Home > Consumer Reviews > Minolta Dimage Xi 3.2MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

I am very pleased with this camera. I have had another very good digital for about four years but it is large and somewhat heavy. The size and weight of the Dimage make it easy to use. I just pop it into my purse or pocket. Make sure when doing so, to have it in a case because the silver shutter release button on top can catch on something and can come off. This happened to me.

The quality of the pictures is excellet. I do my own printing and find it difficult to see a quality difference in the pictures between this and a regular camera. Take time to read the manual because this camera has a lot of features that can be used to adjust for different picture taking conditions. I am pleased that it has an EV adjustment. I take pictures by water and snow and this is critical to good results.I bought a 128MB card because I tend to shoot in fine or superfine and 2048 X 1536. The red eye reduction mode works well.
The Dimage software is good. I also use Adobe when I want to do things Dimage cannot. I use Dimage to view other thumbnail pictures on my harddrive. One negative is that it is easy to get your thumb in front of the lense. The battery is supposed to take 120 pictures with 50% flash, standard image quality, no playback or not voice memo. I have not gotten this but then I shoot superfine and do some playback. Watch the very tiny battery symbol. It can be easy to miss and your battery can go out.

I got what I expected with this camera: a small, light, portable camera that I could stick in my pocket anytime. It's working out well. My only complaint is that you can't possibly tell when the battery is about to go out, due to the indicator's being all but useless. I dealt with this by getting a second battery -- though I wondered if this is what Minolta had in mind all along. . .

As another reviewer already noted, this camera is easily damaged by sand. Its much touted "internal folded zoom lens" has a number of small plastic gears that are exposed internally in its aluminum case. The case is not well sealed, so sand can get in there easily. And a few grains is all that takes to hose it. I took mine on my last vacation, and although I never actually took it to beach, a few sand specks in my pocket made their way into the camera. Took it apart and used compressed air to try to clean it, but no luck. What is the point of a miniature camera that must be stored in a hermetic case or bag?

I have the original Dimage X (the 2MP version) and now wish I had waited! The Xi has 50% more pixels and also more optical zoom. Any potential buyer should be aware that the 3X refers to optical zoom, i.e., real stuff, not digitized zoom. I find the new model even easier to hold and operate, so I don't understand why some people complain. The size and styling and the optical zoom are the main selling points, but the camera also has decent image quality and fast recycle times. If you are a casual photographer, you won't be disappointed.

Overall this camera takes very good pictures and it is very compact. The only downside if any is when taking pictures in low light. Using flash the image is slightly underexposed and clor balance slightly off(can be easily corrected digitally later). In low light there is some noise at max resolution. If the image size is reduced to 2MP this noise is not seen but it reduces the resolution.
Overall very satisfied with the camera. I have also used a1000mA AC adapter at 4.5V to power it and it works fine.