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Editors' Rating:
7.5 of 10
| • Value for money |
7 |
| • Ease of Use |
7 |
| • Performance |
8 |
| • Image Quality |
8 |
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Average User Rating:
9.5 of 10
(4 votes)
| • Value for money |
8 |
| • Ease of Use |
8 |
| • Performance
|
9 |
| • Image Quality
|
9 |
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Where to Buy ?
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PROS
•
Good image quality.
• Fast and accurate auto focus.
•
Impressive, manually controlled zoom lens.
•
Tons of advanced features.
CONS
•
Non-swivel LCD.
•
Writes RAW files to the CF card slowly.
•
Only 16MB CompactFlash included.
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Includes: Minolta Dimage 7Hi Digital Camera, 16 MB CompactFlash card, four NiMH rechargeable batteries, battery charger, neck strap, lens hood, lens cap with strap, USB and video cables, CD-ROM with DiMAGE Image View Utility software and drivers, and printed camera manual.
Recommended
Accessories |
This is a camera for serious photo enthusiasts, and it has
the feature set to prove it. Similar to the DiMAGE 7i, but with the following changes:
- Built-in PC Sync connector compatible with both center-negative and center-positive studio lighting setups;
- Color space can be selected for each picture (sRGB or Adobe RGB);
- Economy compression mode has been removed and replaced with a new lower-compression mode, 'extra fine';
- Shutter speeds in manual mode have been extended to 15 seconds (bulb mode still allows exposures to 30 seconds);
- The 3 frames per second burst mode has been extended to 10 frames in Fine JPEG, 7 frames in the new Extra Fine JPEG, 5 frames in RAW or 3 frames in TIFF;
- Customizable user interface, including;
- Select buttons/dials for memory recall and manual exposure settings;
- Exposure bracketing only, or digital effects bracketing too;
- ICC color profile can be attached to image files;
- Default for delete confirmation (yes / no);
- Undo function if camera is accidentally reset;
- New cool white fluorescent white balance setting, as well as two new custom settings (for a total of three);
- Black magnesium alloy body;
- New contoured rubber grip;
- Supports Print Image Matching II.
Dimage
7Hi Major Features:
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7.14x
Zoom Digital Camera featuring 5.0 effective megapixels. |
| • |
Five
effective megapixels for 2,560 x 1,920-pixel
images. |
| • |
1.8"
low-temperature polysilicon TFT color LCD monitor (220,000 pixels). |
| • |
Premium
Minolta GT 7.14x
optical zoom lens, 7.2 - 50.8mm (equivalent to a 28 - 200mm lens
on a 35mm camera) with auto and manual focus. |
| • |
Digital
zoom up to 2x magnification. |
| • |
Digital Hyper Electronic viewfinder with 90-degree
variable position. |
| • |
Maximum aperture: f/2.8 - f/3.5. |
| • |
Shutter speeds from 1/4,000 to 15 seconds. |
| • |
Program AE, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual,
and Subject Program shooting modes. |
| • |
Various methods of exposure metering (300 segment matrix resp. evaluative metering, centre-weighted average metering, spot metering). |
| • |
Bracketing in 3 variations (in half, third oder entire apertures). |
| • |
Built-in flash (yes, flash on, flash off, auto flash, "red-eye" reduction, fill in, longterm synchronization, connecting for external flash, hot shoe for external flash, flash can be opened up, second curtain-synchronization selectable, wireless TTL flash control with one ore more flash units, flash recycling time: 7 sec., flash exposure correction (+/- 2 EV in steps of 1/3 EV) built-in PC-flash-sync connector). |
| • |
Adjustable white balance for various light conditions (automatic, daylight sunny/ cloudy, incandescent light, two settings for fluorescent light, three custom settings). |
| • |
Light sensitivity equivalents of ISO 100, 200, 400, and
800,
plus an Auto setting. |
| • |
Sharpness and Color control via menu options. Color modes include Standard (sRGB), Vivid Color (sRGB), Black & White, Adobe RGB, and Solarization. |
| • |
High-Speed and Ultra High Speed Continuous Shooting, Interval, Movie, and Night Movie shooting modes. |
| • |
RAW, uncompressed TIFF, and JPEG file
formats. |
| • |
Images saved to CompactFlash Type I or II memory
cards (16MB card included), Microdrive compatible. |
| • |
Power from four AA NiMH or alkaline batteries. |
| • |
"Storage-Class"
USB interface. |
| • |
DPOF (Digital Print Order Format) compatibility. |
 |
Full Specs |
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Customer Reviews
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A
customer, from Miami, FL, USA, Nov 17, 2002
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I've been using a variety of 35mm SLR cameras for more than three decades and I place great importance on the feel of the camera in my hand. I approached my recent purchase of a 5MP camera with some early leaning towards Nikon since I've worked with two of their CoolPix cameras. I tried to do my homework on the web and am aware of most +'s and -'s.
