D'image 7 dead?

[Jonas]

Talked to Minolta Sweden today. According to them, they had the specs in their hands and they where going to be released next week (friday today... cant wait)

No dates of availability of cameras where know, but they sounded unsure about if cameras would be availible next week also.
So they cant be half a year away I hope

Jonas

Looks like they've pulled the links from the minolta.com sites.

Anybody know anything different? I was interested in that camera as
a possible next digital cam...
--



http://www.tdphoto.com
-Tony Donaldson

 

[Terry Sessford]

Dietmar,

The reply I had from Minolta definitely said that the DiMAGE 7 will be the first of the new releases.

Dietmar

Popular Photography, May issue, page 65,
reports that Dimage 7 ($ 1500-2000) and Dimage 5 (under $ 1000)
will be shipping by early fall. The source is Minolta reps at the
PMA show.

I contacted Minolta (in the UK) just a couple of days ago and was
told that:

"Further details of the specifications will follow late in May
2001, with the products being on general sale through the Summer.
DiMAGE 7 will be the first of the models to become available."

So it looks like further details will be announced within the next
couple of weeks and that the camera will be in the shops before
August. This is for the UK, but I would be very surprised if the
USA release date was later than the UK!

 

[Terry Sessford]

Mike,

In fact Minolta replied (by email) extremely quickly to my initial request for information (same day if I recall correctly).

Further, in my reply I stated that before I could make a buying decision about the DiMAGE 7, I would need to see a detailed review of the camera and I specifically mentioned this website -- I recommended that Minolta gets a review camera into Phil's hands as soon as possible for review. And Minolta UK replied (within about 20 minutes of me sending my email!!):

"... we have been in communication with Phil Askey for some time now. He will be fully briefed shortly and will I am sure be posting his valued comments on his site when the embargo is lifted."

So there you go ... the message seems to be 'watch this space' for more details very soon.

I should add that in 30 odd years of camera ownership I have never owned a Minolta (owned Zenith, Pentax, Canon, Nikon etc) and have never previously had any communication with Minolta , but certainly here in the UK they seem pretty responsive and helpful, so I very much look forward to reading Phil's review of the DiMAGE 7.

I contacted Minolta (in the UK) just a couple of days ago and was
told that:
"Further details of the specifications will follow late in May
2001, with the products being on general sale through the Summer.
DiMAGE 7 will be the first of the models to become available."

Will wonders never cease? I couldn't pry even that much information
out of Minolta's U.S. west-coast office...and the fellow with whom
I spoke couldn't even tell me WHY he couldn't tell me anything. I
might have added "" after that remark, under other
circumstances. But Minolta's information-hiding game is becoming
extremely irritating. I guess they are willing to gamble--if they
play the game too long, they are liable to lose sales to the E-10.

 

[MikeA]

Perhaps they have a Very Grand Plan. Or perhaps they are merely confused, waiting to see what the market wants. Two years or so before the introduction of an Olympus interchangeable-lens digital SLR system. In market terms, that's quite a while.

Minolta could take the lead--but I keep wondering if the camera-design concept represented by the Pro 90IS, C2100, E-100RS, E-10, and now Dimage 7, isn't a temporary step on the way to affordable interchangeable-lens units. (But perhaps not, if the interchangeable-lens units remain at the pricing level of, say, the Canon D30.)

I think most dc-s are more or less premature. The rush of course,
is to be ahead of competition. Now it seams Minolta will take the
lead for a while, with the good range zoom. But after all, things
seem to have slowed down a bit: Nikon have placed their, not
revolutionary bets, Canon has its latest offers with nothing
spectacular in sight, Sonys new realease is the 75, Fujis next
generation, due in june, is 3 MP, 35-210.

 

[MikeA]

"... we have been in communication with Phil Askey for some time
now. He will be fully briefed shortly and will I am sure be posting
his valued comments on his site when the embargo is lifted."

So there you go ... the message seems to be 'watch this space' for
more details very soon.

So...it would appear the company, in both Sweden and the UK, has been fairly responsive -- quite different from their responsiveness in the USA, where they might as well be saying "Cameras? Do we make cameras? Well, thanks for calling, anyway.". It seems as if new systems appear on the shelves across the Pond before they appear here, and perhaps this general difference is reflected in their responsiveness to customers across the Pond as well.

Thanks for the additional information. If Mr. Askey gets a production unit for review, that would be downright COOOOOOOL.

I should add that in 30 odd years of camera ownership I have never
owned a Minolta

I haven't, either. Friends, however, speak highly of the quality of Minolta lenses. I couldn't fault them for their light-meters, of which I've owned two professional models. Very high quality.

Well, Mr. Askey: now I guess we should be transferring all of the blame for continued radio silence onto you .

 

[MikeA]

suffer the wait in silence. (And perhaps a bit comes from folks who
claim to have seen non-existent full-page ads for the camera, ahem.)

[mumble...talking to myself again...mumble]

Duh, Mike. The fellow is a subscriber and saw an ad in an issue available before the copies hit the newstands.

 

[Canuckyopteryx]

Peace be with you.

From Phil's comments in another forum, I think your pain in terms of information about upcoming Minolta digicams, will soon be over.

DT

suffer the wait in silence. (And perhaps a bit comes from folks who
claim to have seen non-existent full-page ads for the camera, ahem.)

[mumble...talking to myself again...mumble]

Duh, Mike. The fellow is a subscriber and saw an ad in an issue
available before the copies hit the newstands.

 

[Canuckyopteryx]

On the other hand, if Phil is "heavily involved" with Minolta products right now, that means he doesn't have time to look at the Fuji 6900Z which I assume is also coming soon, and which I would like to compare to the D'image 5.

Either one will give me something exciting to read I suspect.

DT

 

[MikeA]

Peace be with you.

Who knows . . . there might be some appropriate pharmaceuticals to assist with this sort of psychopathology. I will call the druggist.

From Phil's comments in another forum, I think your pain in terms
of information about upcoming Minolta digicams, will soon be over.

Aha...I must find that message...note to self...call to druggist can wait...

 

[Canuckyopteryx]

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1000&page=1&message=1092880

There you go. Note he doesn't name any model names, but still....room for hope!

DT