Home > Consumer Reviews > Minolta Freedom Zoom 160 Date 35mm Camera Kit w/bag

The picture quality on this camera is pretty good. For most events, it has replaced my SLR (which is just too big and clunky otherwise). It has a grid which allows you to focus on different items in your viewfinder, which can be very useful.

However, If you are dealing with a scene that has multiple focus points, the "area focus" grid starts jumping around, which I've been told by others is somewhat annoying (doesn't bother me).

Overall, while I ideally like controlling all my settings, I find that this camera is just ideal for any kind of setting where you would want easy pocket portability.

I would change one thing: The little flaps that cover the lense seem pretty easy to move, and make me a little nervous about keeping the camera in my pocket: I would personally prefer a hard cover like some Kodak flip cameras or even the Olympus.

But otherwise, I would highly recommend.

After having attended the 2000 Belmont Stakes with my Canon Elph LT camera and gotten good, but very distant looking photos, I decided I needed a good zoom lens camera for my next trip. After some searching, I had come across the Minolta Freedom Zoom 160. At the time I had purchased it, it had the longest zoom lens available in my budget. I took it with me to the 2002 Belmont Stakes and I was amazed at my final results!

I had taken 75 photos (About 10 had come out blurry, but mainly because my hand was shaking and no fault to the camera), and they came out very crisp, clear and vibrant. I suggest that anyone who uses this camera get their photos made onto a photo CD, because thats where the camera's detail really sticks out.

Photograph Examples Available:
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I used this camera for an Alaskan trip, for the first time. I was very pleased with the results and ease of use. I did find the multiple flash settings a little difficult to master. However, overall the camera produced remarkable, clear photos.
A lens cover would be very helpful, as an accessory.

I bought this camera for my trip to South Africa. I got some amazing shots. Very crisp and clear with brilliant colors. It's very quiet which is good but also pretty bad. It's hard to hear the thing wind so if you press the button and then move the camera, your pictures could easily be messed up because you didn't wait long enough- some of mine did unfortunately. So other than this set back, my photos came out excellent.

I love this camera for ease of use, and crisp, clear pictures. My biggest problem though are red eyes. I use the red eye reduction most of the time and eyes are always red. Maybe someone has a suggestion to fix this problem?