The hands-on experience sold me on the Minolta 7Hi. I love the fact that there is manual control, on the lens, of the zoom. I love the fact that the camera permits "DMF" or direct manual focus, which allows you to take advantage of a fast autofocus system that feels much faster than the Nikon (35mm or CoolPix), and THEN to tweak it manually with a ring on the lens. I love the fact that the LCD switches off whenever you put the camera up to your eye to use the electronic viewfinder
(EVF).
About four weeks of shooting in Islamorada, Miami, and New York have only strengthened the love affair. This is one great camera. The images, both on screen and printed are gorgeous. I don't print at >=11X14 and the noise is so much better (to my eye) than my earlier digital cameras that I can not say it is a problem. The 12bit A/D and the 64MB RAM buffer in the camera are really nice additions that I think are not found in the other two 5MP choices. The UHS (ultra high speed) mode is incredible.....we're going to use that in my research laboratory in ways that I hadn't even imagined at the time I chose the camera (thanks to an adaptor from Brunel Microscopes in UK) . Finally, I think they designed the menus in a very easy to learn way. Nikon menus (880, 990, 995) always seemed a bit impenetrable to me. But, I move through all the 7Hi menus all the time and had little difficulty keeping straight how to do what where. This is a real credit to those who designed the user interface.
I've added a spare set of 4 AA 1850mAh batteries and (now that each set has been cycled 3-4 times) this will be more than enough for many hundreds of 5MP shots. I also sprang for a 49mm UV filter, a couple of high speed 256MB CF cards and am considering a firewire CF card reader. Otherwise, the bundle is complete.
My single most significant gripe is that the Minolta software crashes all the time under Mac OS X 10.2. The current Mac version is useless, while the Windows version seems OK. But, this isn't the camera's fault, presumably is something that Minolta will fix soon, and really only limits your use of RAW images. Photoshop, Canvas, or iPhoto all work fine.
This is a real camera that just happens to store the images digitally rather than on film. I'd say this camera finally delivers on the digital promise.
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|
•
Value for money
|
9 |
|
•
Ease of Use |
10 |
|
•
Performance
|
10 |
|
•
Image Quality
|
10 |
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The Lowest Price is not always best !
 When you buy a digital camera, the basic package almost always includes
extras such as a battery charger, lens cap, batteries, flash memory card, and software.
One of the more disreputable practices a dealer can engage in is called unbundling. These
dealers remove items from the package that are normally included in the price and
price them separately.
When purchasing
a camera you have three components of the price to consider - the camera price, postage and
handling, and taxes. Many dealers lower the price to make the camera more attractive, then
increase the postage and handling to boost their profits.
Hesitate before
accepting extended warranties. Every knowledgeable consumer expert says it's better to
gamble. Most of a company's profit is in the sale of these warranties so they press, and
press hard. Your job is to resist, and resist hard. The only thing to keep in mind is that
digital cameras can be horribly expensive to repair. If you want peace of mind, you may
want the warranty, even though it's probably overpriced. The cost of a repair can
approach, or even exceed, the original purchase price.
When you buy a
camera from a reputable dealer, you expect to be able to return it if you aren't
satisfied. Some dealers try to discourage this by requiring a restocking fee for returned
merchandise. This is always explained as a way to recover their costs of checking the
merchandise and restoring the packaging you may have opened.
Many dealers is
truly a false, deceptive and a total crook. Bait and switch tactics used. Does not sell
new merchandise and will ship used or refurbished goods without notifying customer. They then
try to charge a restock fee on top of their exobitant shipping fees to make a profit where
they could not on their goods. A try case of buyer beware.
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Where To Buy
Minolta Dimage 7Hi Digital Camera:
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