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| Date Reviewed: May 11, 2004 |
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Strengths: I own a Minolta Maxxum 600si film camera witha 28-200mm lens and this camera is the digital equivilant and at half the size.
Weaknesses: none found so far
Summary: I can use my Minolta 5400HS flash and RC-100 with this camera. I have ordered Minolta's BP-400, which will extend my battery time and also give me a vertical grip.
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| Date Reviewed: Oct 28, 2003 |
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Strengths: Very flexible, great lens, good resolution, light weight, great picture quality, surprisingly little noise in low-light situations, ability to embed AdobeRGB color profiles directly in pictures
Weaknesses: not cheap, particularly compared to the Minolta Dimage A2 which I own now
Summary: 2004-06-19 19:25:45 I was trying to decide between the yet to be available Sony DCS-F828 and the Minolta A1. Each had on paper things going for it:
The Sony has what is likely an excellent Carl Zeiss lens, 8-megapixel resulution, and a new 4-color CCD.
The Minolta has an APO lens, and their lens technology in general can keep up with the best, because they got their know-how originally from a joint venture with Leitz of Leica fame. Further the Minolta has an optical image stabilisator and is much lighter and more compact than the Sony camera.
That aside, Minolta has more experience in designing photographic cameras and thus figuring out what works and what doesn't in terms of the user interface.
There is also a lot the cameras have in common: both use 14-bit AD and image processing, vs. the more common 12-bit, both have a zoom that doesn't only offer a large zoom factor, but also offers true wide angle (28mm equivalent).
In the end I went with the Minolta since I like to use flash as little as possible. The lighter weight, the smaller color aberration due to an APO lens, and the anti-shake image stabilizer are more than likely to make up for the lost pixel count, for what are 8 megapixels of motion blur worth? And a camera that's stays at home because it's too heavy will not take better pictures than one that's with you because it's much more compact in size and weight.
The Minolta A1 works great with the new 2GB micro drives, which hold 283 uncompressed raw frames, and over 10
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| Date Reviewed: Jan 20, 2004 |
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Strengths: The lens is amazing and sharp, the battery, the SLR results and flexibility in options
Weaknesses: Lots of controls to learn and understand with 2 seperate control wheels
Summary: The A1 is such a great product. The camera fits perfect in your hand, not to heavy, not to light for good control. The Battery is the best I have ever seen on ANY electronic item. I just shot for 8 hours, 225 photos and the battery is still showing more then half full on one charge! The auto shake mode gives tripod, clear images while hand held. The Lens is a 28-200 with a digital zoom (manual zoom, no motor zoom). This will give you more out of the box, bang for your buck then the EOS Rebel, and you get more options then I can list. Other nice features, a set of pro filters that are stored digitally, spot focus, solid flash, Adobe file color settings and just so much more! I am so happy I didn't follow the Rebel hype!
91% of People (32/35) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: Feb 14, 2004 |
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Strengths: Versatility
Weaknesses: none
Summary: After much research and having owned a Minolta Dimage 7i.. It is perfect for 8x10 photos printed on an HP7960 inkjet printer. The Minolta A1 is a vast improvement over early models, many features and ease of operation.. the antishake feature is great.
Excellant move retaining the 24-200 zoom lense!
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| Date Reviewed: Feb 5, 2004 |
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Strengths: Incredible functionality. With anti-shake engaged you can forgo the flash a large majority of the time.
Weaknesses: Some noise in long-duration night exposures.
Summary: You name the adjustment, this camera can do it. Great pics out of the box with the auto mode. 16MB CF is lame, but replace it with a high speed 512MB and you can take pictures all day - the battery is incredible.
There is also a lot of customizing of the controls that lets you make the camera exactly what you want it to be.
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| Date Reviewed: May 25, 2004 |
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Strengths: colors, image, adjustment latitude, optics, manual zoom, image stabilization in the body, function, quality, and feel
Weaknesses: are usually operator caused
Summary: There are many complicated cameras on the market, however, there are few, to one, whose features function, and whose features blend together. Better get one while you can, because when they are long gone, people will still be looking for them.
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| Date Reviewed: Oct 21, 2003 |
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Strengths: Great pictures with fine detail, natural color and texture. Extremely flexible. Logical layout. Easy to use. Fast focus and writing speeds. Very good battery life.
Weaknesses: It does require thorough knowledge of its many adjustments to get the best out of this camera in marginal situations. Read the manual thoroughly.
Summary: I am very pleased with the smooth, natural, detailed quality of the pictures with this camera. The Minolta Dimage 7 has a sharp, in-your-face picture; the A1 is a bit understated by contrast. Which is more realistic? Which do you prefer? It is easy to use; most of the time the preprogrammed point-and-shoot setup produces excellent results. The ease of use invites experimentation to find out the camera's capabilities. For example, I have learned that a slight movement of the camera to one side or another or changing the zoom can bring a difficult-to-focus picture into excellent focus and reduce noise. Or reducing the flash power allows excellent macros with flash. I could go on, but in summary I must say that it is an excellent camera that suits me fine. Give it a try and see if it meets your needs and preferences. Always remember that when you reach this level of quality, your choice will depend in large part on your needs and preferences, not someone else's.
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| Date Reviewed: May 12, 2004 |
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Strengths: Picture quality is superb. It has auto features that help it to accomodate non-technical users. I read the manual in under and hour, and was shooting right away.
