The Urban Landscape

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
2-5 years

Price Paid:  $1800.00 from Galaxy Photo

Summary:
The 7Hi is a great camera provided that you work with its many strengths and avoid its few shortcomings. I have used my 7Hi in both very hot/humid and very cold weather and it has held up admirably. I have taken 7000 pictures and it still works as well as the day I bought it. I highly recommend the 7Hi.

Strengths:
The GT lens is an excellent design. The flare is very controlled and distortion is minimal at both full zoom and full wide. The image quality at 100 iso is fantastic.

Weaknesses:
Unfortunately, noise is noticeable at 200 iso, intrusive at 400 iso, and almost unacceptable at 800 iso. I get around this by using noise reduction software when I must shoot at 400 and 800 iso. Neat Image can perform miracles when it is calibrated.

Similar Products Used:
Minolta 7i, Canon A70

Customer Service:
My first 7Hi was damaged in shipping, I called Minolta and they authorised a replacement with no hasells. Good service.

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
2.33 of 5,
3 votes

Price Paid:  $1300.00 from Lisbon

Summary:
Very happy with the optics and the amount of (easy) control on colour, contrast, EV etc..

Strengths:
Optics and picture control. You see what you get on the excellent viewfinder, so no surprises with very difficult photos like sunsets etc.

Weaknesses:
Does not seem to be very sturdy. On the 3rd mounth the front cover of the grip went loose, and after I lost the rubber eypiece.

Similar Products Used:
Sold them !

Customer Service:
For the first problem waited 1 month but they gave me a replacement Dimage. For the lost eypiece I did'nt bother yet...

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5,
1 votes

Price Paid:  $950.00 from Gateway

Summary:
A powerful zoom with a full pro feature set makes this camera a great value. I have shot over 2000 pictures with excellent results during the first two months. After this the camera developed an annoying "err" message when recovering from a power down.

Strengths:
Superb lens from 28mm to 200mm great contrast and saturation. Detail is very good. Great controls when finally learned. This is a complicated camera. Manual focus when needed. Excellent picture quality when the ISO is set properly to the lighting conditions. Histogram viewer is a great aid in exposure. Uses 49mm filters Program shift feature is a very handy.

Weaknesses:
Electronic view finder lacks detailed resolution but is usually adequate for composing. Viginetting at 28mm is common with standard thickness filters. A bit chunky to fit in camera cases or a brief case. Must have had a bad chip in mine. After 4 months use the camera would not(in many instances) power back up to a normal view. In some instances I had to remove and reinsert the batteries to return the camera to service. Returned for service and am waiting for its return.

Similar Products Used:
Nikon 800 Many film cameras

Customer Service:
Internet service used. Slow sending the return goods forms. A bit non responsive over the web when soliciting the service neede to repair. Purchased from Gateway and would not recommend them for accessory products. They ran out of the 7I model and optioned me up to the 7HI. No email notification of the run out. I had to check status and the customer service types were clueless as to status. Finally asked for the CSM and got resolution.

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
4.20 of 5,
5 votes

Price Paid:  $1298.00 from 30/04/2003

Summary:
My first Minolta and my first digital. Very, very satisfied.

Strengths:
28-200 optical zoom EVF Manual Zoom Image quality (incl Macro)

Weaknesses:
Battery life

Customer Service:
Not needed yet

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
4.11 of 5,
9 votes

Price Paid:  $1099.00 from topphoto - Düren - G

Summary:
2 months now (and couple of thousand pictures later) i have the camera and i am a happy user. After several years use of 'classical' cameras it made me become a re-enthousiasmed photographer. The camera produces overall excellent results , both in 'point-and-shoot' situations as well as 'well studied' pictures. I prefered to buy the Minolta 7Hi to : Canon G3 , Sony 717 , Nikon 5400. Arguments in favour were : lens 28-200 mm , ease-of-use and manual zoom. I do NOT experiende short lifetime of batteries as indicated in some reviews. I started using SanDisk compact flash card of 512 Mb immediately. I do not really experience any weak aspects.

Strengths:
Manual zoom , possibility to use manual focus. Looks/feels like a 'classical' camera. Good and quality objective. Very user-friendly - easy to start using the camera. Rechargeable batteries are excellent choice. Produces excellent and predictable results. EVF (although poor resolution) is excellent feature. High internal transferrate (picture transfer to compact flash card). Fair price.

Weaknesses:
Standard Compact Flash card of 16M too low capacity , should at least be 128 M for that price. Would rather call these : possible enhancements : - EVF (viewfinder) quality ; - noise at ISO setting > 200 ; - mechanical quality of manual zoom ;