Clear viewfinder,spot-metering,high speed sync,features you get for the price.

Plastic lens mount, slow/noisy AF

Great camera, great value and price, very light weight(you'll notice this when you lug it around for 12 or more hours), all around joy to shoot with. Great buy for anyone wanting a full featured SLR but not the full featured price.

Similar Products Used:

Minolta QTsi
Minolta SRT 202
Minolta 400si

Price, easy film loading.

1- Even in total darkness, exposere meter still reads some value. It probably comes from the interrior LCD display. This may cause erratic results especially when you use very high speed films (3200ASA+) in low light conditions.
2- You can not put on or off the lens cap when the original lens hood is attached.
3- Where is the depth of field button? Shall we make estimation for the depth of field, or use some formulas to calculate it always?
4- I like long exposures. It is boring to put my finger on the button for more that 30secs. It is almost impossible to prevent minor shakings of the camera while my finger on the button during one or more minutes.
5- If you forget the camera on, the batteries die soon. An auto off facility would be great.
6- Seems too fragile.

If you are a begginer or you have a tight budget, this camera can be a choice. If you are in a place a few steps further than a begginer, stay away from this cam.

Customer Service

havent tried yet.

Similar Products Used:

Some Canon and Nikon products, Olympus OM2 and OM4.

low price
ease of use
versatility (can be used by beginners as well as experts)
good quality
fast shutter
spot meter

fragile!!
no depth of field preview
not of high quality materials
fragile!!!!!!!

(price includes basic 28-80mm zoom lens. Body by itself was around $200 I think)

This camera was a great value. The body has just about everything most photographers would ever need (excepting the absence of the depth of field preview). The lens wasn't that great. I would suggest buying the body by itself and getting a good quality Maxxum lens.

Now the fun part. I took this camera on a day hike/photography trip in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. I had it set up on my Bogen 3001 Tripod and a freak wind gust blew it over (the tripod was had all legs fully extended, but not the center post). The camera basically fell 4.5 feet or so onto solid granite. I realize this would probably damage just about any camera, but the extent of damage it did to this one was more than I expected. In other words, it's ruined. Where the tripod socket once was, there is now a large hole right into the heart of the camera. The film door broke off, and the mirror inside is completely off its hinges.

Well, what can you get for $400?

Customer Service

havn't really contacted them yet. Their warrantee didn't cover my problems but that is to be expected.

Similar Products Used:

very old Minolta X 700
nothing else yet

Light weight
Easy to learn & use even advanced functions
Great custom functions
Best for beginners and more advanced photographers
Quite good standard objective
Quick and eye controled continous auto-focus
Wireless flash control
High syncro speed with 5400 HS flash.

No DOF preview and that's all

505 si Super is much better than my previous 500 si. Has a lot of useful functions. I don't need another camera. Is really, really good camera.

Customer Service

Never needed

Similar Products Used:

Minolta 500 si
Canon EOS 300
(Eurpean versions)

High shutter speed (1/4000), 14 segment metering, good flash sync (1/125), and 2 frames per second drive are important improvements over the STsi and great specs for the price. Lightweight and easy to handle.

Auto/manual focus button unresponsive as on STsi, no depth of field preview, no date back or panoramic ability as on lower priced STsi. Plastic lens mount is a concern. I handle this camera very carefully as I fear easy breakage. Also wish the lenscap had a retainer.

For it's price, this seems like a very nicely loaded SLR. Feels great in the hand (except for the aperture control in manual mode). The viewfinder is bright and clear, a vast improvement over the rather dark STsi. The pop-up flash can be an annoyance when not wanted, but seems to work well when it is. Overall a great starter SLR for it's price and features.

Customer Service

Have'nt needed it.

Similar Products Used:

Canon AE/1 sys., Elph LT point and shoot, Minolta freedom point and shoots, Minolta STsi 404 panoramic SLR.

quick & accurate focus, full manual modes, fast 1/4000 shutter spead, built in wirless flash control, quiet AF (yep you heard me)

plastic lens mount, no DOF preview

-- HTSI review at very bottom but all the rest is related --

BACKGROUND:
I wouldn't consider myself a true professional photographer but I'm somewhere in between that and an expert photographer. In high school I've been the 35mm photographer for the school paper and then got drafted to yearbook staff for my senior year rolling my own film and processing my own prints in a dark room setting. In college, I took a semester of photography and not to toot my own horn, but I found it amusing how the instructor said after I aced the written exam, "I didn't know you knew so much about photography." I was trying to pull it off as a beginner that studied really hard but the instructor saw right through me. After that, my photography was put aside considering I considered it an expensive hobby with all the film and printing costs. That was until I got my first real job…

MOVE TO DIGITAL:
I've always considered digital photography drastically inferior to 35mm photography until around 1998 when I saw the results of the 1.4 megapixel Olympus 500L. A year or so later when prices came down, I finally made the jump to digital buying the Olympus 600L (the 500's predecessor). The camera was awesome and I thought it gave me creative freedom since I didn't have to worry about wasting precious film on any 'ol shot. The 8x10 prints were respectable and the 4x6 rivaled that of my film cameras.

