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Minolta F300 function Dial

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rgv523

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A while back I was going to get the Minolta F100 but it had a few minor faults such as nightshot noise etc. and I kept reading that it would turn on accidentally due to the 'loose' dial and damage the zoom motor. I thought it would be worth waiting a few months to see if Minolta would correct these shortcomings before I would purchase one. It seems my patience has been rewarded with the F300.

My only remaining concern being, does the camera still suffer from turning itself on or have they somehow 'fixed' this? I suspect not since I don't see any design changes in the dial, but maybe it's now stiffer. Is this really a serious problem? I am not too worried by it turning on, but if it damages the zoom as I have read in at least a couple of instances, then that is a major concern..

I also noticed an F200 offered outside the USA which has been redesigned and it will be interesting to see if this no longer suffers from this problem. Anyone know if we'll be getting that over here anytime soon? I don't see it listed on Minolta's USA website.

Thanks for your help in advance,

Conrad
 
Then you probably also know that the f100 that is relaesed today has indeed a new dial, looks the same though, that is much stiffer so it should prevent to turn itself on.

This has is also the case with f300 where they also redesigned the dial a little.

The f200 also has a stiffer dial.

I agree on that this is maybe not to much a big concern though if it happens it probably is since it broke the lens mechanism, there were also some talk, not confirmed though, about a firmware were the lens should feel contact, sounds a little to much but you never know?

I think f300 is great and that f200 gives alot for the money and that f100 probably is a superb cam.

The gap between f300 and f200 here in Sweden were also reduced by 100$ so it's not that hard to chose f300 instead.

SeYa/Ambrose... Cam F300 http://www.pbase.com/ambrosed
rgv523 said:
A while back I was going to get the Minolta F100 but it had a few
minor faults such as nightshot noise etc. and I kept reading that
it would turn on accidentally due to the 'loose' dial and damage
the zoom motor. I thought it would be worth waiting a few months to
see if Minolta would correct these shortcomings before I would
purchase one. It seems my patience has been rewarded with the F300.

My only remaining concern being, does the camera still suffer from
turning itself on or have they somehow 'fixed' this? I suspect not
since I don't see any design changes in the dial, but maybe it's
now stiffer. Is this really a serious problem? I am not too worried
by it turning on, but if it damages the zoom as I have read in at
least a couple of instances, then that is a major concern..

I also noticed an F200 offered outside the USA which has been
redesigned and it will be interesting to see if this no longer
suffers from this problem. Anyone know if we'll be getting that
over here anytime soon? I don't see it listed on Minolta's USA
website.

Thanks for your help in advance,

Conrad
Click to expand...
--
SeYa/Ambrose... Cam F300 http://www.pbase.com/ambrosed/macros
 
I have had a F200 here in the UK for about a month now. Not had any problems with it turning itself on at all. I was also worried when I first got the camera due to the concerns with the F100, but everything seems ok!

http://www.bootsandpaws.co.uk
Ambrose said:
rgv523 said:
A while back I was going to get the Minolta F100 but it had a few
minor faults such as nightshot noise etc. and I kept reading that
it would turn on accidentally due to the 'loose' dial and damage
the zoom motor. I thought it would be worth waiting a few months to
see if Minolta would correct these shortcomings before I would
purchase one. It seems my patience has been rewarded with the F300.

My only remaining concern being, does the camera still suffer from
turning itself on or have they somehow 'fixed' this? I suspect not
since I don't see any design changes in the dial, but maybe it's
now stiffer. Is this really a serious problem? I am not too worried
by it turning on, but if it damages the zoom as I have read in at
least a couple of instances, then that is a major concern..

I also noticed an F200 offered outside the USA which has been
redesigned and it will be interesting to see if this no longer
suffers from this problem. Anyone know if we'll be getting that
over here anytime soon? I don't see it listed on Minolta's USA
website.

