800si Mike Lipphardt's Review of the 800si

1) Intro

a) purpose
I'll be going over the properties, features and characteristics of the new Minolta Maxxum 800si. In general, I'll cover how each of the systems work, what I like about it, and what I DON'T like about it. This appraisal will be as honest and straightforward as I can make it.

b) scope
We'll be cover as many aspects of the camera as I can reasonably handle in the limitations of my time and technical knowledge. The 800si is the most complex camera Minolta has ever made, and there is a LOT of ground to cover. I will handle this as though you no familiarity with AF cameras in general, and Minoltas' Maxxum SLR line in particular.

Contents

1)	Intro
	a) purpose
	b) scope

2)	General Handling Characteristics
	a) tactile
	b) eye-start
	c) viewfinder
		1) area
		2) diopter
		3) relief
	d) LCD
	e) door

3)	Film Handling
	a) loading
	b) advance modes
	c) rewind fast/slow

4)	AF System
	a) description
	a) controls
	b) ability

5)	Metering
	a) points
	b) sensitivity
	c) modes
	d) compensation

6)	Custom Functions
	a) global
	b) memorizable

7)	Flash
	a) built in
	b) accessory
	c) High Speed Sync

8)	PIC Modes

2) General Handling Characteristics

a) tactile
The 800si is a fairly large camera. it fits my average size hands well, even without the vertical grip attached. The body is finished in black, and the right hand grip surface is covered in a leather textured, non-slip material. The controls fall easily under your fingers are generally easy to find by touch with the exception of the AF button, which seems to blend in with the surface of the camera. Other than that, all controls are well marked and easy to understand.

b) eye-start/Grip Sensor
Well, what can one say about Eye-Start. For me, the best thing that can be said about it is that it's easy to defeat. A bit of explanation is in order here.

Eye start is a system whereby the camera is brought to readiness very quickly. What happens is this; Take a look at the front of the cameras' right hand grip. You see those two lines going down the face of the grip? Those are the grip sensors. When you grip the camera with eyestart on, the camera senses your hand on the grip and turns on metering. Now look at the eyepiece. You see those two little windows directly underneath it? There is an infrared transmitter and detector beneath them. When you bring the camera to your eye, the camera senses the proximity of your face and begins autofocusing. Pretty neat,

This is one of those things in life you either love or hate. If you have dry hands like I do, the grip sensor does not reliably detect your hand. This was bad news on cameras like the 9xi where, if you pressed the shutter release partway to start the meter, in spite of the grip sensor, it would lock focus. The 800si does it better in that you can select focus modes. this means that if you select continuous focus and partially press the shutter, you are in continuous focus.

The eye sensor also will not reliably detect your eye if you are wearing glasses.

A lot of Maxxum users swear by this system. I was never able to get used to its idiosyncrasies, so in this case I'm glad to be able to turn it off.

c) viewfinder
I was reading about the bright screens you can buy for other cameras, made by such folks as Beattie and Intenscreen. The reason they gave for not supplying them for Minolta cameras was that the Minolta screen was so bright, they could not usefully increase it. Minolta users have long known that this camera has one of the brightest finders in the industry.

There is a lot of information displayed in the finder. It shows the AF area, aperture/shutter settings, flash status (including wireless) and an exposure index. Previously Minolta had been putting the exposure index in the view area with an LCD overlay which could be hard to see at times. Now it's a lit LED display at the bottom of the finder. The display also shows a countdown for the last 9 frames of film. Very nice.

  1. area
    According to Minolta specs, the viewfinder covers 99% of the image area.

  2. diopter
    The camera incorporates a built in diopter adjustment. Additional adjustment is by accessory diopter eyepieces available from Minolta. This seems to be becoming common to the higher-end Maxxum cameras, which I very much appreciate.

  3. relief
    Eye relief seems to be adequate for eyeglasses. Although not an eyeglass wearer, I can use the camera with sunglasses.
d) LCD
The LCD panel displays just about anything you want to know about camera status. There is of course frame count, also AF mode, AF area (when button is pushed), shutter release mode, exposure compensation, exposure settings, exposure modes, flash mode, on and on. The LCD illuminates when the ambient light decreases to about EV7. Excellent idea.

e) door
The door on the handgrip has controls for AF mode, motor drive mode, flash mode, ISO adjustment. You will also find controls for setting the custom functions like release priority, film tip out on rewind, frame counter count up/down, etc. You also set the three memories here, and access the film data memory (up to 9 rolls of 36 exposures).

3) Film Handling

a) loading
Film loading is typical AF SLR; Place the cassette in the film chamber, pull the leader out to the red mark and close the door. The film advances to the first frame automatically.

b) advance modes
You have two advance modes available to you; single frame advance where the camera advances the film one frame with each shutter release, and continuous where the camera advances and fires as long as you hold the shutter down, at up to 3 frames per second. This varies, especially if the camera is in focus priority. If the camera is focusing it won't fire the shutter, so the film doesn't advance.

c) rewind fast/slow
The camera will rewind a film quietly in about 8 seconds. Faster rewind is obtainable by pressing the rewind button twice (for a one time speedup), or by setting a custom function (rewinds fast all the time). The film rewinds in half the time, but the noise level is higher.

