minolta dynax 800si review

Have a picture of Minolta Dynax 800si 35mm SLR camera?, please send it to us.
Picture courtesy of Camera man.

Average Ratings

Photograph Quality	8/10
Features	9/10
Ease of Use	7/10
Value for Money	9/10
Reviewer Rating	8.6/10
Overall Rating	8.7/10

86% Recommended6 out of 7 Reviews

• Overview
• Reviews
• Write your review
• Ask a Question

By Garland. on 22nd Jun 2003

Garland.'s Ratings

Features	8/10
Value for money	8/10
Overall value	7/10
Garland.'s recommendation

Good Points

• Good ergonomics.


• Excellent Honeycomb metering; nice narrow, well-marked spot metering area.


• Multipoint AF performs well in dim light, thanks in no small part to body-integral the near-infrared AF assist light.


• Relatively powerful built-in flash


• Ability to memorize and quickly recall 3 sets of preferred settings streamlines use of the pushbutton-heavy user interface.


• Standard PC socket.


• Well-placed DOF preview control.


• Ability to record technical data, though in camera memory rather than on film.


• Optional vertical grip takes AAs and features a full set of duplicate controls.


• Big, bright finder image.


• TTL wireless control for multiple flash setups

Bad Points

• Plastic exterior housing feels brittle and relatively cheap for this class of camera.


• Lack of a cross-type sensor occasionally leaves the AF hunting unless you use the wide area AF, in which case the system sometimes will lock focus on whatever it can rather than what you intended.


• Top deck LCD lights automatically in "low light," though in practice it lights a good of the time, wasting precious battery power. A dedicated switch would have been a better solution.


• Eats batteries.


• Finder image only sharp across the field when looking directly through the central portion of the viewfinder.


• An unfortunate consequence of Minolta's ultrabright focusing screen design is strange-looking out of focus highlights with bright, distracting centers. Luckily, things record normally on film


• Push button operating system, though somewhat mitigated by the 3 memory settings, can otherwise really slow you down at just the wrong times.

General Comments

I loved this camera's feature set and appreciated its mostly-expemplary ergonomics. The relatively unsophisticated AF system, with its three single-line sensors proved fairly capable in most circumstances of delivering proper focus, though there were quite a few instances, particularly in bright ambient light where the AF assist light was rendered ineffective, when focus either couldn't be achieved or was improperly set. Minolta's AE metering system, however, remains among the best, returning consistently well-exposed negatives and slides. For tough situations, there's the option of the nicely delineated spot meter for selective readings. The built-in motordrive is also capable of sufficient sequencing for non-professional shooters.

Where the camera misses the mark, depending on one's preferences, is in its controls. The pushbutton user interface forces you to bring the camera from eye-level to consult the LCD panel as you implement the often two-handed sequence to change many settings. Obviously realizing this flawed legacy from the 700si, Minolta expanded that camera's single memory setting to three for the 800si (which is essentially an ugrade of the 700si), although even this is little consolation at those times when the situation calls for a quick change to a configuration other than what you've been able to anticipate. Also dubious is the LCD illumination, which rather than having its own dedicated on/off switch, lights "automatically," which in the case of my particular 800si (which had at least one electronic gremlin) meant any time I pressed the shutter release. Granted, when you need it, a lighted LCD is great, but Minolta's implementation here is terribly flawed as it no doubt contributes, if not single-handedly creates, a power-hungry camera. I managed only 11 24-exposure rolls on a fresh 2CR5 with minimal "fiddling." The electronic "gremlin" I previously mentioned is that, when held on end for verticals, the camera's viewfinder LCD display would deactivate the moment I took my finger off the shutter release, making it at best painful to meter in the manual mode. Perhaps the source of this malfunction also contributed to the high battery drain, and my camera was not representative of other 800si's in this regard.

For Minolta AF enthusiasts, only the new Maxxums 7 and 9 offer more sheer performance and versatility than the 800si, though neither approaches its empirical value. However, anyone, particulary SLR neophytes, considering entry into the Minolta Maxxum system, those pricier Maxxums-as well as the Maxxum 5 and, in the used market, the trend-setting 600si, though at the expense of some features-offer far superior controllability by virture of their simplified dial-and-lever control systems and more sophisticated AF systems. The newest Maxxums also offer improved flash exposure control through the integration of distance information provided by the latest generation of Minolta "D" and professional "G" AF lenses. If you're newby without a system preference (or, some might say, prejudice), there are equally fine performing, fully featured cameras without the operational quirks and compromises in either the Canon or Nikon system, both with arguably superior, more extensive lens lines.

Total Respect: 0