Greetings all! This is my first post in the forum, though I've stopped by a few times to have a look.

So... I'm eager to make the plunge to digital. Been wanting to for a few years, actually, but held back because the price for "good" equipment comparable to the SLR I'm used to was prohibitive. I've waited and waited, watching the technology improve and the prices drop, and I think I'm ready...

I've read lots of reviews and paid attention to the cameras used here and on Photosig. Now I'd like opinions from the people I've come to know and trust, namely: all of you.

I'm torn between something REALLY nice like the Nikon D100 or Canon EOS10D, and something less nice like the Minolta Dimage 7hi or Sony DSC F717. I'm not interested in anything less than 5 megapixels.

The Nikon and Canon get rave reviews, seem incredibly flexible and feel familiar, like my current Nikon. They also look (and, it is said, are) solid and sturdy. But they are, compared to the other cameras, almost twice the price, and require purchase of expensive lenses. Still, it seems they are so nice, and produce such quality images, that I could happily use one of them for years.

On the other hand, the Minolta and Sony are MUCH cheaper and I've seen plenty of beautiful images from them. The Sony, in particular, is way down in price and that Carl Zeiss lens gets consistently great reviews. The photos I've seen taken with it look particulary sharp and clean.

It seems, though, that most folks here have chosen the Minolta, and I'm wondering why. I've fiddled a bit in stores with both the Minolta and the Sony. The Sony seems initially awkward to handle, and it looks sort of odd. The Minolta feels more familiar and looks cool. But is the lens on the Minolta as good as the Sony? And will either of these cameras hold up over the long-term? They just feel a little, I don't know... flimsy.

Well, that's a lot of rambling, so I'll shut up for now... any reactions, suggestions, thoughts greatly appreciated. Why did you choose your camera? Are you happy with your choice? Why? I know these question have probably come up zillions of times before. If so and there are posts still available for me to check out, just point the way and I'll take a look.

Many, many thanks!!

Steve aka funkandjazz

Hi Steve! Welcome to the forum!.... I'm one of those who has the Minolta...the older version.. I've been using my D7 since November of 2001. I know many people here have newer versions of it and I always recommend it to anyone who asks me. My reasons for choosing it were numerous and I also looked at many cameras before choosing, the Sony was among them. I'll list them: 1. Price 2. 5 MP 3. Is consider High-End Consumer/Prosumer Level camera 4. Has manual focus capabilities, a must if you are a serious photographer 5. Has manual everything else too 6. Handles and feels like a real SLR camera 7. The lens 28-200 mm give you plenty of options... and it is a good lens! I played around with the Sony in the store and I must say it was awkward, with it's twisty lens and I just didn't like the way it looked or felt in my hands. If and when I'm in the market for a new digi, it's another Dimage or an extremely expensive DSLR for me..... Good luck making your purchase....maybe some others will have something to say.

I to, use the Dimage 7, in its original version. Unfortunately I cant speak much to the Sony, as it was never a serious contender for me. At the time I was looking, only Sony produced the Memory Stick, and the price for the memory was a little higher than a comparable CF card. I also have a hang up with some of Sonys other electronics, in that they would take an accepted standard, change it a little, and call it therere own.

As far as the reason I chose it over the Nikons I was looking at, about the same as Michelle. One thing that I have come to realize, though. After purchasing a Cannon G2, the EVF or Electronic View Finder, in the Minolta is invaluable to me. The feel is more like that of a SLR in that what you see is what you get. Few other Digitals, at any price point, offer this. If I were in the market for a new non DSLR, the Minolta 7Hi is the only one I would look at. In the end though, it is all a mater of preference, and it is just a matter of learning the nuances of youre chosen tool.

PS. Welcome to the Forum

Welcome to the Forum, F&J. I've enjoyed your work in the Gallery. Michelle has given some good advice. The web site dpreview.com can fill in many of the technical details. Much depends on what you want to do with your work; both the artistic direction, and you plans for the final product. There are very different decisions for a nature photographer vs glamour, and for web posting vs 16X20 prints. One thing to consider is if you already have an investment in lenses for a particular system. In the long run, the cost in lenses will override most everything else. My personal slant right now is to not think of digital cameras as a replacement for film, but rather as something that can be used as another tool in the toolbox. The small size, extreme zooms, and instant results allow doing things in a different, more spontaineous way. For myself, there are some great deals on eBay now for professional grade film equipment at a fraction of the cost of when it was new, or of the current high end digitals. [They are there, BTW, because many pros (particularly wedding photographers?) are now going digital.] One of the mid-tier pocket digitals would be very convenient at times I don't want to carry the big hardware... In any case, budget enough for a copy of Photoshop.