Weaknesses: NA
Summary: I researched this thoroughly and am very pleased with my decision. It is a complicated camera.. requires some familiarization to take full advantages of features. It's worth it though. Great value too!
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| Date Reviewed: Apr 3, 2004 |
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Strengths: Great zoom, good resolution, anti-shake and moving object tracking
Weaknesses: price, only uses proprietary batteries and may be complex for novices.
Summary: I did a great deal of homework on what camera to buy and I am very happy with the A1. I have owned 2 digital cameras in the past and new I wanted a good optical zoom and high resolution. The manual zoom and focus ring are a great help, if you have trouble focusing it’s so much easier to use the ring then to have to go into a menu and manually focus through the software. The Anti-Shake function is a must!
The only things I really found confusing were the features and the proprietary battery. I recommend this camera to those who are either advanced users or Prosumers as they are sometimes called but the manual that came with this camera is so comprehensive and easy to understand that anyone with a little patients can utilize the camera. I solved the battery problem by purchasing a 120 attachment that allows you to either use two Minolta batteries or 6 AA’s . It is well worth the money and comes with a really handy hand strap for the camera
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| Date Reviewed: Feb 3, 2004 |
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Strengths: True Color
Weaknesses: NA
Summary: I did a lot of research, after 35 years of 35mm SLR, I wanted to get the same feel with a digital camera. I tried several camera including the new Canon under $1000.00. Price wasn't as important as the confort and feel of the camera. The Minolta A1 is by far the best in it's class. I love this camera.
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| Date Reviewed: Nov 24, 2003 |
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Strengths: Image quality
build quality
7xzoomlens
good EVF
Anti shake feature
almost no shutterlag
Batterylife
features,features,features
SLR like feel
Manual zoom
usable manual focus
good autofocus
Weaknesses: Built in flash is a bit week
Only 16mb CF card
Summary: I used to own a Canon G2 which is a fine camera, but I missed the long zoom and the quick shutter responsetime. After having shot a couple of hundred pictures in the last two weeks, I think this is the camera that fullfills my needs. Although imagequality is about the same as my 4mp Canon (which was enough for my needs), this camera enables me to take the pictures I want. If you like a camera that is a bit smaller than a DSLR, that has about every feature you can imagine and has descent image quality, you should take a look at the A1
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| Date Reviewed: May 3, 2004 |
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Strengths: Plenty of excellent features for the serious photographer. Allows you to have a lot of control over your work.
Weaknesses: Can be daunting for amateurs, but once you understand it, its great.
Summary: One of the best features I love about this camera is flexibility. The options are endless. Can manually set the aperture or the shutter speed, or can easily use the automatic option available. With 7x optical zoom (28-200mm), and 2x digital zoom, getting perfect pictures in any situation is a snap. Also has other options as Sports, Portrait, Night etc... Highly recommended.
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| Date Reviewed: Dec 24, 2003 |
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Strengths: I has many adjustments and can do just about anything. It is still fairly compact and does not have the overall size or SLR digitals I have checked out. The fast shutter and anti-shake sold me.
Weaknesses: Have to study the book to get the full advantage of the camera. The default setting work great starting out until you can learn the functions of the camera.
Summary: 2004-01-08 20:02:02 This camera is great. I look forward to learning the functions and improving my photos. The two things that sold me most about the camera was the anti-shake and fast shutter. Many cameras would have worked fine for static shots. I however planned to use the camera to take photos of my daughters playing sports. After testing all the cameras currently on the market I picked the A1. It feels good in the hand and has a grip which is easy to hold on to. A plus for action shots. Botton line give this camera a hard look if you want a camera that can do anything you want and can expand as your abilities improve.
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| Date Reviewed: Dec 30, 2003 |
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 Great camera (?), BUT lousy software and customer ... Strengths: good feel, nice zoom and af, great anti shake
Weaknesses: software does not work - it contained corrupted files. Firmware (that runs the camera) needs to be replaced by the purchaser.
Summary: Great camera (?), BUT lousy software and customer support = no prints.
The major problem is that I cannot download the pictures to my computer or print them. One of the files on their software CD is corrupted, so I cannot print or download to the computer. I called support and I must fax an invoice and warranty card (so much for on line registration) before they will send out another software CD - in 7 to 10 business days. I asked for faster service, next day or 2 day delivery and was told NO. I pointed out that this was their bad CD - stil 7 to 10 days.
Then I must also replace the firmware that runs the digital camera with a new ver, 1.02u, the file & 6 pages of instructions are on their website. You have to replace it, and if you do not do it right you could damage the cpu. Good luck.
Minolta should send out a preloaded self installing flash card to every purchaser. I was told no too many customers.
For an expensive camera Minolta has POOR software, POOR service support and a poor (but polite) attitude to their customer.
67% of People (14/21) found this review helpful. Was this review helpful or unhelpful for you?
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| Date Reviewed: Jan 14, 2004 |
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Strengths: great focus; good color quality basic functions easy to use;many great features that will keep you interested in the camera for a long time. and the anti shake is great!!
Weaknesses: none so far only problem is cant find enought time to play with it..
Summary: I have read how the software that comes with it has been problems for some..down load Kodak shareware software this works great.. havent even tryed supplied software yet
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