Thanks for your help in advance,

Conrad
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
http://www.bootsandpaws.co.uk
 
Thanks,

This was the only real concern. I was comparing the Minolta to the Canon S230 and the new Canon S400 camera but from the sample images I have seen, I definitely prefer those of the Minolta. The Canon images seem a little soft to me. I know this is done so you can sharpen them up in imaging software, but for 'everday' use I don't want to be bothered with that.

Conrad
 
No, the images in the archive are not with the F200, and the odd couple on the miscellaneous page are not, sorry if I have given the impression that they are all taken with the F200.
Janne Puonti said:
Nicky Griffiths said:
I have had a F200 here in the UK for about a month now. Not had any
problems with it turning itself on at all. I was also worried when
I first got the camera due to the concerns with the F100, but
everything seems ok!

http://www.bootsandpaws.co.uk
Click to expand...
Am I correct in assuming that the images displayed on your website
have all been taken with the F200?
Click to expand...
--
http://www.bootsandpaws.co.uk
 
Nicky Griffiths said:
No, the images in the archive are not with the F200, and the odd
couple on the miscellaneous page are not, sorry if I have given the
impression that they are all taken with the F200.
Click to expand...
No no, you didn't really imply one way or another. I just made the assumption that since you talked about the F200, they might all be taken with it :)

Still, apart from the few you listed above, the rest are with the F200? They look pretty good to me :) Have you ever taken any shots of the nightsky with the F200? (stars, moonlit clouds, etc - not citylights).
 
Yes, I think all the others are with the F200, i have posted a couple of trial night images for you to see taken tonight, they are full size though!

http://www.bootsandpaws.co.uk/PICT0011.JPG

http://www.bootsandpaws.co.uk/PICT0017.JPG

Are these the kind of thing you mean?
Janne Puonti said:
Nicky Griffiths said:
No, the images in the archive are not with the F200, and the odd
couple on the miscellaneous page are not, sorry if I have given the
impression that they are all taken with the F200.
Click to expand...
No no, you didn't really imply one way or another. I just made the
assumption that since you talked about the F200, they might all be
taken with it :)

Still, apart from the few you listed above, the rest are with the
F200? They look pretty good to me :) Have you ever taken any shots
of the nightsky with the F200? (stars, moonlit clouds, etc - not
citylights).
Click to expand...
--
http://www.bootsandpaws.co.uk
 
Nicky Griffiths said:
Yes, I think all the others are with the F200, i have posted a
couple of trial night images for you to see taken tonight, they are
full size though!

http://www.bootsandpaws.co.uk/PICT0011.JPG

http://www.bootsandpaws.co.uk/PICT0017.JPG

Are these the kind of thing you mean?
Click to expand...
The nightsky photo is exactly what I meant, and the outdoor light's an added extra!

The reason for this "test" was the fact that I've seen some stunning night skies but never had a camera to take a picture of them. There was this one night last year when the moon was full and the clouds so thin that you could see the moon perfectly through them (and the clouds nearby were really glowing). I so wish I had had something to take a picture of that back then :)

Hence, whatever camera I end up with had better take usable nightsky pictures. I think the F200 did well - there's some noise in the picture (as I expected), but it's not too bad. Plus, NeatImage seems to get rid of it well enough.

I wonder if it's safe to assume that the F300 would be capable of similar results?

And thanks for your help, it's appreciated!
 
Not really nightsky more early in the evening when the sun goes down.

Last three photos at:

http://www.pbase.com/ambrosed/minolta_dimage_f300_examples&page=2

SeYa/Ambrose... Cam F300 http://www.pbase.com/ambrosed
Janne Puonti said:
Nicky Griffiths said:
Yes, I think all the others are with the F200, i have posted a
couple of trial night images for you to see taken tonight, they are
full size though!

http://www.bootsandpaws.co.uk/PICT0011.JPG

http://www.bootsandpaws.co.uk/PICT0017.JPG

Are these the kind of thing you mean?
Click to expand...
The nightsky photo is exactly what I meant, and the outdoor light's
an added extra!