I have two friends (actaually 3 friends ). Ok one has the Dimage (not the last version), and the other has the Sony. The Sony seems to have a slightly better image. (just my opinion), both are great cameras and you will be happy with either one. I also recommend that you read the review at www.dpreview.com

OK now to hear from the Sony side. I have the F707 and I truly love it. I would trade it for a D1X if I have the money however. Also I like the new 35mm CCD's in the newer DSLR's. An advantage to the D100 is that it should use most of your Nikon lenses and that is VERY important to me. Having gone from a Pentax K1000 that I had years ago to nothing for years (a brief time with a point and shoot Olympus digi) then to the Sony and a Nikon N6006 I have to say that for the Prosumer type camera the Sony rocks. Like Michelle I want to give you a list of pros and a list of cons as well to the F77 series. Pros: 1. Price 2. 5 MP 3. Is consider High-End Consumer/Prosumer Level camera 4. Manual Mode, Aperture Priority mode, or Shutter Priority Mode as well as full Auto. Oh and you can take 15 sec. Video too. 5. 5 Optical Zoom (plus 2 digital but I never use it) 6. Although it is odd looking it is very comfortable to use and I find it more natural than my traditionally shaped Nikon 7. The Zeiss lens is outstanding in its construction and focus. 8. Durable. I have banged it, dropped it at hockey games, had it slide off the seat in the car. It still works perfectly. Cons: 1. Memory Sticks are expensive and only go up to 512meg. However i do find the transfer rate when downloading rather fast. 2. Somewhat slow write time so in order to take 3 fast shots you have to set the camera to "Burst" Mode. 3. In the 707 there is an issue with Reds being a bit blown out. I am told this is not an issue with the 717 but I don't have first hand knowledge there. 4. Fixed Lens. I love the versatility I have with my Nikon simply with the changing of the lenses. If I could use the body of the Sony with my Nikor interchangeable lenses, I would be happier than a pig in sht. There are far more pros than cons. To be honest for me, these are the only cons at all and I can work around all of them except the fixed lens with little effort. I truly love my F707. I have attached a link to my web site, which is 95% shot taken with my Sony. The other 5% are from my Olympus. You be the judge of the quality of shot. I can get the same sharpness, color and clarity when printing too. Would I re-purchase another Sony? Not if I had the chance to buy a full body D-SLR. The flexibility, range of focus with multiple lenses and the ability to control every aspect of the shot and output with a digital darkroom (and lack of dealing with chemicals) just can't be beat. Photoshop is a must have in order to complete your setup like Misha said, but once you have the tools you need you will be unstoppable! On a side note, I looked at the Minolta too and it felt too toy like to me. I like a heavy camera that is solid and durable. I can't say the D-Image isn't durable because I don't know, But I do know that I have made other shooters cringe when I have dropped my Sony and it just keeps going! i like the feel and weight of the Sony and my Nikon, both are built like tanks. Magick Michael

Attached Link: http://www.zhounder.com

Ooppps. The link I promised...

Well, I constantly go on about how much I like my Fuji, but I'm a little out of date with cameras these days.... amazingly, 2 years on my Fuji still meets all my needs!!! Guess it was a bloody good camera at the time.... :) (",)

The Dimage 7 hi looks to be about the same price as the Dimage 7. The body is black instead of grey and is all rubber. The only drawback to it is the lense, from what I have gathered is not detachable. So $1000 is a good price for a 5 megapixel slr but that lense thing is the only thing about it that may be a deterent. I too am in the same boat and may overlook that detail but am still undecided. Wideangle lense for indoor room shots and wide landscape shots are what I really enjoy so if I can't do the wide angle with the Dimage 7 hi, I may have to keep looking.

hi steve, theres a new digital pentax arriving very soon, and the nikon d100 is about to be replaced........so ive been told.

Thanks to Michelle, I too purchased the Dimage 7i, for 699. on the Internet. I have NO complaints. I havent pushed the boundaries yet, but Im trying. At the price you can find it now, Id say it has to be the best for the money for the camera. Michelle, I owe you big time!

I have nothing much to say about your queries, but I'd like to give you a warm welcome to the Forum, so-- WELCOME TO THE FORUM! hehe :-D Yeah, I agree, Steve's gallery is worth noticing! ;-) (*

Thanks to all of you for the great replies and the warm welcomes to the forum. So much useful information! You've given me a lot to think about.

There are enthusiastic loyalists to the Minolta and the Sony, which is interesting. Doesn't make my decision any easier... !

I'll let you all know when and what I buy. Any other replies are of course appreciated...

Thanks very much again to all of you!

