Minolta F100

[Bill Carcot]

I am new to this board and would appreciate any comments you can share. I am looking for a new digital camera (I have a 3 year old, 1 megapixel, H/P camera) I've been reading the reviews on several digital camera boards and have my selection narrowed down to: Minolta F100, Fujifilm 3800 and the Sony P7. I really like the features of the Fuji 3800 (6x zoom, electronic thru the lense viewfinder, etc.) but am not sure if I am going to like lugging a big camera around.

If I could get some opinions on the 3 cameras', especially the Minolta F100. I am basically a point and shoot guy but want to become a better picture taker so am hoping these cameras will fill both ends of my wish list. Thanks in advance for your comments!

[markiemark]

As an owner of the F100 for the past 3 months, I can only comment on this 1 camera, but there are a couple of points worth making:

I grew out of my old Fuji 1400 very quickly, desiring a greater level of photographic control. As someone who is 80% point and shoot but 20% 'true photographer', I have found the unrivalled range of manual controls (for a compact) a joy, and the camera's truly growing with me.

The images themselves are very good to excellent, save the indoor flash shots (The flash is underpowered).

See plenty of example pix and videos at full resolution on my pages at www.photopix.co.uk

[Deepsteep]

I, myself, had to make the same decision some weeks ago although I had some more digicams to decide between.
I went with the Sony DSC-P7 for the following reasons:

Minolta F100:
pro:
- manual exposure modes
cons:
- no AF assist lamp
- a little bit slow
- batteries won't last very long
- no low-light noise reduction system

Sony DSC-P7 (in comparison)
pro:
- better build quality
- AF assist lamp
- InfoLithium may be today's best battery system for digicams
- good working low-light noise reduction system
- excellent 'look and feel'
cons:
- ridiculous software package (I immediately bought Photoshop Elements after I had the camera)
- memory sticks a little expensive but prices will drop 1st quarter 2003

For a good review (well, only the second best one after Steve's DigiCams ) go here: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/P7/P7A.HTM