Review of Minolta Maxxum 5 SLR Camera
Written: Apr 26 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
| Photo Quality: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Light weight,Reasonable Price,Fast Auto-focus, Fast shutter, Excellent Metering system
Cons: Expensive Accessories, Battery Life could be better, Eye Start Focus system
The Bottom Line: Compared to Canon and Pentax, I believe the Minolta Maxxum 5 provides more features and the same quality at a reasonable price.
|
|
|
| ghicker's Full Review: Konica Minolta Dynax 5 35mm Film Camera |
Why I bought the Minolta Maxxum 5
For the last 7-10 years, I have been using a compact 35 mm camera. While the compact designs are convenient, they also have their problems. For example, the flashes are too close to the lens, resulting in many red eye pictures. Additionally, what you see in the view finder is not always what you end up with in the pictures.
So after years of frustrations with the compact cameras, I decided to return to the SLR camera. I performed extensive research on the Internet looking for the "right" camera. I finally decided to purchase the Minolta Maxxum 5 35mm SLR camera. I have been using the Minolta Maxxum 5 for the last ten months and I am very pleased with the performance.
Features
The auto-focus has to be one of the fastest auto-focus system's I have ever seen. The Minolta Maxxum 5 has an "eye start" system that uses a series of metal bands on the camera's handle to sense your fingers picking it up and then sensors near the eyepiece to sense that your eye is close to the viewfinder. By the time your eye is at the view finder the camera has already begun focusing. I can pick up my Minolta Maxxum 5 and snap a picture faster than I can with any of my old point and shoot compact cameras.
After a few weeks of using the "eye start" auto-focus system, I did turn it off. While the speed of the focusing system is great, it also annoying. In many cases, the auto focusing would begin before I had even lined up the camera for the picture. The noise of the auto-focus system constantly making adjustments was just too much.
The Maxxum 5 has several quick settings similar to a point a shoot that allow you to select portrait, landscape, close up, fast action, or night portraits with a single button. While I prefer to control my own settings using the manual overrides of a camera, I find the quick settings work very well on the Minolta producing the desired results with little work.
I have also been very impressed by the pop-up flash on the Maxxum 5 camera. I have taken several pictures using the pop-up flash and I have not had any red eyes.
Quality
I believe the Maxxum 5 produces professional quality pictures. I have used the Maxxum 5 in a professional studio with studio lighting and the pictures are perfect. The colors are crisp and the images are clean. I have several 8 x 10 pictures that look as good as any professional studio pictures.
Accessories
One of the advantages of buying a 35 mm SLR camera are the many accessories that are available. The 28-80 zoom that comes with the camera is adequate for most conditions, but I decided to add the 75-300 zoom. I also purchased the Minolta 3800HS (D) flash for my Maxxum 5. All of the accessories I have bought work very nice with the camera, and the quality is outstanding. Unfortunately, there are few people making accessories for the Maxxum camera line, which forces you to buy from Minolta. Some of the accessories are as expensive or more expensive than the camera.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a quality camera at a reasonable price, I believe the Maxxum 5 is the right camera. It has faster shutter speeds than many cameras at the same price and the auto-focus system is unbelievably fast (even with eye start turned off). Considering the size of the camera, it is reasonably light, which allows you to take pictures without wearing yourself out. The Minolta Maxxum 5 is easy to use and produces quality pictures.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 369.99
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
ghicker
|
|
Location: St. Louis, MO
Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Professional in the computer industry and semi-professional photographer
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.