WAIT A MINUTE:
Recently, I started selling my prints and it's then I started breaking out the 'ol 35mm to do some comparisons. I found the need to upgrade to the "prosumer" camera Olympus 2500L which is a 2.5 megapixels SLR meant for the more advanced consumer. While the results are even better and my 8x10 and 4x6 prints look even sharper, my 10 year old 35mm camera still excels hands down in accurate color and resolution. Also, the tables have turned and 35mm has become an inexpensive solution considering expensive 64mb smart media cards can only hold 32 SHQ (Super High Quality) JPG images and only 8 TIFF images. Firing off roles of film seems cheap compared to buying expensive 64mb cards that could only hold 8 uncompressed images.

CONCLUSION:
It all comes down to application. For web-based photos it's an easy win for digital due to speed and convenience. When viewing on monitor, the difference between digital and 35mm is difficult to differentiate. In situations where I need a fast camera and high quality shots for printing purposes, I'm sticking with the 35mm. What I really need is a true digital SLR, however, prices are still too high and the price of a professional 35mm SLR complete with accessories is still cheaper than a single digital SLR without accessories.

WELCOME HTSI:
I did a lot of research, and looked for a camera within my price range which also had manual functions for creativity. The answer was the HTSI. Bought it new and cheap off eBay a day after Christmas from some guy that got it as a present. It is an amazing camera! It's a whole lot lighter than my Pentax-A and my original Maxxum 7000. Those heavy cameras have taken a beating and keep on ticking so the light weight of the HTSI is a slight concern. Believe me, the positive of a light weight camera is if you're at an event walking around for 4-8 hours, you're really going to wish you packed light. Every extra ounce takes its toll on your body. The light weight is due to a plastic body and lens mount. I do feel like every time I screw on a metal mount lens, it's like brushing the plastic mount down with sandpaper. Still, I haven't heard any complaints anywhere about the mount breaking or wearing out.

Autofocus is surprisingly quiet! Also shutter and winding is quiet too! Of course, I'm comparing this to the origional Maxxum 7000 and my manual Pentax-A with build in wind, but I am amazed at how silent the HTSI it is with the 28-105 lens that came with it. Part of the reason is because it focused so fast and accurately. Other cameras make a lot of noise "finding" a focal point going back and forth but this camera finds the focus in a split second. I wouldn't mind taking it to a wedding either. Who knows, maybe it'll be noisy like everyone else here says it is when I upgrade to a 28-200mm Tamron lens but so far so good!

Who should buy this? It's perfect for the Point and Shoot crowd that want a camera that will allow them to grow to an expert. From a budding professional's point of view, I would consider this a poor-man's professional camera with the drawback of no proprietary vertical grip accessory. I'm a student of apertures and shutter spead so I don't need the depth of field preview that pro cameras have. I am in awe of this camera!

5 because it's a value and a 5 for its target audience
4 because plastic lens mount but overall great camera!

Customer Service

never needed it but i hear it's excellent.

Similar Products Used:

Pentax A-3000 manual 35mm, Maxxum 7000 AF, Olympus 600 digital, Olympus 2500L digital

spot metering, easy film loading, Wireless flash option, Multiexposer,

Plastic body, plastic lens ring, the flash is like a warhead.

I'm am a photography student and this is my secound camera. I had an old Pratica but it had an "irrepairable" accident. This is a great camera for the student who is starting to get into contemprary art photography. When I first got it and loaded my first roll of film I was suprised at the ease of film loading. My old Pratica was a nightmare to load to say the least. Since my last camera was fully manual I jumped right in an set the apture and shutter speed the way I wanted it at the time.
I really like the custom section, their your able to stop the flash from popping up, and set it up the way you want it.
The 28-120 zoom lens is decent, a 28-200 would be ideal. I like the flare gaurd that was included, it really helps when your doing long exposure times in a brightly lit city at night.
If your thinking about getting a Nikon N60 I wouldn't, the HTSI Plus has spot meetering, Multiexposure where the N60 dose not, and I noticed that the HTSI Plus is set up a hell of a lot better, and the LCD screen is easyer to read. I've only had the HTSI Plus for about 6 months, and this is all I have to say about it so far. I'm hoping to upgrade to a Minolta 7.

