need advice on Dimage Xi

I need some advice on Dimage Xi, i'm thinking on buying my first digicam, and put my eyes on this tiny minolta, because of its portability and dimensions...any user with helpful advice?

Thanks.

Marcos (from Spain, Europe).

PS: In comparation with Canon S230, wich one would you choose?

I was faced with the same choice and chose the s230. Only slightly bigger size and better picture quality. If you notice there is quite a bit of vignetting on the dimage xi. The MAIN real advantage I see with the xi is the 3x optical zoom. If you absolutely need this, canon will soon be releasing the s360, 3.2 MP, 3x optical zoom. Should blox the xi out of the water. Also it is rumored to have the option of full manual controls, (shutter priority, aperature priority etc...). Also the s230 has a better movie mode with a choice for 640 x 480 resolution and 3 minutes of 320 x 200, opposed to the xi's 35 seconds at 320 x 200. I'd go for the canon with better picture quality and more manual options in general, plus its cheaper. But if 3x optical and ultra portablility is a must for you (although the s230 fits nicely in my pocket and I take it with me everywhere) and you can't wait for the s360, go for the minolta.

mdhyc said:

I need some advice on Dimage Xi, i'm thinking on buying my first
digicam, and put my eyes on this tiny minolta, because of its
portability and dimensions...any user with helpful advice?

Thanks.

Marcos (from Spain, Europe).

PS: In comparation with Canon S230, wich one would you choose?

Click to expand...

The tiny Dimage Xi is a very nice piece of technology, and now it is a 3mln pix cam it can make nice printable photo's

But...

Have a look at the review and you will find that the small size is not without compromise. It has effect on the picture quality and the handling of the camera.

If you really NEED such a small camera you will find it a great peace of equipment. For normal use, I think it is better to considder a normal compact type of camera. Personally I like the Fuji M603 for its size and shape. For the money you could even have a look at a 4MP cam with even better picture quality.

Jurjen

mdhyc said:

I need some advice on Dimage Xi, i'm thinking on buying my first
digicam, and put my eyes on this tiny minolta, because of its
portability and dimensions...any user with helpful advice?

Thanks.

Marcos (from Spain, Europe).

PS: In comparation with Canon S230, wich one would you choose?

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/jurjen

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress
depends on the unreasonable man. -G.B. Shaw

Where have you seen a review of the Dimage Xi other than Steves Digicams?

Jurjen said:

But...

Have a look at the review and you will find that the small size is
not without compromise. It has effect on the picture quality and
the handling of the camera.

If you really NEED such a small camera you will find it a great
peace of equipment. For normal use, I think it is better to
considder a normal compact type of camera. Personally I like the
Fuji M603 for its size and shape. For the money you could even have
a look at a 4MP cam with even better picture quality.

Jurjen

mdhyc said:

I need some advice on Dimage Xi, i'm thinking on buying my first
digicam, and put my eyes on this tiny minolta, because of its
portability and dimensions...any user with helpful advice?

Thanks.

Marcos (from Spain, Europe).

PS: In comparation with Canon S230, wich one would you choose?

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/jurjen

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one
persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all
progress
depends on the unreasonable man. -G.B. Shaw

Click to expand...

--
Thomas
http://www.pbase.com/thla/

It took me a few weeks to decide and I decided in favor of the Xi. I am thrilled with the size, function and even quality photos. I am not a professional nor do I want to be. I want an extremely small camera that I can take anywhere.

There is a link with some photos that I took this past weekend with the camera.

http://www.pbase.com/atwnsw/zoo

I think that you will find plenty of people on this board who are more than satisfied with the camera.

I am also including a link to an article written on December 5th by somebody from the Wall Street Journal praising the Xi which made my decision that much easier.

http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20021205.html

mdhyc said:

I need some advice on Dimage Xi, i'm thinking on buying my first
digicam, and put my eyes on this tiny minolta, because of its
portability and dimensions...any user with helpful advice?

Thanks.

Marcos (from Spain, Europe).

PS: In comparation with Canon S230, wich one would you choose?

Click to expand...

I love it.

And, I think the image quality is just fine!

http://www.pbase.com/akerman/random_shots

mdhyc said:

I need some advice on Dimage Xi, i'm thinking on buying my first
digicam, and put my eyes on this tiny minolta, because of its
portability and dimensions...any user with helpful advice?

Thanks.

Marcos (from Spain, Europe).

PS: In comparation with Canon S230, wich one would you choose?

Click to expand...

