Minolta DiMAGE 7i Review: 5. Body & Design: Digital Photography Review

Base / Tripod Mount

On the bottom of the camera you'll find a good metal tripod mount, unfortunately it's located too quite close to the front of the camera which, on some tripod mounts, would lead to the camera tilting forwards slightly.

Also the mount isn't positioned along the axis of the lens (which means getting the lens central to the pivot point for panoramas will be more difficult).

Pop-up flash

The DiMAGE 7i has a pop-up flash which is opened by flipping it out from its spring loaded closed position. This automatically enables flash mode and starts to charge the flash capacitor. The flash itself is rated as having a range of wide: 0.5 - 3.8 m (1.6 - 12.5 ft) and tele: 0.5 - 3 m (1.6 - 9.8 ft) (ISO 100). The DiMAGE 7's flash has two selectable metering modes, ADI metering uses subject distance and aperture to calculate flash power, pre-flash TTL uses a short pre-flash just before the main exposure to meter the scene.

The built-in flash can sync up to 1/2000 sec.

Flash range at different sensitivities (from the DiMAGE 7 manual):

Sensitivity	Flash range (wide angle)	Flash range (telephoto)
AUTO	0.5 - 3.8 m (1.6 - 12.5 ft)	0.5 - 3.0 m (1.6 - 9.8 ft)
ISO 100	0.5 - 2.7 m (1.6 - 8.8 ft)	0.5 - 2.1 m (1.6 - 6.9 ft)
ISO 200	0.5 - 3.8 m (1.6 - 12.5 ft)	0.5 - 3.0 m (1.6 - 9.8 ft)
ISO 400	0.5 - 5.4 m (1.6 - 17.6 ft)	0.5 - 4.2 m (1.6 - 13.8 ft)
ISO 800	0.5 - 7.6 m (1.6 - 25.0 ft)	0.5 - 6.0 m (1.6 - 19.6 ft)

Flash hotshoe

The flash hotshoe is compatible with Minolta Dynax / Maxxum system flashes and most probably third-party flash systems. Primarily it is fully compatible with the Program Flash 3600HS(D) and 5600HS(D) as well as the Macro Twin Flash 2400 and Macro Ring Flash 1200.

Minolta Dynax / Maxxum flash compatibility chart


	Program Flash 3600 HS(D)	Program Flash 5600 HS(D)	Macro Twin Flash 2400	Macro Ring Flash 1200
Program Reset
ADI Flash Metering			-	-
Auto Power Zoom			-	-
Ratio Flash			-	-
High-speed Sync	*	*	-	-
Remote High-speed Sync	*	*	-	-
Slow-shutter Sync
Remote Off-camera Flash
Modelling Flash	-
Multiple Flash	-		-	-
Manual Flash Control	-		-	-
AF Illuminator			-	-
Flash indicator

* High shutter speed may result in underexposure depending on the subject distance.

Wireless Flash

Note that the D7i now supports wireless flash using the 5600 HS(D) or 3600 HS(D) flash units. Simply slide the flash onto the camera, set the camera to wireless flash mode and it will communicate with the flash unit, program itself to the correct wireless channel and configure the flash unit. The flash may then be removed and positioned up to 5 m (16.4 ft) from the camera and will be remotely trigged at the time of exposure.

Supplied in the box

Supplied in the box are:

Minolta DiMAGE 7i digital camera
Lens cap LS-1249
Lens hood DLS-7
16 MB CompactFlash card (Lexar branded)
4 x AA NiMH batteries (1850 mAh capacity)
Sanyo branded AA battery charger
Neck Strap NS-DG7
Video Cable (ends in RCA jack)
USB Cable
Software CD-ROM (Minolta Image Viewer utility)
Manual

Minolta Accessories


Program Flash 3600HS(D)	Program Flash 5600HS(D)	Macro Ring Flash 1200	Macro Twin Flash 2400

Bounce Reflector V-Set	Close-up Diffuser CD-1000	Soft Lighting Set II (flash not included)	Off-camera Cable OC-1100

External Battery Pack EP-1, EP-2 (for flash unit)	Triple connector TC-1000	Off-camera shoe OS-1100	Cable 'CD'

PC Flash Adapter PCT-100