anyone have any feedback on a minolta dimage 7? how about a fuji 6900? was curious.. i am looking around. want to be able to take pictures close up from far away, very detail, action pictures...etc. thanks for any feedback. tammy

TAmmy, probably the best reviews on the net are at www.dpreview.com. There are lots of samples, information. Then--you might try both the Minolta and the Fuji forums there and ask questions from people who are using them--and also read others opinions. Very good forums for exactly what you are interested. Diane

Another good place to look is Steve's Digicams in the Public Discussion Forums. There is a lot of chat there, even today, about the Dimage 7. Sue

thanks diane and sue... will check them out. tammy

dp.review.com is a great place to find reviews. I'm not sure, but I THINK (emphasis on think) that JordyArt has a fuji 6900... not sure. ry

Close, Ry, but no cigar..... Hi Tammy! I've got the 4900 which just has slightly less picture quality than the 6900 - apart from that it's the same, and I'm more than happy with it. If you are up to speed on manual features it seems very versatile - I'm still learning them all - but if you want to point & click on auto mode it's very forgiving. The only thing I could bitch about if I wanted to would be the processing lag from clicking the button to taking the picture while it works out it's focus / aperture etc in auto mode - but I've since found out it's not too bad compared to other cameras for that, either. Obviously using manual mode virtually negates it anyways. I'm totally biased coz I had a Fuji before this one and loved it - but reading the forum on Dpreview, the other owners seem heavily biased towarsd it too...... At the end of the day I recommend it based on what it does for me and the scope it's allowing me for learning in the future. Hope this helps! Mike (",)

I like my Nikon CoolPix but there are some definite downsides to it....However, the addresses given to review here are excellent for all kinds of cameras. It will be great to have you in the forum Miss tammy! LOL.

Attached Link: http://www.pbase.com/picnic/galleries

Tammy, I have a Canon G1 (since the G2 has been mentioned) and you can check my galleries for some images taken with it in actual use. I have an Oly E-10 now also, but its twice as heavy so probably wouldn't suit. One of the things I do love (among many things) is the almost absent shutter lag. Diane

Oh, yeah - as Alpha mentions, I second the motion of a spare battery - it's on my chrimbo list, coz even an amatuer like myself seems to run out of battery quite fast - and the memory card thing too - I get about 70 pics on 1600 x 1200 on the 64mb card....need another one really. Goingup to the highest resolution uses 12mb per pic.... (",)

The 256 MB cards are quite reasonable now---www.newegg.com did have the Mr. F lash cards for about $90. I questioned whether they were as good as some of the other more well known ones, but one of the Oly forum members had occasion to talk to some folks who were knowledgeable and they liked the Mr. Flash CF cards as well as Viking and some other well known ones. Also, buy 'high' mah NiMH rechargeable batteries--like 1600 mah or 1800 mah. I didn't really realize there was a difference--and found out there is considerable difference in their longevity due to, again, some knowledgable folks. Diane

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I will check out the other camera suggestions as well. will let you know...what i get which will probably be after christmas. : )