Steve

Hi!! I've just bought a Minolta Dimage 7Hi... When it comes to feeling like a camera I have to say that they have done a great job... And as Mishelle points out above.. it has got all the features you'll ever need to do some serious photographing. My first reason for buying the Minolta was that I wanted a fast camera to print line (great wwith digital cameras) and I also wanted a camera that's "small" enough to be brought along wherever I go. There is only one thing that isn't as great as one would want and that's the power consumption.. I have had to buy myself a new set of batts.. those that came with the camera were 1850 mAh Ni-MH cells and I bought 2000 mAh cells... they last much longer.. Go for the Minolta.. then you will be able to use a wider range of memory media... Good Luck... I've enjoyed my MD 7Hi so far!!

Love my Fuji S602 Pro (one advantage to living in the UK). Having the 602 support the IBM MicroDrive, means I can get hundreds of images stored while using the 6 megapixels option ;o) Cheers

i am using the Fuji FineFix F402. i love that. the pixel is not really good that it is only 2.1. however since i like to take pics in the night.... so the iso would be the most concerned for me. it has 1600 iso. and the quality is very good. and one thing, it is very small, that i can bring that to school and take photo during the class that no one knows :) (the price is not expensive, at least a student can afford that)

I just got the Canon 10D DSLR.....While I haven't had much time to play with it this week I am impressed.....I can finallly say GOODBYE to "shutter lag" ..... !! The Canon 10D also takes a PC cord for flash as well as the regular TTL hot shoe...

I use a Minolta Dimage 7hi, bought it earlier this year in Jan. I originally had a really 'consumer point-n-shoot' Toshiba PDRM-5 (But I can't complain, that camera has been through many years and thousands of pictures with me!), but as time went on I found the need for a faster more professional camera. I'm an aircraft/airshow photographer, so I really needed the power that an SLR has. The Dimage 7hi was the BEST sport camera out there I found at it's price range.

Let me dispell/confirm some rumors on it:

1- It's faster than some say. It can hit up to 1/2000th of a second! For when I need to capture the low speed Blue Angel passes, that's PERFECT. And with just the spin of a dial next to the fire button, I can change the shutter speed down to 1/500th for a nice prop blur on a P-51 Mustang.

2- Battery Consumption. Yes, she's a battery eater. But, I've been able to go on one set of 1800 NIMH batteries for an entire airshow! (8am-4pm). How'd I do that? Well, the Dimage 7hi has an AWESOME feature where you can just have the electronic viewfinder on, and have it 'auto sensor' your face. The LCD will never need to be on, and the viewfinder turns off when your face leaves it (due to sensors). Add that with a 1 minute auto off feature (don't worry, to 'wake it up' all you have to do is hit the fire button, and it'll wake up in less than a second) and batteries are no problem. I went out and bought two extra sets of NIMH batteries (1800 ones, $9.99 on sale at Frys Electronics) but have not yet needed them at an event (unless I use the LCD a lot).

3- Noise. Well, she's got a lot of noise on the images, but it's very bareable. At iso100, no problem. At iso800, ouch, but not as bad as I've seen off other cameras. Even the iso800 looks sharp and pretty good, just I wouldn't recommend prints over 8x10 with it. Thanks to the help of NEAT IMAGE 2.1, it does a great job erasing the noise away!

4- Her on-to-fire time is SUPER fast. I can flip on the camera, zoom in, and fire in less than 2 seconds (if I really needed it fast, probably less than a second if I didn't have the little music tune that plays when it comes on). She is a sports camera.

5- The 7x zoom on her is very good. I have yet to really test her at the BIG airshow I go to, but at the smaller events where the aircraft are further away I've gotten very close. Yes, the lens is not detachable, but you can buy up to 2.0x telephoto lens attachments. I'll be getting one of those sometime soon.

6- Not as good as some of those cameras out there? HA! The DImage 7hi seems to have more features/settings than some of the professional cameras! She's got just about every major iso from 100 to 800, and shutter speeds up to 1/2000, which is more than some pro cameras have. I work at a photo studio, so I'm around cameras like the Cannon D-30/D-60 as well as the Fuji S2, Cannon G-2, etc. My Camera thus far has been able to hold it's own in that field. It's not the best of all of them, but perfect for what I need.

The image at the top of my message was done with the Dimage 7hi at the Riverside Airshow (March 2003). They came over without any announcements, so as soon as I spotted them I flipped the camera on and zoomed it, snapping the photo in auto mode. It has been resized 33% & sharpened slightly (50%) in photoshop.

If you'd like to see some more 7hi shots I've done:

• http://www.bobafettmp.com/warbirds/riversideairshow03/index3.html
• http://www.bobafettmp.com/warbirds/aircommandos03/index3.html
• http://www.bobafettmp.com/warbirds/tuskegeeairmen03/index3.html
• http://www.bobafettmp.com/warbirds/Disneyland/index.html (all of the pages)
• http://www.bobafettmp.com/warbirds/7hiPOFtests/index.html

Hope that all helped!