The reason for this "test" was the fact that I've seen some
stunning night skies but never had a camera to take a picture of
them. There was this one night last year when the moon was full and
the clouds so thin that you could see the moon perfectly through
them (and the clouds nearby were really glowing). I so wish I had
had something to take a picture of that back then :)

Hence, whatever camera I end up with had better take usable
nightsky pictures. I think the F200 did well - there's some noise
in the picture (as I expected), but it's not too bad. Plus,
NeatImage seems to get rid of it well enough.

I wonder if it's safe to assume that the F300 would be capable of
similar results?

And thanks for your help, it's appreciated!
Click to expand...
--
SeYa/Ambrose... Cam F300 http://www.pbase.com/ambrosed/macros
 
Yes it saves EXIF data too, I just downsize the images in photoshop and lose that information but I'll update them with the exif info if your intrested.

Guess I should do that anyway, that's half of the point with this, right :)

I'll see if I got time tonight.

SeYa/Ambrose... Cam F300 http://www.pbase.com/ambrosed
Janne Puonti said:
Ambrose said:
Not really nightsky more early in the evening when the sun goes down.

Last three photos at:

http://www.pbase.com/ambrosed/minolta_dimage_f300_examples&page=2

SeYa/Ambrose... Cam F300 http://www.pbase.com/ambrosed
Click to expand...
Thank you for these shots :)

For some reason your pictures don't have EXIF data in them, while
Nicky's did? Doesn't the F300 save EXIF data into JPEGs?
Click to expand...
--
SeYa/Ambrose... Cam F300 http://www.pbase.com/ambrosed/macros
 
Ambrose said:
Yes it saves EXIF data too, I just downsize the images in photoshop
and lose that information but I'll update them with the exif info
if your intrested.

Guess I should do that anyway, that's half of the point with this,
right :)
Click to expand...
[snip]

If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to take a peek at that EXIF info. It's a learning experience :)
 
Ok, added the Exif info to all pictures, enjoy!

and please let me know if I missed anyone!?

SeYa/Ambrose... Cam F300 http://www.pbase.com/ambrosed
Janne Puonti said:
Ambrose said:
Yes it saves EXIF data too, I just downsize the images in photoshop
and lose that information but I'll update them with the exif info
if your intrested.

Guess I should do that anyway, that's half of the point with this,
right :)
Click to expand...
[snip]

If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to take a peek at that EXIF
info. It's a learning experience :)
Click to expand...
--
SeYa/Ambrose... Cam F300 http://www.pbase.com/ambrosed/macros
 
I haven't handled the f100, so I can't say the f300 function dial is any different. But with the f300 that I have.... the off position has a definate position that it "clicks" into, and needs a decent amount of direct force to get it to turn on. I've been carrying it in the supplied sport case and a thin cloth case(this one used when carrying in dockers pant pocket) without any problem of it turning on.
 
I had S400 and have F200.
Suggestion: buy the Canon.
Why?

Because of the poor low-light performance, the extremely high noise from ISO200 in the F200.
Believe me, you won't regret it.

I know that Minolta has sharper images, that's why I made the change too. But this thing can be corrected in editors, the high noise CAN'T. At least, it blurres the result image.
So, get the S400, S45/S50 instead, or wait for the A80 as I do.
Luppa
rgv523 said:
A while back I was going to get the Minolta F100 but it had a few
minor faults such as nightshot noise etc. and I kept reading that
it would turn on accidentally due to the 'loose' dial and damage
the zoom motor. I thought it would be worth waiting a few months to
see if Minolta would correct these shortcomings before I would
purchase one. It seems my patience has been rewarded with the F300.

My only remaining concern being, does the camera still suffer from
turning itself on or have they somehow 'fixed' this? I suspect not
since I don't see any design changes in the dial, but maybe it's
now stiffer. Is this really a serious problem? I am not too worried
by it turning on, but if it damages the zoom as I have read in at
least a couple of instances, then that is a major concern..

I also noticed an F200 offered outside the USA which has been
redesigned and it will be interesting to see if this no longer
suffers from this problem. Anyone know if we'll be getting that
over here anytime soon? I don't see it listed on Minolta's USA
website.

Thanks for your help in advance,

Conrad
Click to expand...
 
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