Minolta Dimage 5 3MP Digital Camera w/ 7x Optical Zoom

• 3-megapixel sensor captures 2,048 x 1,536 images for prints at sizes up to 11 x 14 inches
• 7x optical plus 2x digital (14x total) autofocus zoom lens
• Included 8 MB CompactFlash card stores 8 images at default resolution
• Connects with Macs and PCs via USB port
• Uses 4 AA batteries (alkalines included)

The best camera I ever had:
Advantages: - incredible picture quality - great zoom. - quick data transfer - plenty of options Disadvantages: - built-in flash is useless. I have this camera since 5 months and I still love it. Some people complain it uses batteries quick. I bought 4 Rayovac rechargables. I managed to make 180 photos without flash and 110 with flash on one charge. Buy more memory - I have 128 MB and it is still not enough for a weekend trip (150-160 pics in very good resolution).

good camera:
This camera takes very good pictures. The only major drawback is that it is a battery hog. If you buy this camera make sure you buy at least two sets of rechargeable batteries and a recharger that can recharge them quickly. You will be amazed at how quick this camera can kill batteries. The camera takes very good pictures and offers a lot of features that might be too much for the average user. If you want a simple point and shoot digital camera this is not for you. If you are buying for high quality pictures and a lot of features you will love this camera. The reason I gave it four stars is because of how fast it goes through batteries. There is nothing worse than wanting to take a picture and realizing that both sets of batteries are dead. This has infuriated me many times over.

Nice little camera,for a little while.........:
Had my Dimage 5 for about a year,and mostly was impressed.It took good pictures in bright light,but was difficult to use in low light.Took it to Mexico on vacation and got caught in a rainstorm.The camera got wet,and stopped working.I assumed it would start again as soon as I got it dried out,but it did not.Sent it to Minolta for repair,and was told it was economically not repairable.Paid 600.00 for it,got it wet once,goodbye camera.Now its useless.Not even heavy enough for a boat anchor!If you have one,keep it dry!

Buyer Beware:
I bought my Dimage-5 last Spring and it had a defective battery compartment. The defect was obvious... The first battery powered images I got are summertime of 2002. If it had worked "out of the box" I would rate this a four star camera...

More batteries please:
I use this camera primarily for work. I work for a university and take pictures of large agricultural studies, etc. I need high res. pics. to blow up for powerpoint presentations and posters. I like using this camera for all the manual options that one has, and the great optical zoom. When taking pics. on the highest quality and res. I can blow them up to 16 x 20 for a poster with no problems. A solid camera that takes high quality images. The only problem, and this is a big problem, is battery life. I went out and purchased the highest quality rechargeable batteries I could find and I still will only get 15-20 pics on the highest settings (and that is not using the lcd monitor). I realize that taking smaller images will decrease the energy used to write the file to the flash card, but when you have to take quality images.....This makes the camera useless for traveling (unless you want to bring lots of batteries) and routine use. I bought this camera a few years ago 2001/2002 and could not recommend one buying this now with all the options available to you. I am in the market to replace this now with a digital slr package.