD. 2) The optical viewfinder shows far less than what the camera sees - I understand about 35% of the image is not visible in the optical viewfinder. This problem, however, is much easier to deal with than a scratched LCD. 3) Shutter lag - all digicams shutters seem to suffer slow response time. This makes it tough to photograph people or pets on the move - the continuous shooting option on the Xt helps, so does pre-focusing. That said, this camera has just about perfect, at least for my purposes: on-the-go nature and travel photography. There are just enough controls for unusual conditions - exposure compensation, choice of ISO, white balance, etc - but not so many that they get in the way of simply making a quick - or well thought out - photograph. True, manual control of f/stops and shutter speeds and focus is lacking - but there are other cameras out there with this option. Again, exposure compensation, continuous shooting mode, and pre-focusing help. In particular, I like the east of operation - what controls there are can easily be accessed via the few menus, and the dial and/or various buttons that adorn the camera. Recourse to the manual - printed or on-line - was, for me, not necessary. My primary purpose for the camera is to use it on bike rides - but it's also a great camera for hiking, as well as for travel where you don't want to be burdened with a lot of photo gear (and I have way too much photo gear). For use at social gatherings in large, dark rooms, this might not be the camera of choice, because the on-camera flash is not very powerful - but it does work, particularly if people are fairly close to the camera, rather than across the room. This camera cries out for one accessory - an extra battery. And perhaps two extra batteries. Maybe I like to take A LOT of pictures because I'm a part time professional, but if film is no longer an issue and I can shoot all the pictures I want (subject to the amount of memory I have), why should I be limited by a lack of battery power? And trust me, if you make a lot of photographs, you will run out of battery power! (My extra battery fits in my bike's little patch kit.) I've found that there are generic batteries that will work in the camera ... By the same token, I spent a little more money on storage - I have 256 and a 128 memory cards and, with a 3 megapixel camera, this is more than enough for a at least a few day's of normal photography. (I usually bring a laptop with me, whether or not I have a camera, so I can always download pics from my memory cards to make room for more pictures). To sum up: except for the plastic tab on the strap that can scratch the screen, and a viewfinder that shows less than what the camera sees, and the shutter lag (which occurs with all digicams) I'm completely satisfied with the camera. Oh, one more thing - cameras this small are still a novelty - it makes for a great conversation piece/ice breaker when I pull it out of my pocket. ...
Rating:
Summary: Superb Micro Digital camera
Review: After testing about 45 digital cameras for over 5 weeks I must say that this little beauty comes out best (with the marine case that you can buy as an accessory).
It lasted longest (on battery) and preformed best and was one of the smallest (we only tested cameras between 3.0 and 3.5 MPixels).
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