Minolta Dimage E323

The menu on the Minolta Dimage E323 is a superb piece of design. You have simple controls; up down left and right, and everything is clear to see on the screen. There are also many different options in the menu, but all are self-explanatory.

The battery life is good, especially when you consider it only takes two AA size. However be careful where you get your batteries. I bought bateries and a charger from Dixons, one set of batteries last about 15 shots, but another lasts to 90, I really don't understand it.

The camera is small and fits in your pocket easily, although I would recommend buying a case to protect, because though the build quality is genrally high it is mostly plastic, and you do not want to scratch the LCD screen.

This camera is very well featured with everything you could need. I spent over a month researching cameras and this was by far the best. 3.2 mega pixels with the option of interpolating to 6 (3 mega pixels I would recommend, don't go too much lower as the quality will drop. At this level you can print full A4 pictures). At this end of the market I found it hard to find a camera with decent zoom, but this has 3x optical which is what you want, digital zoom is a complete waste of time as you can zoom in digitally on your computer when you download the images, because it just zooms in on the pixels, rather than optical zoom which uses lens like a set of binoculars so you get just as crisp photo on full optical zoom as you do using no zoom.

It can be tricky to get very crisp photos, but generally this is because what you are taking a picture of is moving. Also the shutter speed, though good, could be a little faster. However a common problem is where as you take the picture you jog the camera, but minolta have put a 2 second delay option on the camera for you, so that if selected, when you press the button the camera will take the picture two seconds later so it doesn't matter if you jog the camera when pressing the button, as long as you hold it still for the next two seconds. The camera also autofocuses in this mode.

There is a video mode which is useful, but see it as a more interesting photo than a full video mode because there is not sound. It is good for panoramic shots but of course the quality of the video compared to the ordinary pictures is much lower.

The biggest disappointment is actually the instruction manual. It is very easy to read and to understand but there are some functions on the camera that don't appear in the manual. This is maybe because I can't find it but I have looked closely. However it hasn't affected my use of the camera, so I wouldn't worry.

The software to install on your computer is nothing special, but it does the job fine so you needn't worry.

As I said I did a lot of research before I bought this camera and it is by far the best on the market at this price. It is not gimicky - you can't sit it straight onto your printer and print - but that is a waste of time as the USB cable is so easy to use. It has a broad range of features, and the best bit is the price. I picked mine up in March 2004 from Tesco online (I think) for £114.80, where some sites where asking £200. Bare in mind though (and this is not minoltas fault, and is the norm with digital cameras) that you only get a 16mb SD card, and you need more. I have a 128mb which does everything you need. 256mb are useful, but I took over 90 photos on holiday and did not fill the card and that was all on 3 mega pixels with a few on 6. Your batteries will run out before your memory card does. You must get rechargable batteries, I think the correct ones are metal hydride - mH for short, but check with any electrical high street shop. If going on holiday a good tip is to by a battery charger with a 12V car socket adapter, because, though voltages in buildings and hotels and such like may be different, those in cars are the same and so you can easily charge you batteries (using a socket adapter on a different voltage will not work, unless the charger specifcally says it is suitable for the voltage you are trying to charge from).

I bought this Minolta E323 digital camera after a friend recommended it and after having to take my Agfa SP2 camera back for not working with the memory card.

Its a fantastic and very easy to use little camera - its way smaller than many of the pictures on the internet let on.

It takes very good quality pictures even for someone like me who isnt good at taking pictures.

I think as a first time camera or for someone upgrading from an older (lower megapixel) camera it would be a great buy... cant fault it at all!