Customer Service

haven't needed it.

Similar Products Used:

None

- outstanding ergonomics!!! (excellent function dial)
- very good handling, very lightweight
- fast shutter speed (1/4000)
- spot metering
- possible wireless flash and high-speed sync (1/4000 with Minolta 5400HS flash)
- multiple exposure

- fragile, small for my hands
- no depth of field preview
- no rear curtain flash sync
- unresponsive AF/MF switch
- VERY SLOW and NOISY AutoFocus with zoom lenses (slow with 28-80, impossibly slow with 75-300)
- annoying low light AF assist flash burst, makes people think you have already taken the picture (can be turned off via custom function)
- flash pop-up button a little inconveniently placed and unresponsive
- well-placed spot metering button, but a little hard to activate and deactivate
- general lack of accessories for this camera (no vertical grip, battery pack, remote shutter release cord, off-camera flash cords etc.)
- shooting with built-in flash drains batteries quite quickly (also due to the AF assist burst)

Even though I tend to be very critical about this camera, I really enjoyed using it and have taken GREAT pictures with it. However, the only reason I went for Minolta is that my father owns one, and I wanted to use his lenses and flash. Otherwise I would have gone with Canon in the first place since they tend to be a lot more innovative (IS, USM, E-TTL flash, loads of various accessories etc.).
Nevertheless, the one area that Minolta camera bodies undoubtedly ARE superior in is ERGONOMICS (the Dynax 600si Classic is a gem in this respect). Like my dad’s older 7000i, my 505si is also a pleasure to work with. All the controls are where one would instinctively look for them, and the camera thus handles extremely well. This is really a great camera for a keen and aspiring beginner or an amateur photographer on a tight budget, offering a variety of functions and settings to play around with.
However, as I have come to learn, even though it is the photographer rather than the camera alone who takes the pictures (indeed, a Nikon F5, Minolta Dynax 9 or Canon EOS 1V with an f/2.8 lens will not turn you into a pro...), the magic of the art of photography rests not with the camera body, but with the optics (this is why I like to refer to people who have achieved great things in the field of photography as LENSMEN rather than just photographers). Therefore, I am selling this otherwise excellent piece of equipment for the following reasons:
(1) AutoFocus is incredibly slow and noisy. Even if I use a prime 50mm lens in low light, it is slow. With zooms I often have to focus manually because the camera just won’t detect the object - it focuses from infinity to near point and back and blinks, signalling that AF is not possible. The AF assist flash burst makes focusing a lot better, but not faster plus it’s very annoying. (I tried the Canon EOS 30 with an EF 28-80 attached to it in a photo store the other day and I must say the AF was lightning fast and dead quiet!!! And it wasn’t even a USM lens!!!)
(2) Not only the AF, but also the film rewind, the flash pop-up clunk and the mirror flap are quite audible. (I was shooting a friend of mine’s wedding in a church and I had to hide the camera under my jacket and hide myself behind the altar not to disturb others by the noise of the film rewind...)
(3) With all my Minolta lenses (when finally brought to focus) the shot seems to be in razor-sharp focus in the viewfinder, but when the pictures come back they are all somewhat... what’s the word I’m looking for... soft . And I do not mean lack of depth of field - I usually shoot landscape/scenery with 22+ apertures from a tripod. It must be the optics. I have shown the pics to a Nikon friend of mine and he noted the same thing. (but then again, what can you expect from consumer lenses?) The only really sharp pictures are my close-distance shots and close-ups.
(4) Minolta have no equivalent of the Canon’s USM, Nikon’s Silent Wave or Sigma’s HSM lens technology. I have no knowledge of any equivalent technologies to the Canon’s ImageStabilizer or Nikon’s VR either. The E-TTL or 3-D Matrix flash metering technology is also helpful. Not that I cannot live without these things, but it is likely that you will develop as a photographer (from a photographer towards a lensman...) and it is nice to know that if the need be (and the money is handy) you can purchase better equipment. Minolta do not seem to be that innovative.
(5) Even though great to carry around the countryside because of its lightweight construction, it is a little to small for anyone with larger-than-average hands. And since it doesn’t come with a vertical grip as an accessory...
(6) When I saw the wonderful special effects you can achieve with rear-curtain flash sync at slow speeds, I began to miss that feature on my 505si.
(7) In contrasty situations this camera sometimes tends to base the meter reading on the lighter part of the picture, resulting in well-exposed skies and heavily underexposed people or landscape - even using spot metering aimed at the darkest part of the scene does not compensate for the excessive light sufficiently.
(8) Depth of field preview would have been a useful feature...
(9) Choosing the AF sensor is very inconvenient. You have to hold down the AF button at the back of the camera with your right thumb while using your right index finger to adjust the main dial while trying to see inside the viewfinder which sensor is active at the moment (since there is no indication of the active sensor on the LCD) - and then you try hard to maintain your balance and composition while reaching for the shutter release... Nightmare...
(10) Aperture control in Manual mode leaves a lot to be desired too.
(11) Auto turn-off would have been a nice safety feature (to avoid ruining batteries when on the plane for hours).
(12) Sometimes I do miss the shiftable aperture-shutter speed ratio in the Program mode (but I usually use the aperture priority mode anyway).
(13) The mere range of the Canon EF lens line-up and accessories is stunning. It gives you confidence that THEY have the right lens for YOU (if YOU have the money... Oh well...)

