Customers Reviews
2010-02-19
bad battery, great pictures
I had one of these before upgrading to a Canon PowerShot SD1000. I just recently went back and compared photos from the two and found the Minolta photos to be much more clear and crisp and with beautiful color saturation. I had the same issue with the short battery life and found that using regular alkaline batteries worked better. It seems the batteries drain even with the camera turned off. I verified this by removing the batteries after every use for a time, finding they lasted much longer by doing this. I don't recall indoor picture quality, but Canon isn't all that great indoors either. Besides the battery issue though, I couldn't believe how much better the Minolta photos were than my Canon's at half the price. Of course, the Canon is far superior in every other way and does take nice pictures.
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2009-08-20
Great little camera!
I can't believe there are so many negative reviews about this camera. I've had mine for three years, and I love it.
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2008-12-09
You Can Get a Better Camera for Less Money
I asked for a Konica Minolta DiMage G600 for Christmas two or three years ago, and I got this instead. I had specifically asked for the G600 due to it's manual exposure capabilities, which this camera lacks. The person who got it for me refused to give me the information I needed to return the camera. Luckily, someone less inept got me the correct camera for my birthday.
This summer, however, that camera was stolen, and I was forced to use the e500. I got to rediscover all over again what a terrible gift it was. It boasts a Burst mode.. and that's about all I can say for it. In low light, the flash misfires, or the pictures come out extremely overexposed. It takes it a good 2 seconds AFTER you hit the shutter for it to actually capture an image. The pictures are extremely low quality, regardless of whether you put it on the highest or lowest quality settings. It's a tiny plasticy little gadget, that feels like a toy in your hands, and apparently is just as fragile. And there's no viewfinder, so when the LCD screen broke after being left in a cold car over night, that was it for the camera.
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2008-07-30
Try Something Else
This overall, is not a really great camera. You can probably find a better value for your money elsewhere. I just wanted something to take out to the bars and get pictures with my friends, and it was always a hassle getting it to actually take the picture. No matter what setting (night was the worst), you need to hold the button down for 2-5 seconds before it flashes. Everyone would end up breaking their smile by the time it took. Also, not it's fault, but I didn't realize it took AA batteries; it wasn't a Lithium Ion battery. If the camera was NOT EVEN ON, it would drain the batteries. It would literally drain the batteries within a day if they were in the camera, no matter if it was on or off. I did a workaround by placing one battery in the wrong way. As you can imagine, going to the bars and constantly flipping one battery was not my ideal camera.
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2008-05-06
It works for me, even after hitting the highway at 55mph
I bought this camera a few years ago but, after my recent experience with it, decided to write a review.
I never had battery issues, as I started off right away with AA Nimh rechargeables. I don't know why anyone would use anything but rechargeables nowdays.
I've found the camera easy to use. The only things I don't like are the macro feature is useless, there's no viewfinder, and the microphone for video is useless.
Having said that, we were in Minneapolis after Easter and, while loading up the car, I put the camera on the roof so I could have hands free to put the bags in. About two miles down the road, going 60mph, I heard something rattling on the roof. The camera! I started to slow down, and, in the rear view mirror, saw a silver flash as the camera flew off the roof. More silver flashes as it hit the pavement and lay in the middle of the lane with cars whizzing over it.
We turned off on a frontage road and went around, expecting the worst. Fortunately, no one had run over it. The batteries were gone, although we did find one in the ditch. The SD card was halfway out and the zoom button was also missing. I put fresh batteries in it, pushed the SD card back in, closed it up and turned it on...It still worked! It still takes great pics, although I have to use a pin to push the zoom contacts in or out.
This is one tough little camera.
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