Summary: From the mind of Minolta!

Comment: How can you go wrong with this serious body from MINOLTA. It's got it all except mirror lock. For those who have a problem with the manual focus get a new presciption for your eyes or adjust the diopter dial by the view finder. This camera is now my work horse for all sorts of photography. Coupled with the 5400HS and a vertical grip it can be powerful and lethal piece of photographic equipment. I have always gotten razor sharp images without the autofocus being a problem at all. It also has the most powerful pop-up flash than any other camera of equivalent caliber. And for those of you who feel that the semi-pro bodies should not have a pop up flash, well its to trigger other flash in the wireless mode- Does your camera do this?. This camera has a lot of features that other cameras can't or have failed to deliver. This is the best bang for your bucks. Good luck in creating your images.

The Camera fits my hand well, especially using the optional verticle control grip, and is very nice to hold and carry, besides the fact that she is a beauty.

The camera is also a workhorse, and battery life is good.

Summary: Minolta Magic

Comment: An excellent camera for serious amateurs or professionals. It can be used as a "point and shoot" guaranteeing good results every time even for beginners. However creative you are with your photography this camera meets your needs every time with an impressive array of modes and functions. A quality, easy to use and easy to understand camera.

Summary: Excellent SLR!

Comment: I am an advanced amateur. I have been shooting with this camera for about 9 months. I also own the Minolta XTsi. The 800si greatly out-performs the XTsi. The features are too numerous to count, and no one could ever learn them all. This camera is probably a bit advanced and pretty overwhelming for a beginner. I added a Minolta VC-700 to my 800si. Its the vertical control grip. Lets you use 4 AA batteries instead of the costly 2CR5. The VC-700 also makes the camera's width and height almost the same while adding an extra shutter release thats in the upper right hand corner when you are shooting vertically. I recently added the 5400HS flash as well. All I can say is AMAZING. Many pros use Nikon, but I think Minolta is just as good if not better. This is a great camera at a great price, but a word of advice--shop around, camera equipment prices vary greatly.

Summary: Get what you pay for, buy this.

Comment: You've heard it said that, "It's not the Camera, it's the photographer". Well this Camera let's the photgrapher be as creative as they want to be. It has full set of manual and automatic features. Eye start focusing, exposure and flash bracketing. Various priority modes make this a very affordable full featured camera. And it works! I really like the electronic cable release. It has a large built in flash and easy is on batteries. The only thing it lacks is the image stabilization that Canon has, but that's what tripods are for.

Summary: Great Camera

Comment: I am a beginner and this is my first SLR camera. I figure I will use it for a long time to come, so I paid a little more to get this top of the liner. I have enjoyed it tremendously so far, it is a different world from the point & shoot. There are just too many features on this camera for me to learn them all at once. It's kinda fun that way 'cause I am pleasantly surprised from time to time. I bought a 28-300 lens because I am lazy and don't want to swap lenses all the time. The whole package costs me around $1,000. It's worth it. By the way, the battery lasts forever. The maxxum 9 is out of my price range, it looks very similar to this one.