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

I'd really give this 4 1/2 stars if I could--it fits all of my digicam needs and I have only a few minor quibbles with it. I bought this as a replacement for a larger, slower digital camera and I have to say that I really love it. It is incredibly light, it fits easily into my jeans pocket (the camera is a tad smaller than a deck of cards, if that helps you picture it), the controls are surprisingly user-friendly (especially considering the size), and the pictures seem to be very good. I do think the flash could be better (it doesn't really fill the picture the way I'd like it to), but that's nothing I can't fix in Photoshop. Other people here have commented on the technical stuff--I'll just say that it's a nice-looking and smoothly-operating machine (the lack of moving parts on the outside is very reassuring) and I recommend it highly if you need an on-the-go camera for snapshots and such. You should definitely buy a bigger SD card for more pictures and movies, and I went ahead and bought an extra battery just to be safe, but I haven't had any major battery-drainage issues yet. This is definitely a good buy if you're looking for a super-small but good-quality digital camera.

The little Minolta really shines as an "easy carry" camera. Picture quality is very, very good at "fine" quality (but - see below). Video quality is not good, but the ability is there, and can be useful. Sure, it takes practice to keep your fingers out of the FOV (a problem that happens w/ small 35mm's too) and to use the focus/exposure lock when you've got backlighting, high contrast, or a foreground subject. Low light needs a steady rest because it operates at about 100 film speed equivalent, so if you're used to a 35mm w/ 400 film, you'll be disappointed. And like all small things, the controls are not easy to use if you've got fingers like bratwurst. And, do invest in extra memory cards, the 16 meg card it comes with is much too small.

I've been using mine at work for 4 months in the field as a documentation tool, and just got back from the Galapagos where it really got a workout. I also bought the dive-rated case, which produced great results while snorkeling out there (Dimage and dive case: $450. Underwater video of Green Sea Turtle: priceless). Inside the case, it's still coat-pocketable, and protected from rain, sleet, snow, dust, etc. This is a great compact camera. I like it better than any point 'n shoot, film or digital, that I've used before. But it's still a point 'n shoot. Size matters.

The XT is the first/only camera that matched my four essentials:
- Tiny.
- 3 Megapixels or more.
- Optical zoom.
- Minimal shutter lag.

The camera is virtually perfect for its role - a shirt-pocket camera that takes pictures good enough to print. It probably will lose some points on technical merit - such as a little vignetting and distortion when shooting test scenes, but none of these are noticeable on a day-to-day basis.
With its portability, fast startup, and minimal shutter lag, you'll be taking pictures when no-one else can. It even doubles as a primitive video camera when the need arises.

The only significant issue I've come across is with flash photography when red-eye-reduction is disabled (to keep shutter lag low). The camera, it seems, actually flashes twice in very quick sucession - once to gauge exposure, and again to take the picture. I have found that the first flash causes some subjects to blink such that the picture (and second flash) is always taken when their eyes are closed.

I'd also like to see the little charger stand made more useful - it should power (not just charge) the camera, and it would be great if the charger stand would be a USB dock rather than having to fiddle with the USB cable each time.

Actually, I would give this camera a 5 star rating if it weren't for the pesky ISO 400 setting. (Normally under low light situations, the DimageXt will jump to an ISO400.) Unfortunately, this ISO is super grainy. Yeah, you'll get your pictures ...but if you want little grain in the picture, you should lower the ISO to a max of 200.

Also, when taking pictures with this camera, watch out for your left hand finger. Not only can you easily cover a portion of the lens (causing vignetting) but you can easily inadvertently touch the lens and get your grimy oil all over it.

OK - so the juicy stuff.

Form Factor - 5 stars

Function Factor - 4 stars. (The pictures can be underdeveloped a little too easily) Additionally, a small but consistent number of pictures had a little more red or purple masking than was needed. This is easily fixed in Photoshop through the auto-color or similar functions.

Conclusion: I highly recommend this camera. It's a very fun camera, and if you're like me, a camera like this allows you to take pictures in places you wouldn't normally want to bring your SLR. :)

For more than a year, I had planned to buy this beautiful little camera (not the Xt, but it's earlier models). Minolta kept upgrading and improving it, and finally I bought the Xt.

And it lived up to my every expectation; wonderfully engineered, very small, easy to use, lots of great features.

Only one huge problem. The quality of the pictures is just plain poor.

I am an experieced photographer and regularly use both film and digital cameras. I know how to maximize picture quality in almost any lighting situation. This camera does not deliver sharp pictures; not even in 4 X 6 prints, and not even under the most straighforward lighting situations.

Since it has a much-more-than-adequate 3.2 megapixel sensor, I can only conclude that the innovative optics in the camera are not up to the task.

I would rate the picture quality about the same as -- or even lower than -- one would expect from an old Instamatic point-and-shoot. At this price, the Xt should deliver much higher picture quality than that.

I have returned the camera, and ordered a Canon digital elph to replace it.