Andrea.
I have nothing to use as a direct comparison of the Nikon with the Minolta and have not seen examples of the Nikon 995 which gets fine reviews. Shots with available light look good but the advice to use a tripod hold true for existing or low light condidtions.
The Minolta DiMage 5 lacks only a few of the features of the DiMage 7/ 5.4MP and from what I understand the sacrifice is only evident if you wish to see/print larger sizes. 2056x1544, for example, is 5 times what you can post on this web site.
The camera has setting options very much like,or more than, conventional cameras but allows us nongifted photophiles the option to use auto settings. Film camera terms are still used for digital cameras with settings for film speed (ISO) and the like. It was also dramatic for me to switch from auto set to any one of the options: daylight,tungsten, flourescent, cloudy or custom and find the best color results. Often, in the past, I have had the wrong film and speed for the occassion and could not go from indoor to outdoor or flash with conventional film and have good results. In other words you can change the "film" to fit the situation.
I also recommend the web site provided earlier by a forum participant at:
http://www.dpreview.com Also recommend the magazine Digital Photography
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http://www.paragon.co.uk > a UK publication that wrote good reviews for the Fujifilm FinePix 4800, 6900z, and Olympus C-4040. I nearly bought the Fuji (FA Porche design) until I discovered that they are not Mac compatable.
Also be aware that some companys like Fuji may use different methods to arrive a MegaPixel counts. The Olmpus is doing the same and therefore their 7.68 mp is based on interpolation and is really 4.13