Wow, this is SEXY
Written: Sep 10 '01
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Pros: ease of use, rechargeable batteries, compact flash, warranty, and more!
Cons: battery life, win2k support
The Bottom Line: This camera is great. High quality, great warranty, - HP created a product it stands behind.
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| amandaw99's Full Review: Hewlett Packard PhotoSmart C500 Digital Camera |
To find out why this is one sexy camera, read on...
Background info
Here is a link to the HP site for more info on this camera, where it is priced for $329. http://www.hp.com. Just click on products and services, digital imaging at home, and you will find it.
Features on this camera include a 2 megapixel resolution, zoom capability, uses compact flash cards (prices on these fall everyday), and USB connection. It comes with all needed cables, batteries, a recharger for the batteries, useful software, and all instruction manuals. Finally, for those of you with an infrared port on your printer, you can print from your camera directly to the printer with no cables needed.
The modes of the camera
This camera is simple to use. It’s menu system and 4 modes are easy to navigate. There is a roller type mechanism at the top that allows you to move from record mode to review mode very easily. Record mode allows you to take your pictures. You can do this with the LCD on or off, but leaving it off does save precious battery life. review mode allows you to view your pictures in a quick thumbnail setting. In order to see the picture larger on the 2 inch LCD screen, simply go into playmode where you can see the pictures, delete them, or even view them in a slideshow. Finally, PC mode allows you to easily upload your pictures from the camera to your PC.
Advantages
There are many advantages that come with this camera. First of all, the batteries are rechargeable. This means you won’t have to continually buy new batteries for your camera. Second of all, it’s very easy to use. The commands are obvious and simple to get used to, and the buttons on the camera are easy to maneuver.
I also like the fact it runs on Compact Flash memory. Prices are dropping everyday on these cards (which, by the way, are easy to remove and replace in your camera). The camera comes with a 16MB card which held 50 high quality pics, and I bought a 128MB Viking card for $70 – which holds over 500 pics!
Possibly most importantly, I am appreciative of the fact of the customer service and the one-year warranty that came with this camera. I got this for a gift for my birthday and didn’t even have a receipt for it. After having trouble with my model freezing up, I called customer service and after I spoke with a few people- they sent me a brand new camera with postage to send the broken one back. I was very happy with their care, especially considering I didn’t have a proof of purchase. The new camera has been working beautifully; I think I just initially got a lemon. I was thrilled customer service was so helpful and offered to replace the camera, especially since this camera is no longer being made.
Disadvantages
Well, there are also some not so great things about this camera. The rechargeable batteries do run out quickly if you use the LCD often. I have 2 sets of batteries, so this usually isn’t a problem for me (picked a spare pack up at Radio Shak for like $15). The camera itself is a little large, but it fits well in my camera case from my older Minolta camera. I also found that hooking it up to a windows 2000 machine wasn’t too easy, as it didn’t like the USB. I got around this by buying a Compact Flash reader, which just stays plugged in all the time into my PC. Then, when I remove my card from my camera and put it in my reader, its like a little separate hard drive with all of my pictures on it. Very easy and convenient.
Conclusion…
I love this camera. It’s easy to use & takes wonderful clear pictures. I am glad that HP stands behind their products, and this is definitely a camera I would recommend.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 329
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Epinions.com ID:
amandaw99
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Member: Amanda
Location: Pa
Reviews written: 72
Trusted by: 45 members
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