Product Review: Minolta DiMAGE F300 Digital Camera

Minolta's most famous line of digital cameras is the DiMAGE series, with camera's ranging from lower end consumer compact cameras to high end prosumer cameras. The cameras are aimed at all parts of the market, and while not as famous as brands such as Kodak and Canon, Minolta is not a cheap brand.

A point and shoot in the DiMAGE line up, the F300 is a small, durable, and compact digital camera. It is small enough to slip in a pocket, and is meant for shooters in need of a portable, all purpose camera.

Body

The body of this camera isn't the most stylish, and looks quite matter-of-fact and ready to take on business. It is perfectly rectangular, with 90-degree corners and a silver, metal body. The back of the camera has the distinct Minolta design, with a dark gray plastic around the LCD and the navigation button.

The screen is smaller than what you would find on top of the line modern cameras, but is bright and easy to see. The lens is a zoom lens type, and recesses into the body of the camera when it's shut off.

The battery and SD card covers are located on the side of the camera, while a mode dial and shutter button are located on the top of the unit. The flash and a logo are located on the front of the device, to the left of the lens.

Features

The Minolta F300 digital camera features a five megapixel CCD sensor, which is more than enough for average, every day use and prints. It has 3x optical zoom, five mode settings plus auto, and ISO upto 400.

There's a movie mode that can record up to 320 x 240 for a maximum of three minutes, and audio recording that can be assigned to a photo if you'd like. The photos can be adjusted to black and white or vivid color.

The camera features red eye reduction and night portrait mode for ideal photos.

Photo Quality

The photos taken with the Minolta F300 are surprisingly clear and saturated, while maintaining accurate colors and low noise. Shots look very nice, and like something that would come from a higher end prosumer versus a consumer point and shoot.

Conclusion

For the price this camera can be bought at , and the high image quality, you can't complain. The photos are sharp, accurate, and clean, and the noise level is low.

If you're primarily a day-time shooter and a still object photographer, this camera would be a wonderful addition to your camera collection.