Having read Popular Photography’s “buyer’s guide”:http://www.popphoto.com/article.asp?section_id=2&article_id=780 I am now more confused than ever. It “singles out”:http://www.popphoto.com/assets/download/12182003163311.pdf the camera I wanted saying, ‘The Minolta DiMAGE Xt is a wonderful little 3.2MP camera, full of fun features. But for just about the same money these days, you can get Minoltas DiMAGE S414, a standard compact with all the Xts features and moreas well as a full 4MP of resolving power.’ It’s true that the S414 – “reviewed here”:http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/cameraDetail.php?cam=460 – is about the same price with an extra MP of resolution (and seems cheaper than competing 4MP cameras) but is it cheaper for a reason? Having looked at dozens of reviews for different cameras I don’t know what to think any more…
And practical though it might be, it lacks the ‘coo what a neat little camera’ factor as well.
In that price range, if you hunt around you can get the G3 or the A80, both Canon. Definitely prefer those to the Minoltas. I personally own a Canon G3, you can check its quality and range of options at http://www.vritti.net/mt/photo
Comment by Abhimanyu Chirimar — 22 December 2003 @ 4:53 am
Well, I don’t know what the prices in the sales will be like but at the moment the A80 costs about £50/$90 more than the Minolta. I think I will wait to see if any bargains come up in the post-Xmas sales…
Comment by David Brake — 22 December 2003 @ 12:25 pm