The Minolta Maxxum HTsi Plus provides the superior picture quality of a single-lens-reflex camera (SLR) with the easy-to-use automatic controls of a point-and-shoot camera. It's a good choice for both advanced photographers and beginners who want better-quality pictures.

The picture quality of point-and-shoot cameras pales in comparison to those produced with an SLR camera, which gives you better optics, a through-the-lens view that lets you accurately frame your photos, and manual options for full control of your exposure and focus. If you are used to point-and-shoots, this camera makes the transition to SLRs easy; however, you'll have to refer to the manual to get the hang of using the extensive menu of advanced settings. In our tests, the HTsi Plus offered the full range of advanced controls--it let us set the aperture, exposure, and focus manually. The HTsi Plus also made it easy to switch into full automatic mode, in which we just pressed the shutter button, and the camera performed the focusing and exposure for us.

The Minolta Maxxum HTsi Plus is quite lightweight for an SLR and includes both a pop-up flash and an external flash shoe. It includes five preset exposure modes including portrait, landscape, and macro; burst mode; aperture and shutter priority modes; and a self-timer. For serious amateurs or professionals, the HTsi Plus offers all the standard SLR functions, although we found its aperture setting method (you have to push the aperture preview button and turn the camera's selection wheel) a bit disorienting at first. The HTsi Plus's 28-80 zoom lens gave us a good range for everything from portraits to landscapes. We especially liked the automatic exposure bracketing and multiple exposure functions; these features are useful in getting the right shot and exercising your creativity.

Pros:

• Lightweight
• Built-in flash
• Easy to use
• High-quality optics

Cons:

• Menu selection somewhat hard to figure out
• Unconventional aperture-selection method