Bargain ??

[Revel]

I have just come out of my local cash converters a happy person. I was looking at the cameras and saw a Dynax 404si with lens for sale with the sum of £45 on it ( they knocked £4 off because it was the sales ). I wasnt too bothered about the camera just the lens. It was a 75mm-300mm which I was just about to go into the shop next door to buy for £100 to fit my Dynax 40. It looks in new condition and comes with a 6 month warranty. What is the 404si like to use? I know its similar to my 40, but was there any problems with the camera in inself ? Faults ? Any info, thanks.

 

[Rob]

Looks like it's a good beginner's body:

http://www.reviewcentre.com/review136625.html

Rob

 

[Don Simon]

I used the 404si myself, and I'd generally agree with the review Rob linked to; it certainly is light. I'm not convinced that there are "many features a beginner or advanced photographer can use" though, the features are pretty standard. Although the autofocus is generally very accurate it is a bit slow, which can be annoying, especially because manual focusing on many Minolta AF-mount lenses is nowhere near as easy as on a proper manual focus lens. Personally mine got left in storage as soon as I got used to older manual-focus SLRs, although I recently acquired a Dynax 5 which I like much, much more. This has so many more features than the 404si I don't know where to start. Actually yes I do: DOF preview, top shutter speed of 4000 (as opposed to 2000), metal lens mount, variable autofocus modes including continuous tracking... the list goes on. Apart from which, the autofocus is noticeably faster and I'm pretty sure the viewfinder is brighter. Finally, it has the option when rewinding the film of leaving a little bit outside the roll... if only I'd had it when I was still developing my own film, the amount of time that would have saved!... er but I digress, the 404si with that lens is very reasonable for the price. The one thing that really stood out in my experience with the camera was the quality of the metering; it almost never let me down. One final thing I would say though is that personally I can't seem to find prime lenses (except 50mm) for the Minolta autofocus mount anywhere. Admittedly I only buy lenses used, for reasons of not wanting to go any further into debt than necessary, but still I'm surprised there aren't more floating around. The Dynax cameras seem to be designed mainly for zooms.

 

[Revel]

Thanks for the information. I took it out this morning and fired a roll off to see if there was any problems with the lens and camera. All seem to be ok. I noticed that there was a display withing the view finder that was very informative that I dont have on my dynax 40. The are very much a likeness to each other. As I said, I only wanted it for the lens which would have cost me £100.