On September 10th at Seybold SF Minolta revealed the new black bodied DiMAGE 7Hi. Clearly another refresh of the original DiMAGE 7 design the 7Hi builds on the 7i's feature set and adds a considerable range of improvements. These improvements are designed to push the camera higher up the prosumer category with some unique features which we would only expect to see in a D-SLR. Apart from the obvious colour change there are plenty of internal improvements, buffer space has been increased to deliver more continuous shooting 'depth' (number of shots before the buffer fills), there's a new finer JPEG mode and notably the camera now supports selectable colour space in-camera and can even embedded the ICC profile into the JPEG header.
These new features do however come at a price, the DiMAGE 7Hi has a list price of $1,299, that's $300 more than it's earlier sibling the DiMAGE 7i. The big question now is are those few new features and increased buffer space worth the extra $300 and how does the 7Hi stack up against the competition. We'll try to answer those questions in this review.
Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi vs. DiMAGE 7i (differences only)
Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi | Minolta DiMAGE 7i | |
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List price | $1,299 | $999 |
Body finish | Matt black (mottled effect) | Silver 'alloy' |
Hand grip | Soft rubber coated | Plastic |
Image formats | RAW Super Fine (TIFF) Extra Fine (JPEG) Fine (JPEG) Standard (JPEG) |
RAW Super Fine (TIFF) Fine (JPEG) Standard (JPEG) Basic (JPEG) |
Timed slow shutter | Timed up to 15 secs * Bulb up to 30 secs * Depends on selected ISO |
Timed up to 4 secs Bulb up to 30 secs |
Max shutter speed | Program AE : 1/4000 sec Aperture Priority: 1/4000 sec Shutter Priority: 1/2000 sec Manual: 1/2000 sec |
All: 1/2000 sec |
White Balance | Auto Daylight Tungsten Fluorescent 1 Fluorescent 2 Cloudy Manual preset (1, 2, 3) |
Auto Daylight Tungsten Fluorescent Cloudy Manual preset (custom) |
Continuous drive | UHS - 7 fps @ 1280 x 960 High-continuous - 3 fps (9 frames*) Continuous - 2 fps (9 frames*) * At 2560 x 1920 resolution |
UHS - 7 fps @ 1280 x 960 Continuous - 3 fps (3 frames*) * At 2560 x 1920 resolution |
Color modes | Natural colour (sRGB) Vivid colour (sRGB) B&W (neutral or toned) Solarization Adobe RGB |
Vivid Colour Natural Colour B&W Solarization |
Embedded profile | Yes, optional embedded ICC profile | No |
Quick View mode | View last image Browse images (single / thumbs) View histogram / exposure info Magnify image Delete image |
View last image Browse images (single / thumbs) View histogram / exposure info Delete image |
Default settings | Pro-Auto button Pro-Auto Undo is available |
Pro-Auto button |
Compliance | Print Image Matching II
ExifPrint (EXIF 2.2) |
Print Image Matching ExifPrint (EXIF 2.2) |
Custom controls |
Memory Recall: Function Dial
/ DSP button Control Dial (M mode): Shutter Speed / Aperture Manual shift: On / Off Bracketing: DEC control / Exposure Color Profile: No / Embedded Delete confirmation: "Yes" / "No" |
None |
External flash | PC Sync terminal Minolta Hot-shoe |
Minolta Hot-shoe |
Review notes
Because of the 7Hi's similarity to the 7i much of the first half of this review (body design / operation / display) is based on the 7i review.
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