Konica Minolta 7D Launches in Japan on November 19th

#1 Chris Kinsey

I picked up my Maxxum 7D yesterday. Minolta has done an incredibly poor job of educating the stores which are having a hard time getting/keeping the unit on the shelves and can't tell you a thing about it in comparison to other bodies. My store only received three, I got the first one, and the others were gone by end of day. Having to make a $1,599 purchase based only on press release and pre-production reviews is scary - but in this case, worth it. The unit is exactly as described by both Konica Minolta and the reviewers. Rather than restate those comments, I will focus on things I have discovered in the last 24 hours. Vertical grip - a recommended add-on both for battery capacity and the ability to use AA's in a pinch. Memory - buy FAST cards, especially if you plan to do a lot of 3fps sequential shooting. Takes a LONG time to clear the buffer on a 60x card. Camera continues to shoot in single mode, but the red write light seems to stay on forever. Seems to be a software glitch which resets the camera to FINE mode on power up even when you manually reset to RAW+JPEG. A firmware upgrade can fix this but it is a pretty obvious and annoying glitch to let out to market. For $1599 I would like my camera to stay set up the way I left it the last time I turned it off. Yes, there are three memory positions I can use - but I consider those to be for other than my default shooting mode. A minor oops. I am using my Tamron 28-300 lens and Sigma 17-35 lens with no problems. Built in flash pops up high enough to avoid lens shadow, even with the lens hood on. Anti Shake - worth it's weight in gold - or $1,599 whichever is more. Performs exactly as advertised even with very noticeable lens shake through the viewfinder. I've only shot about 100 frames so far but am already consigning my faithful 800si to backup status in the bottom of my bag. A winner.

1:58 am - Saturday, November 20, 2004

#2 Mark Goldstein

Great report Chris - maybe you could post a review here too:

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=538&sort=7&cat=116&page=1

4:14 pm - Saturday, November 20, 2004

#3 AsK Melo

I have a lot of mechanical photo machine (x-500, X-700, Dinax 700si, yashica, konica , panasonic...).
I have now the new Dinax 7D, it's the best. Thy have some problems with measuring but if you like photo you don’t have problem’s with the Dinax 7d. Dinax 7D locks like a mechanical machine with the digital capability. The 6.3 M CCD is not the best (compared with the CMOS sensor) but ergonomic design and full control function on the machine (not by menu) transform this machine in one of the best to the fill

1:10 am - Sunday, January 9, 2005

#4 Paul

A good list of reviews is posted here on this website:

http://www.noendpress.com/pvachier/cameras/konica-minolta_7D.php

7:43 am - Monday, January 24, 2005