Die neue Dimage G400 präsentiert sich als schicker Edel Mini im schlanken Vollmetallgehäuse. Als Speicherkaretnformat dient wahlweise die SD Karte oder der Memory Stick. Erstaunlich schnell ist die kleine Kamera einsatzbereit: Nur 1,3 Sekunden vergehen, bis die Kamera aufnahmebereit ist, ebenfalls als ungewöhnlich schnell zu bezeichnen ist die Auslöseverzögerung von angegebenen 0,03 sec. Der Brennweitenbereich erstreckt sich (kleinbildäquivalent) von 35 - 102 mm. Und da wären wir auch schon beim ersten negativen Aspekt: Der Zoom ist arg hakelig geraten. Bis der gewünschte Bildausschnitt gewählt ist, muß viel nachjustiert werden. Außerdem viel mir negativ auf, das das Bildrauschen bei Einstellung ISO 400 verhältnismäßig hoch ist. Die Kamera verwendet Lithium Ionen Akkus, ein Ladegerät befindet sich im Lieferumfang. Ansonsten konnte ich beim Test keine nennenswerten Mankos feststellen. Das Menü präsentiert sich bunt aber übersichtlich, die Verarbeitung ist als wirklich ordentlich zu bezeichnen und was das wichtigste ist: Die Kamera macht wirklich gute Bilder.
Für den Straßenpreis von ca. 280 € bekommt eine stabile, gut verarbeitete Kamera, die in jeder Hosentasche Platz findet.
Wer also auf der Suche nach einer solchen Kamera ist, wird hier bestens bedient.

Pros:
Tiny, Tiny, Tiny
Fast, Fast, Fast
Great manual features
Nice lens
Solid build
Great quality photos
Long battery life

Cons:
Only 3x optical zoom (thats standard, but more is always better there)
no RAW format (for those true pro photographers)

I have loved this camera, everyone who sees it is impressed with the quality and speed with which it performs. Minolta has a great history and they did not let me down with this model. It has the features and quality of even the most advanced, much more expensive cameras. I don't know how they did it.

I've gone through about 20 digital cameras in my day and this is my latest, and favoritest!

My only complaint is that it uses a proprietary battery so you couldn't just slap a few AA's in it and go. The proprietary battery is much smaller than a set of AA's which translates to a tinier camera all around, and the package comes with a charger, so I don't mind.

The greatest thing about this camera is the startup time. Once you click it open, it's ready to shoot! You'll never miss a shot again because you were fooling around with a menu. And it goes without saying that the pictures look great too.

So, all in all, an incredible camera. Go get one!

I agree with all the reviews praising the quality of this camera. It is small, fast, and takes wonderful photos and even videos. However, in the 10 months I have had this camera the mechanical lens mechanism has broken twice. Customer service is so poor at Minolta that I am now buying another camera. The first time I sent the camera back to Minolta the repair was not covered secondary to a cosmetic scratch on the camera body. Minolta kept my camera for 6 weeks, voided the warranty, and the repair was $140 plus shipping. Now the warranty is voided becasue of the first repair and I am left with a non functioning camera. (I use my camera to photogtaph radiographic images for teaching purposes. The camera does not see outdoor or extreme use.) Total cost: $280 for camera, $100 for service agreement which was voided when Minolta voided my warranty, $140 for repairs = $520, and I still do not have a functioning camera. The fragility of this device combined with the egregiously sub-par customer department strongly suggests not purchasing a Minolta device. This is a shame becasue the photos are excellent.

Since making a foray into digital photography a few years ago, I've been waiting until technology and price converged with a camera that offered enough over the 1.3 MP camera I had been using to make it worth the jump. My requirements were good macro to short range (a few feet) performance, high image quality and color rendition, fast startup and pocketable.

I chose the Minolta after considering similar models from other manufacturers. The protective, sliding style lens cover was the type of design I preferred, with a sturdy, stainless steel body. It's a newer model with faster startup than the G500. This, for me, plus the smaller size outweighed the increased sensor resolution (and price) of the latter.

The camera startup time (well under 1 second, essentially instantaneous) is one of its strongest features. Opening the lens cover is tricky, however. It's easy to smudge the lens if your fingers slip. I've found that using my index and middle fingers to slide the cover using the "ears" on the "chevron" part of the cover, while holding the camera with my other hand, avoids lens smudges.

For most candids and point-n-shoot situations it was best to use full auto (usually with flash disabled). Switching between auto and manual takes just a few pushes of the mode and navigation buttons, and comes quickly after some practice. Thankfully, there are dedicated buttons to enable macro mode and setting the flash modes, which are retained across power-ups.

