• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Minolta (1 Viewer)

Shell

Well-known member
Does anyone have experience with the Minolta 7i or 7Hi ???? I read the reviews on steves digicam review/forums. But was wondering if someone here knew the cameras. Thanks!
 
Hi Shell
its been a while how are you.
a friend of mine has the 7i, he takes great pics with it and the shutter seems fast compared to some, he does not use it for discoping which is what i hope to do when i can decide the best camera to buy. i been looking at the nikon 4500 but reading the reviews the slow shutter or should i say "delay" is putting me off. the birds i take will be long gone by the time it has fired and i will have missed them. if you find out more please let me know. i know he has a very good battery time with his & has no complaints so far.
all the best
 
Hey wizard - doing o.k. here , thanks !

The minolta 7i-7hi , I have decided against. The price is too high, and then having to buy an extra lens for what I want, plus the camera only comes with 3 or 4x optical, and I need more than that. You're right about the shutter delay, and missing the pics, on the cp4500 , I have read reviews until my eyes are about to fall out on my cheeks !! And also been in many, many forums. I think I must go with olympus again. And with that being said, buying all the EXTRA WARRANTY that I can with it. I'm looking at the latest two models. I think, I'm about camera review crazy right now. LOL Thanks for the reply :)
 
Hi Shell,

keep them pretty eyes in your head, i know what you mean i been the same too. read as much as i can take in then it just goes back to the start again.
i looked at the Minolta today & couldnt get on with it plus the quality was not as god as the Sony i was looking at, the shop let me take a few pics, they then blew them up on 8x10 and printed them out. great pics from the sony sdc f717 and really clear the minolta was not as sharp. everyone say the 4500 is the one but i dont like the look and cant see it lasting my sort of birding.:t:
 
LOL !! I'll try to keep 'em in this head ;) Thanks for the tip on that minolta/sony comparison. I'll check out that sony , see whatcha talkin' about.
 
here is a good site with review to keep you up all night. i just finished reading it all.
i may go for this one????????
too much £££ to make a mistake so i am finding out all i can same as you first.

see ya
 
sory Shell, its 2:40 am here & i am hanging after reading all this tonight. here is the site http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscf717
loads on there to see, i also found a link to the Sony site where you can D/L the full manual if you want to read that, let me know on that & i can look tomorrow & send it you or just send the file.
happy reading. the camera over here in the UK sells for about £619 i dont know what it works out in $.

good night Shell happy dreams :)
 
WOW Wizard , that is a HUGE time difference between us. It's right at 9 p.m. here, so I'll be heading to bed pretty quickly too , thanks so much for the link, and no need to send the other - thanks for the offer. You have a good night as well ...always dream of birds and photography - makes for a happy wake up !
 
Just noticed your post about the Minolta Dimage 7 hi. I have one and use it every day. I absolutely love the camera.

In the past three years, I have had a Sony FD-73 (sold it), sony FD-92 (sold it), Canon G3 (sold it), and now have a Canon Powershot Pro 90 IS, a Nikon Coolpix 995 that I use with my Leica scope, and the Dimage.

The Dimage blows away all the others. It has 5 megapixels and takes great quality photos. The macro settings are fabulous for flowers and butterflies, and it has a 7x zoom. I picked up an Olympus 1.5 Teleconverter for it that increases the reach to 10.5x. As far as speed goes, it is amazing compared to everything else I have used. You can get the first shot within a couple of seconds, and if you set it on continuous mode, it takes 7 shots per second! Great for moving subjects. There is almost no shutter lag. The other feature that makes it my favorite is the electronic view finder. It functions almost like an SLR. It has fully automatic settings, as well as fully manual capabilities.

The only negative I can think of is that it is a battery hog. It takes four AAs, and I am lucky to get a couple of hours from a freshly charged set. I bought a powerpack for it that allows me to shoot for 3 - 4 hours, which is a help.

For the money, I think it is a wonderful camera. I can't imagine ever parting with it. You can check out some of the photos in my gallery to see what it can do, although all of the uploaded photos are very low res compared to the originals.

Hope this helps - send me a Private Message if you want to know more.
 
Hey CJ , thanks so much for the info you provided. I went to look at all your pics and they are really stunning !!!!! I loved them !
The price on the dimage 7hi is a bit high, plus, it's only 7x zoom, I do have the b-300 1.7x lens but that's still less than what I'd have if I got another olympus, and I'd have to buy a higher power lens to get the same results. And , I'm not sure if the manual focus(by turning the lens ring) will be easy enough for me. I'm kinda 'iffy' about that . But it sounds great for the continuous shooting mode. It's just a confusing decision for me. I sure do appreciate your help. Could you tell me more about having to focus with the lens , it being an slr type,you can still focus with the auto focus-and focus by turning the ring barrel right ?
 
Shell

The camera functions beautifully on auto-focus. Most of my shots are done that way. You can manually focus the camera by simply pressing a button on the left side of the camera and turning the focus ring, just like an SLR. I mostly use manual focus when I have the camera set for macro shots, or when I am trying to shoot a subject that is behind vegetation, etc.

The other nice feature I didn't mention is that it has an interval shooting mode - you can shoot one shot per minute for 15 mins, etc., up to 24 hours! Great for capturing a blooming flower, emerging butterfly, etc.

I am almost ready to buy a true digital SLR - probably the Canon 10D. I'll probably get it within the next year. The only reason is so that I can get more reach with the telephoto lenses. Even if I do that, I will always keep the Minolta as my "carry everywhere" camera. I am really attached to it!

I know you are sick of reviews, but the one that made me decide is at Imaging Resource. I was almost ready to by an Olympus E10 from a friend, when I read this review. Bought the Minolta instead!
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D7HI/D7HIA.HTM

Cheryl
 
Warning! This thread is more than 21 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top