HOWEVER, there’s no such thing as a perfect product, and if this camera had all those features it would have been a professional piece of equipment and as such would be out of my price range. So even though it is a wonderful camera body in its own right with loads and loads of useful features, it is the superior lens performance and quality that makes me go Canon... Why not Nikon? Even though their 3D Matrix flash metering is supposed to be the best, I have three reasons for choosing Canon: IS, USM, ECF.

Customer Service

N/A

Similar Products Used:

- old fully manual Praktica with EXCELLENT Carl Zeiss f/1.8 50mm lens
- Minolta Maxxum 7000i
- Minolta AF 28-80mm, AF 75-300mm, AF f/1.7 50mm lenses
- Tamron AF 28-200mm, Sigma AF 24mm lenses (for Minolta)
- Minolta 3200i flash, Sigma EF-430 ST flash (for Minolta)

Notice: I use a Dynax 505si Super QD
-Nice specs (2fps, 1/4000sec,...)
-reliable metering, even under difficult situations
-ergonomy, easy too handle, you are always well informed
-lightweight
-10 custom functions
-metall mount, release cord terminal (useful for night shoots)
-wireless flash works well
-if AF can focus: sharp pictures
-with external flashes, AF-illuminator works well
-eye-start function (I don't find it very usefull, but well, you are ready to shoot once you take the camera to your face)

-Spot button is uneasy to handle
-DOF-preview button is lacking
-plastic tripod mount
-noisy (AF, mirror, motor drive...)
-flash metering could be somewhat better (with fast lenses camera chose a to big apperture and overexpose)
-max. wireless flash sync. is 1/45sec.
-AF tends to hunt (sometimes it does not focus and you have to push the AF-button, which is luckily well placed, to make AF run again)
-AF is just too SLOW with zoom lenses
-LCD is on the left side of the viewfinder and you can't always see it

All in all a good camera which suffers under a average and slow AF system. Suddenly the camera won't be able to focus even in standard situations and you will have too switch AF sensor (selecting another one than the camera selected) , press AF button (not always works) or focus manually. The metering system is reliable even when you're shooting winter landscapes. Camera tends too overexpose 0.5 EV (I shoot slides). The flash system isn't very accurate, it is easely disturbed in big rooms (till the end of last year Minoltas lacked of the subject distance information which explains this problem). Fill in flash is much more accurate. The build in flash is of average quality and is too weak for zoom lenses like a 28-80mm/3.5-5.6 (external flash recommended).
I like taking pics during the night so I was happy that Minolta has added the remote cord terminal. Concerning mirror vibrations, they tend to be quite hefty with 'normal' shutter speeds (1/15sec-1/4000sec). With slow speeds vibrations are much softer (BTW: I never observed camera shacking). Like others I wish Minolta has added a DOF-preview button, this feature is really useful. If you are an beginner this camera is made for you because you can grow up with it.

Customer Service

Seems quite competent, had asked once for repairing my old SRT-101 and response was quite clear (wasn't worth repairing)

Similar Products Used:

Minolta SRT-101

Good focus-oppurtunities. Some of the programs are very good. Some very fine programs.
Among them "The Night"-prog., "Full Automatic" and "Half Manual".
Easy, simple and understandable menu.
Good makro posibillities.

The "Sport"-program is not veary good.
The built-in blitz is to weak for everything over 2 m.

A good camera for beginners and intermediates.
Isn't the best for sport-photo's.

Similar Products Used:

Minolta Dynax 5 si
Minolta 600 si
Canon EOS 303
Canon EOS 650