The manual camera mode with auto flash exposure and 100 ISO setting gave the best quality, provided that there was enough time to compose the shot. However, the auto-focus often fails for closeups (3 feet or less). Reviewing the images after shooting was mandatory for closeup shots. If only there were an easy way to manually focus.

The camera delivered what I expected regarding image quality. The color rendition was superb. However, examining images, one looks more critically for shortcomings rather than strong points. Highlights and colors tend to get blown out easily in contrasty, sunlit scenes, and I used -0.7 EV or greater underexposure compensation to avoid this. Consequently, shadow areas can be noisy.These limitations are true of all consumer digicams, however. There are many sample photos to be found on pbase; navigate to the camera-specific gallery for the Minolta G400. Some photos are posted at full resolution so you can have a good look.

The camera uses the same battery as the new G600 model. That's good, because it will insure a supply of replacements on the market when the time comes to replace the battery. Buy an extra battery, keep one in charger and one in camera. Swap them when your memory card fills up.

Two unfortunate notes regarding my experiences with the camera:

- If kept in a snug pocket, it's easy to snag the lens cover "ears" when quickly withdrawing the camera, causing the camera to switch on while still inside the pocket. This apparently happened one time too many, and the lens became frozen in the closed position. Fortunately, Minolta's warranty service was very responsive and I received the camera two weeks (the standard estimate is 4 weeks) after returning it for no-cost repair.

- I splashed it with (black) coffee. After drying for several hours, it returned to life, but remained flaky. I sent it back, and the repair wasn't covered ($160).

Pros: super fast start-up time, good color fidelity, low levels of compression artifacts in midtones, one-button selection of flash and macro modes, sturdy, compact stainless steel body, relatively easy to navigate menus.

Cons: unreliable autofocus if closer than 3 feet; lens cover can snag on pocket, leading to unwanted camera activation and possible damage.

Since purchasing the camera, the price has dropped considerably, making it a terrific value.

This camera has been great and takes accurate, true to life colors. It's very small and durable. Very easy to figure out for the most part. Some of the stuff on the menu I do not use but have loved having the long exposure setting for taking pictures at night with a tripod. Upgraded memory to 256 and been able to store about 170 pic's on fine setting. Well worth the money.

p.s. I live with my Grandma

In agreement with other reviews. This camera has great features -- too many to even list. It has aperture priority and speed priority, color, b&w, sepia etc. Takes crisp, clear true-color pictures. Quality is great.

However, the lens mechanism has frozen in the open position after about owning it for one year. You can get it to close if you pull the battery out and turn it back on - but you have to close the cover very quickly to keep in in - it then registers an error and shuts off.

Too bad -- $325 is more than I wanted to pay for one year - didn't think I'd need to upgrade so soon and don't want to spend another $100 - $140 to repair it. Haven't contacted Minolta yet, but don't want to throw good money after bad....

I've had this camera for about a year... well actually I've only had it for 2 months if you subtract the time they have had it for all the repairs. They have to be the worst customer support I've ever dealt with. You have to work around their schedule and deal with a general attitude problem with all their support center workers. They apparently haven't cought on to this whole idea of customer service being pretty important. Especially if you are going to make a camera that is so fragile. The insides of this camera must be paper thin or something because you have to handle it with extreme care or something breaks. (even though they claim it's durable with the metal case and all) I was happy with the camera when it worked... it's very fast and easy to use, not to mention it takes good pictures. That said, there are plenty of companies making cameras that do all that and are much more durable and worst case if it does break, they have great 24/7 (konica does not!) customer support to resolve your problem fast. Konica had my camera for 3 months on the first repair, and they ended up just sending my broken camera back with a new one in the box... which then broke 3 days later. UNREAL! and it cost be $140 for this repair? I think anyone can see this company is not one you want to deal with. Go find another brand that meets your needs. This company doesn't deserve your business!!!

Even though this is a basic Point 'n Shoot Camera, the pictures are great. On top it uses a SD Memory Card and the size / shape / form-factor makes it very easy to carry around all the time. I used to be able to slip it into my jeans pocket.

Unfotunately after about using it for about 14 months or so, the lense got stuck and I have not been able to get it fixed :o(

On the other hand, using this for over a year I got hooked on Digital Photography and got myself a Nikon D50 as a replacement ;o)

- manzoor

The camera was great when it worked. However, the lens part stopped working twice. The first time the lens just stopped coming out like everyone else has mentioned. It cost about over $100 to get it fixed. According to the camera shop, it was some lens part they had to order from Minoleta. And then about few months later, the camera was dropped on carpet flooring, and the lens stopped coming out again. That was when we stopped paying to get it fixed.

Other than that, the camera was wonderful. It took great photos, videos, and audios. It lasted about 2 years total. I got it when it first came out, so it was somewhere around $350-$400 dollars.