Minolta DiMAGE 7i Review

The DiMAGE Image Viewer Utility Software displays raw image data and allows for corrections and manipulations using built-in functions. The raw image data is processed with a 16-bit color depth so that the fine tonal gradations are preserved. Users can change tone curve / histogram, brightness / contrast / color pallet, hue / saturation / lightness, and sharpness and then save the image as a 16-bit TIFF.

JPEG and TIFF images can also be viewed and corrected. The Color Correction Job function saves correction settings so they may be applied to different images.

The DiMAGE7 uses its own color space so it's very important to enable the Color Matching option, select the desired color space and then apply it to the images. Most will probably select either the sRGB or Adobe RGB color space.

Failure to "process" captured images through the Viewer Utility software will yield images that might appear a little "flat" or under-saturated.

You can easily load in an entire directory (folder) of images which are then displayed in thumbnail fashion. Here you can quickly rotate portrait mode images or flip an image horizontally or vertically using the toolbar buttons.

Like the professional digicams, the DiMAGE 7i can capture and save RAW files that contain all of the data gathered from the CCD imager. These raw files must be converted before they can be saved or imported into programs like Photoshop for further manipulation. The DIVU software lets you adjust a number of the parameters before import as seen on the screen shot above. When shooting in raw mode you can accidentally use the wrong white balance, say fluorescent instead of daylight, and easily correct for it here.

You can retrieve the embedded Exif information with the camera and exposure details.

Once in the Color Correction mode you will have access to the tools shown in all of the following frames. You can resize images while maintaining their aspect ratio.

This is a lot like PhotoShop's levels tool and the auto setting button works like the autolevel command. The eyedropper tools let you pick black, gray and white points.

Brightness, contrast and the individual color channels can be adjusted from this screen. Or click the auto setting button for the program's "best guess" setting.

Adjust the hue, saturation and lightness from this screen. Again there is an auto setting if you want the software to use it best guess as to what it should be.

And just like PhotoShop's variation command here you can make quick changes to the overall color tone of the image, the incremental amount is adjusted by the slider control. From the menu choose from Color Balance, Brightness & Contrast or Saturation.

One of the most powerful features is the "image snapshot" mode. Here you can capture a copy of the currently edited picture and save it in case you want to revert back to it after making other changes. You can even display them side by side as you make the changes.

The sharpness command can be set to work in the low frequency or high frequency range or anywhere inbetween. The amount of emphasis is adjusted by slider as well and you get a WYSIWYG preview of the effect before applying it.