Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
4 votes

Price Paid:  $260.00 from KEH.com

Summary:
I agree with the majority of the reviews on this particular camera...great for a beginner, but if you plan to stick with photography you better invest your money in something that will last. This has been a great camera, and was probably even better when it was new. This was bought used and had no problems until recently. Good for the inexperienced, not so great for those with a wide array of creativity.

Strengths:
Easy to use; relatively inexpensive; light-weight; virtually dummy-proof.

Weaknesses:
If it breaks, you're better off getting a new camera than forking out the money to fix it, depending on the issue. When talking with other photographers who have used this camera, they say the same thing.

Similar Products Used:
n/a

Customer Service:
n/a

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
1 votes

Price Paid:  $100.00 from ebay

Summary:
This IS a beginners camera, have no doubts about that. If you have someone who is just learning, or about to learn, and you dont know HOW interested they will be, or stay, great camera to start on, but not stick with. Has 5 built in functions, no manual overrides though, built in flash, but you want an extra flash or say bye bye to batteries. AF is acceptable for the price this was aimed to sell at. Dont expect a pro camera, it wasnt intended as such.

Strengths:
low price, can be had for chump change. About as idiot proof as there is, Pick a program, shoot.. scorrrrrrre... no , really, very basic for a 4th generation AF system. great price, great starter camera.

Weaknesses:
apeture magnets tend to give up the ghost ( controls opening your lens ), and are more expensive to fix than buy a new camera. this is pretty common with most basic level AF cameras, any manufacurer. If the camera is relatively new, this wont be a problem for sometime. AF is so so, but all your gonna get if you spend this little amount of money.

Similar Products Used:
minolta maxxum 500si, 600si, 700si, 7xi, 9xi, maxxum 5, maxxum 7

Customer Service:
needs apeture magnet replaced, sold for change.

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.60 of 5,
5 votes

Price Paid:  $100.00 from Target

Summary:
I found this new on clearance for $100 including a 35-70mm zoom. It was my first SLR and takes much better photos than anything I''''ve seen from a point and shoot. The big weakness is that you can only select from amongst five program modes -- there is no manual control, shutter priority, or aperture priority mode. This limits you in backlight or low light situations. After using it for a while, I really outgrew it and came to prefer an older, manual focus, manually controlled SLR, I acquired later.

Strengths:
Auto focus, auto everything is handy just starting out and nice when you want to take a lot of pictures in a hurry. The 300si is better than a point and shoot in that you can change the lenses for some degree of control. An incredible bargain at $100. I just saw it used for $250.

Weaknesses:
No manual over-rides, autofocus is slow and hunts -- very bad for sports photography.

Similar Products Used:
None

Customer Service:
NA