After some deliberation, I’ve decided to replace our Minolta DiMAGE 7Hi with a DiMAGE A2. We’ve had the 7Hi for less than a year and it’s most unlike me to replace a piece of hardware so soon after purchasing it — I went four years with our Nikon Coolpix 950 — but I really do like some of the features of the A2, such as its image stabilisation. Basically, this enables the camera to do a really good job of compensating for shaking hands, which will be very useful for those windy Icelandic and Faroese shots this August.
Another convenience is the powerful proprietary battery, which makes the A2 one of the most economically-powered cameras in its class. Happily, the battery compartment also supports an AA holder unit, so it’ll still be possible to fall back on standard batteries when in places without much electricity and thus few opportunities to recharge.
We’ve been very happy with the 7Hi thus far (see our Icelandic gallery from last year), but I think we can probably get a reasonable price for it on eBay and not lose too much money, considering our relatively low usage of the camera.
Here are a few good reviews of the A2: