I have now had the F100 for about 3-4 months. I use it as my travel camera as I also have a Sony 707, but this is a bit bulky to carry. When I purchased the camera there were a number of characteristics that were important; pixel count, storage media (SD for a slot that's on my laptop) and battery life and availability. So far I like the camera and the pictures that I get from it a quite nice. I have noted some noise in the night shots that has been mentioned by others. It is sturdy and I like the all metal body, that gives it a sense of permanance that is not evident in a lot of plastic bodied cameras. I do quite often get complements on the camera for it's size, pixel count and general look. It has a good feature set with some manual controls which I occasionally use, but if I am in a hurry to get a shot I usually use the auto mode(s) and just adjust the EV. The auto scene selection works some of time and it is hard to tell just what will trigger it's selection, though it is no bother make a selection manually. The camera has what I think is an awesome feature set considering it's size and price. When I see other cameras that might be more capable than this one I have to remember that those cameras cost $1-200 more.
Problems:
The shortcomings that found are pretty similar to what other people have found: The selector knob needs the detents to be a little deeper to keep from actuating the camera. Slow Start up, this is probaby the biggest hassle, though if you let the camera shutdown in battery saving mode it doesn't take too long for it to restart, though you do have the lens sticking out. It would be nice to have a variable step zoom. The viewfinder is a bit small and is not too representative of your actual shot area. It would also be nice if the LCD screen was a little bigger.
Some of these shortcomings are probably sacrifices to keep the cost down so you really can't complain too much.
Use the CRV-3 batteries that are available, life is pretty good and it is easier than fooling around with rechargeables which don't seem to last that long.
Any problems with photos (not many that I have had) can be quickly cleaned up with DCAutoEnhance which has some presets for some Minolta cameras.
Otherwise the camera seems pretty good and I am satisfied with the purchase.
Problems:
The shortcomings that found are pretty similar to what other people have found: The selector knob needs the detents to be a little deeper to keep from actuating the camera. Slow Start up, this is probaby the biggest hassle, though if you let the camera shutdown in battery saving mode it doesn't take too long for it to restart, though you do have the lens sticking out. It would be nice to have a variable step zoom. The viewfinder is a bit small and is not too representative of your actual shot area. It would also be nice if the LCD screen was a little bigger.
Some of these shortcomings are probably sacrifices to keep the cost down so you really can't complain too much.
Use the CRV-3 batteries that are available, life is pretty good and it is easier than fooling around with rechargeables which don't seem to last that long.
Any problems with photos (not many that I have had) can be quickly cleaned up with DCAutoEnhance which has some presets for some Minolta cameras.
Otherwise the camera seems pretty good and I am satisfied with the purchase.