Take a look at the F100.Slightly less portable, but for the prices it's going for one hell of a camera with all the manual controls you could wish for so that you can grow into it as your skills improve.
Regards,
--
DaveMart

I really appreciate your answers...it's really hard to choose one but i'll try to make up my mind for this christsmas and try to decide between them...

...just a few things to think about:

• 2x optical zoom or 3x?

• Is it really true that most of Xi's images have some vignetting and are a little soft? (i think i'm not able to realize that point, i've seen akerman's pics and they look good to me)

• Some reviews talk about a "video camera look" on Dimage X's pics, but i didn't find any review that confirmed this on Dimage Xi.

• How many features are you able to control on Dimage Xi compare to s230/ixus?

• What about pics in darkness? I've read marvellous things about dark shots from the s230/ixus but no one about the Xi.

• Finally, it seems that both (Canon ixus/s230 and Dimage Xi) have the same price in Spain...so price isn't the clue.

...Well, i'll hope to take the right decision.

Thank you.

Marcos.

mdhyc said:

• 2x optical zoom or 3x?

Click to expand...

Your own decision.

mdhyc said:

Is it really true that most of Xi's images have some vignetting
and are a little soft? (i think i'm not able to realize that point,
i've seen akerman's pics and they look good to me)

• Some reviews talk about a "video camera look" on Dimage X's pics,

but i didn't find any review that confirmed this on Dimage Xi.

Click to expand...

The pictures that akerman posted look pretty good, however I've seen other pictures that people have posted that don't look quite as good. FWIW I've read that the image quality problems on the dimage x are due to the lens, not the image sensor, so these will carry over to the xi since the lens system is the same. If you look at the far right image in the second row here: http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/minolta/dimage_xi-review/preprod/gallery.html you can clearly see the vignetting (darkness in the corners).

mdhyc said:

• How many features are you able to control on Dimage Xi compare to

s230/ixus?

Click to expand...

I take back what I said in an earlier post, it looks like they have similar amounts of manual controls.

mdhyc said:

• What about pics in darkness? I've read marvellous things about

dark shots from the s230/ixus but no one about the Xi.

Click to expand...

One advantage the s230 has in darkness is an AF illumination light. This helps it focus more quickly and accurately in the dark. Something the xi does not have as mentioned in the new review over at http://www.dcresource.com

Whatever choice you make I'm sure you'll be happy as they're both excellent cameras. Let us know which one you choose, I'm curious to see what you pick!

Rob Greene

mdhyc said:

I really appreciate your answers...it's really hard to choose one
but i'll try to make up my mind for this christsmas and try to
decide between them...

...just a few things to think about:

• 2x optical zoom or 3x?

• Is it really true that most of Xi's images have some vignetting

and are a little soft? (i think i'm not able to realize that point,
i've seen akerman's pics and they look good to me)

• Some reviews talk about a "video camera look" on Dimage X's pics,

but i didn't find any review that confirmed this on Dimage Xi.

• How many features are you able to control on Dimage Xi compare to

s230/ixus?

• What about pics in darkness? I've read marvellous things about

dark shots from the s230/ixus but no one about the Xi.

• Finally, it seems that both (Canon ixus/s230 and Dimage Xi) have

the same price in Spain...so price isn't the clue.

...Well, i'll hope to take the right decision.

Thank you.

Marcos.

Click to expand...

Thank you very much...now i'm beginning to see the light...first i was absolutely crazy about the dimage X and Xi, but there are some features that change my point of view about those minolta cameras:

• Lens. Even though they suposse to be revolucionaries, i think the pics taken by them suffer from not really accurate sharpness, so in a word, they look a bit soft to me. And there's also the vignetting problem which seems not be resolute by minolta.

• Shutter. As long as you're not able to use it in manual mode, you loose a lot of possibilities in special conditions.

• White Balance. Although i can live without shutter control, i cannot live without a manual white balance control (as i've experienced a little in the video camera world, the white balance presets are not a great thing).

So now i'm close to take a decision, and the Canon takes some advantages in my mind, but i still have some doubts that i posted at the canon forum but i write down here in case you've got the solution:

• How does the AF illumination light works? (i mean..is it just a light that iluminates the object to help the camera focus? or is it another kind of technical means? is it really useful?

• Does the Canon s230 have a manual control over white balance (making your own), exposure and shutter speed or do they work on automatics presets?

Thank you,

Marcos (from Spain, Europe).

PS: i apologise for my english (needs to improve!) ; )