Minolta Dimage Xi 3.2MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

This camera is amazing. It's so light and compact, it's hard to believe you've got a 3.2 megapixel camera with 12x combined zoom in your hands!

The camera uploaded/connected to Windows 2000 via USB with absolutely NO problems, and I had no trouble AT ALL at removing either the memory card OR the battery. Wish it could take standard AA or AAA batteries, but that's the tradeoff you make for a tiny package.

Also, I'm astounded with the extra features this camera offers: record short movies WITH sound, record voice messages/memos to yourself, tiny moving lens cover, internal zoom parts, FAST startup and shutdown, just to name a few. Wow.

Even the manual is easy to follow and written in plain english. I didn't try any of the enclosed photo software because Paint Shop Pro 7 is the best and easiest photo and paint software I've ever found. .

The camera also has several levels of quality. With my 128mb memory card, it can store 13 pictures on highest quality and picture size, and 1958 pictures on the lowest quality and smallest picture size. On medium settings, you'd get at least 391 pictures at a time. Not too shabby!

I'd recommend buying an extra battery pack so you won't worry about running out of power, although the batteries do last a long time if you aren't using the LCD display much.

All in all, this camera is worth the money you pay for it.

The DiMAGE Xi is the upgrade of the popular Dimage X and is identical in physical appearance. It employs the same f/2.8 "folded" 3X optical 37-111mm (35mm equivalent) zoom lens. The main upgrade is the CCD imager which went from 1.96 to 3.2 megapixel and now yields up to 2048 x 1536 pixel images. Other enhancements include user-selectable ISO settings, optional date imprinting, spot autofocus, an improved anti-reflective LCD and automatic e-mail file copy creation.

The contrast and color issues of the DiMAGE X have been remedied and I was quite impressed with the image quality. Even heavily backlit subjects were metered and rendered well which is quite a feat for a micro-size 3x zoom digicam.

The 1.5 inch LCD is somewhat improved for outdoor use with the new less-reflective covering. I still found myself cupping a hand around the LCD to make it easier to see in bright light. When not using the LCD as a live viewfinder, the eye-level optical viewfinder makes it easy to compose the picture in daylight and by not using the power consuming LCD, battery life is extended.

The DiMAGE X required 6 button presses to delete an image during playback as it had to be done from the menu. The DiMAGE Xi now lets you delete an image by simply pressing the flash mode/delete button on the back.

It's a bit pricy as was the dimage x, but by far this camera is one the smallerst out there, fastest, and picture quality is much improved. They pretty much fixed all the flaws of the x an made this camera 10 folds better. Pick one up, you won't regret it.

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I've been using this camera for a while and it's just wonder.

Pros:

Small I can put it in my Minolta leather camera holder and wear it on a belt. Very portable, good for traveling.

Movie 35 seconds movie in QuickTime format. Pretty good quality WITH SOUND!! Can zoom while shooting movie.

Functionalities You can choose TIFF or JPEG format. 35 sec. audio memos for each picture and 30 mins audio recording. Different ISO settings, night time photo exposure compensation, can zoom-in when viewing pictures on the LCD, e-mail format, EXIF photo printer format

Zoom 3x optical zoom using built-in prism. No protruding lens during zoom. Awesome!

Memories comes with 16MB but not enough. So, I got the 128Mb which is more than enough for my use. About 130 high quality 4x6" type of photo (not the largest size and highest quality yet).

Battery small and last for a whole day at least. I used the Olympus before and its AAA battery runs out so quickly. This Lithium battery in the Minolta is so much better.

Cons:

Software Slow to load up pics and kinda useless. But I used Photoshop for editing and ACDSee for viewing anyway.

Moive on 35sec Max even if you have a 128M memory card.

Conclusions:

Cons is minimal. It's definitely worth it. Very eye-catching, easy to use, easy to upload pics. Definitely need a 128Mb memory card, an extra battery.

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I have had this camera for about 3 months and it really is amazing. I bought it to take on a trip to Scotland so I would always have a camera handy and it fit my needs perfectly. Not only is this camera tiny but the shape is superior as well and it really truly does fit in even small pockets and is comfortable enough that you have to make sure you don't forget about it and sit on it. On the trip we also brought along a full sized 35mm SLR and between me and my wife we took nearly 500 pictures, mostly on the Minolta (with 2 128 meg SD cards) and when we got back we selected the pictures we wanted printed, burned them on a CD and had them processed just like regular film. After we put all of the pictures together in a photo album documenting the trip it was nearly impossible to tell which pictures were taken with the SLR and which were taken with the digital Minolta. For the most part this tiny camer held it's own against a much larger 35mm SLR and the 2.11 megapixel resolution is even enough to print great looking pictures up to 8x10. The camera has few shortcoming and they appear to be a result of the cameras small size. The only concerns I have are as follows:

The flash element is tiny and really only works up close. Low light situations can give this camera some trouble.

The LCD can be pretty dark in low light situations but the camera does have an optical viewfinder that I find I use quite a bit.

Even thought the proprietary battery for this camera is very small batter life is good but I would definitely recommend buying a second battery if you want to go on any serious photo excursions.

The provided 8 meg SD card is a joke, buy at least a 128 meg card, you wont regret it.

Bottom line: this camera rocks and I don't understand why it's not getting more attention than it is. It's design is really unique and extremely functional and the picture quality is awesome and all this at a very competitive price.

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I'm 64 and have been taking photos all my adult life. Starting with a Kodak Brownie, Argus C3, 4 x 5 press camera, Mamayiaflex, Nikons and Nikonmats. The Dimage Xi is my fourth digital camera and it is simply maverlous. I don't see how a camera can get any better. In one lifetime it's come to this.

It's a jewelbox, small as a compact. The first thing I did was test its capabilities, taking a flash photo in the back yard at night, a closeup of a credit card, a movie, a sound file attachment and a solo sound file.

The inclulded 16 meg memory card hold 45 standard photos, the 128 meg card holds 360. The optical viewfinder tracks with the optical zoom.

I connected the camera to the iPhoto program on my Mac and -zip the photos were ready to look at. Excellent quality. This is a marvelous camera. I keep it in my pocket all the time, something I could not easily do with my very good Sony Mavica 83. A really fine little camera.