Hello,

this is a real-life report how MY Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi behaves in heavy-duty. There are several problems, but I have to check out whether they are because of the camera, the rechargeables or just the circumstances.

= Equipment =
-Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi
-Minolta Program Flash 5600 HS (D)
-512MB RiData CF
-512MB Transcend CF
-1GB Microdrive
-Enough sets of 4xAA Recharbeables (2000mAh)

= Task =
Shooting at a live event with 10 stage shows of 17-28 minutes every hour. Heavy interference from stage lighting and on top of this as background animation computer graphics from a beamer on a screen (I suppose a high reflective type). Mostly fast moving subjects at different positions and distance. The full 28mm to 200mm zoom range is useful. That's why I chose the D7Hi.

= My settings =
Full resolution (2560x1920), fine quality (about 2MB file size). Manual exposure, shutter time 1/180s with aperture control via dial. Like this I can quickly adjust the aperture depending on the focal length and the desired/required depth of field. The camera takes control over the flash power. You just have to check the flash range on the display. Shooting with display only (brightness 2 is enough in medium light condition). Instant playback 2 seconds, you have to see what you are shooting. You can confirm the picture with the shutter release. Just confirm a bad shot, too and make another one right away instead of deleting the bad one first.
After each show: Checking the images using the viewfinder (brightness setting 1). The histogram sucks, almost zero values are rounded to zero, so you can't see whether the image is under or over-exposed or just with very few highlights and/or shadows.

= Shooting tips =
The camera with flash (including rechargeables) has a weight of 1100g. I think 80% of the shots are vertical, then you have a lot of weight on the left side (I prefer to shoot 90 CCW. My preferred handling is to support the flash with the index finger stretched out and turning the zoom wheel between the thumb and middle finger. The flash mount is extremely lousy, I would like to have one that can be fastened tightly. Maybe an affordable(!) vertical grip would be a nice accessory?

= The result =
1101 pictures taken, 935 remaining after second check on the computer removing too dark and/or completely unsharp ones. I did not do the final check, but I think there will be an amount of good 700 pictures.

Flash: Excellent. The manual says 80-2800 flashes with one set of NiMH. I don't know how many capacity is left, but it's still the set I put in at the beginning of the show. The flash ready lamp never went out - except when I turned off the flash between the shows ;-)

Camera: Well... It ate up 4 sets of 2000mAh rechargeables, the 5th set is still in the camera, but might be at 40%. The first set was excellent, it lasted until the start of the 4th show block (I started with the CF). I had to change the CF and took the Microdrive. The microdrive is a real pain in the ass for checking the pictures. It's way too slow. The problem is that you can't page
up/down in the index view, you have to skip from picture to picture.
Then the trouble began: After turning the camera on for the 5th show, the battery warning came up. Sometimes the camera just blacked out (LCD display and top LCD off), I had to power off and power on again. I think when I changed the MD for the second CF, the camera lost ALL its settings except the date/time - what a mess. And I had trouble keeping the image counter counting on. I prefer to have a continuous picture number.
Focusing is not that easy with moving targets or low texture. I don't have experience with DMF and MF and I think you can't use that for live action, it takes too much time.
Other problems were: Several times the shutter won't release fully. I had to start all over with focus lock, then it worked. Several pictures where too dark, because the flash did not fire (enough?). But maybe that's just bad influence from the light show and/or beamer? The pre-flash is annoying, you get a lousy shutter lag, so it's a matter of luck and prediction to get a good shot.


=== Summary ===
-What about the shutter not releasing fully? Is that a common problem and how does this happen?
-Are the camera blackouts a camera problem and/or problem with the rechargeables (overheating)?
-Why is the battery warning very late (only a few shots possible after the warning)?
-Was the loss of all settings just bad luck, because of the changing of the CF or a problem, too.
-Was the loss of the image counter due to the loss of settings or has the camera a problem with the counter memory?
-Is the microdrive really that slow for playback or should you NEVER delete images to prevent fragmentation?
-What about the underexposed images? Just interference with the light show or also a camera problem?
-LCD: are all D7Hi LCDs that unsharp and angle-sensitive or just the on on my camera?
-Why cant you page up/down in the index view? Skipping from image to image is extremely fast with the RiData/Transcend CF, but way too slow with the MD.

I think the camera may have a voltage problem. The fully used up rechargeables had a voltage of 1.1V-1.15V measured without load on an analogue meter. How many amps does the camera need?
GP batteries hit the 1.1V mark at 60% of the capacity when discharging at 2C and at about 90% capacity when discharging at 1C. I think the D7Hi is somewhere inbetween.
Is there technical information what the bottom voltage for camera operation is and what current is used with EVF or LCD on?
Wouldn't it be a better idea to use 5NiMH having 6V like 4AA batteries?

I hope this information is helpful, especially the one about power consumption. Rule of thumb: One set of 2000mAh NiMH per shooting hour.

Hans-Jürgen