4) AF System

a) description
Minolta, the introducers of the first practical AF system in a camera (The Maxxum/Dynax 7000) continues to have an extremely good track record here. The 800si seems to have a better AF system than the previous generation (even the 9xi) and is usefully more quick and quiet than my 650si. Unfortunately they seem to have fallen behind in the AF race. Nikon has their new F5 with an 8 fps motor and an AF system to keep up with it. Canon has their USM motor lenses.

On the other hand, the Minolta's AF is extremely usable, quick and precise. Minolta has added a bit of controllability missing from the top-end cameras (the 9xi and 700si) but oddly available in the 600/650si. More below.

b) controls
There is on the front of the camera, below the lens mount a button to place the 800si in manual focus mode. On previous models, focus mode would change back to AF whenever the camera power was cycled, or a new lens was mounted. With the 800si the camera remains in manual focus mode.

In addition, the focus system is more controllable than previous cameras, excepting the 600/650si. The user can now select which focus mode the camera will use instead of leaving the selection up to the camera. As on the 6xx cameras you can select Single Shot AF wherein the camera focuses and locks, Continuous AF where the camera tracks motion, or Auto AF the camera decides which mode to use, and changes modes if necessary. Thank you, Minolta. This was one of my biggest problems with the 9xi, and has been solved here.

c) ability
The Minolta AF system is typical Minolta. That is excellent. The predictive AF tracks moving subjects extremely well, predicting where the subject will be after the mirror has flipped up and the shutter fires. AF works down to a lighting level of EV -1, and if the lighting is too dim or if contrast is insufficient for the camera to find lock a built in illuminator places a pattern of bars on the subject to provide the AF system with a target.

5) Metering

a) points
Metering is done in one of several user selected patterns; center weighted, spot or Matrix. Matrix metering is linked to the AF system; whichever AF sensor has achieved lock is the one which the system pays the most attention to; the camera assumes that whichever point is locked is your subject, and therefor metering should be based on it. This raises the issue of manually selecting AF sensors; if you select the central AF sensor for instance, and lock focus there, the camera will assume that whatever is in the center of your frame is your subject, EVEN IF YOU RECOMPOSE.

b) sensitivity
Metering range is from EV-1 to EV19

c) modes
The 800si has 4 metering modes; Program, Aperture Priority AE, Shutter Priority AE, and Manual.

d) compensation
Exposure compensation on the 800si runs from -3 to +3 stops.

6) Custom Functions

The 800si has a number of functions built-in which were previously available only on function cards. The Custom Function xi, Sports, Portrait, Landscape, Night, Close Up and Data Memory cards have had their functionality built into the body.

With the exception of most of the Custom Functions, these programs can be assigned to the recall-able setups. For the most part, the Custom Functions (Up/down count, leader out on rewind, etc.) are universal - once set, they remain regardless of memorized setup. Only release priority can be assigned to a memorized setup.

The Data Memory can remember exposure information for up to 9 rolls of 36 exposures. Exposure information is read back from the LCD.

7) Flash

a) built in
The built-in flash is the most powerful (up to now) of any camera, with a GN of 28 in meters. It is also a zoom, covering angles from 24-85mm. The zoom can also be set to remain at its widest angle, which gives coverage for the 50mm macro at a 1:2 reproduction ratio.

b) accessory
Accessory flashes which will work with the 800si are any i, xi or HS flashes. These include the 3200i, 5200i, 3500xi, 5400xi and the 5400HS units. The previous AF series flashes will work using the FS1100 adapter.

Any aftermarket flash which can be controlled via the PC terminal can also be used. There are a number of aftermarket makers such as Metz, Sigma, Sunpak and Vivitar who make compatible flashes for the Maxxum system.

The 800si can wirelessly TTL control using its built-in flash the 3500xi, 5400xi or the 5400HS flashes.

c) High Speed Sync
Using the 5400HS, any shutter speed up to the maximum of 1/8000th can be used in flash photography. This lets you do tricks like fill-flash in bright sun and with a wide aperture to limit DOF.

8) PIC Modes

OK, I'm stealing a term here from Canon. Actually they are subject modes - they change the behavior of the camera to suit your subject.

There are 5 of them:

You will notice there is nothing magical about these modes. They can be easily duplicated in aperture priority or, in the case of night photography, by changing exposure compensation or switching to manual. They are basically intended for the typical photographer, who is not likely to shell out for this camera in the first place.

Summary

The 800si is arguably the most sophisticated Maxxum to date. AF is fast, quiet and precise. AE is excellent. Although the 800si does not introduce any really new concepts, it has taken some of them further, such as three memorized settings, included subject programs, etc. IS the camera ready to compete in the pro market? No. Here's why;

Lenses; While optically superb - particularly the G series - Minolta has lagged behind in several areas. Canon has its USM and image stabilizing lenses, while Nikon has their Silent Wave lenses. Both makers have a larger selection of lenses than does Minolta, although Minolta is playing catch-up.

The 800si is seemingly aimed for the advanced amateur rather than the professional.

Mike Lipphardt, (email: liphardt@harborcom.net ), 27/8/98
HTML: Chris Valentine

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