vara's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Photosmart 315 Digital Camera
Not too long ago, I wrote a happy review of my previous digital camera, the Polaroid PDC-640. A fine little camera, it served its purpose. There were, however, issues that popped up after a while, namely so-so resolution (640x480). So, like the techie that I am, I started longing for a camera with more megapixel punch. Whaddaya know, it seems Santa noticed, and I later got the HP PhotoSmart 315 camera for Christmas!
For those who were duped by my title, sorry... I lied. I am usually pretty long-winded in my reviews. To save you trouble, however, I put my summarizing statements in bold.
I've used this camera plenty already, and feel I can better give an informed review on it. If you'd like me to cut to the chase, this is a fine little camera, and a wonderful value. So there- I just laid your suspicions to rest. Now go buy this camera right now! If you'd like a few more details than that (I sure would), read on...
OUTSIDE:
Right away I was struck with the similarity in appearance between my new HP and my old Polaroid. They're the same color, same overall design/style, and almost the same size. The HP is probably 25% smaller than the Polaroid, yet it weighs more. Another difference is that the camera feels more expensive: whereas the Polaroid had a cheap plastic feeling to it, this HP has better quality materials, including a real rubberized sport grip.
I have a little problem with the LCD display. Put simply, the design makes the LCD screen easily susceptible to scratches. My Polaroid had the display tucked into the exterior frame a little, for better avoidance of this. I've been very careful with it, so no scratches yet... still, I wish the design was a bit more rugged in that arena. Another minor flaw is the power button on the back of the camera. This blue button is tucked away a little better, but could still be hit inadvertently. The camera has auto shut-off after three minutes, but that's three precious battery minutes we're talking here!
LOTS O' FEATURES:
Granted, many other digital cameras come with a whole slew of features that would make this one look rather spartan. However, when you figure in price (mine was $279), the feature content really ain't that bad. I mean, this is a 2.11 megapixel camera, with a 1.8" LCD, a USB port (for faster uploading of pictures), an auto-timer, an 8MB compact flash memory card, red-eye reduction flash, and 2.5X zoom capability (although quality suffers just a little when you use it)... all for under 300 bucks. There are other neat little features like the ability for you to magnify the pictures you have taken on your LCD for better previewing, and animated menu icons that are easy to understand. You can even rotate the pictures you have on your camera, using the LCD alone. A unique feature to this camera is an infrared beam that can communicate with compatible HP printers for direct printing, so you can bypass the part of uploading pics to your computer. I don't have such a printer, but I'll look into it. In short (there I go summarizing again), this is plainly a point-and-shoot camera, with a few extra goodies thrown in.
The only two features that are lacking are a free A/C adapter (which can be bought), and video outputs. The latter one is unfortunate, because even my old Polaroid had that. So, this camera can't make silent movies or picture shows through your VCR. Slide shows can, however, be done on your computer.
USING THE CAMERA:
If you are again just trying to get the overall gist of what I have to say without reading my entire review, I'll save you the suspense: this camera is a breeze to use. I am a pretty stubborn guy when it comes to reading manuals... I hate wasting my time with them (just like a man, right?). Fortunately, after a half hour, I pretty much had the camera all figured out. There are no submenus to get lost in, no confusing abbreviations or symbols. The five-way scrolling button is a nice touch, too. It really makes navigation a breeze.
My only complaint as far as general use goes deals with viewing the pictures once you've taken them. Usually after you take a picture, everyone and their mother wants to see how it came out. In order to do this, you have to close the shutter, press the power button on the back, and wait for the picture to come up. This last part takes a little time, because the camera first pulls up a poor quality shot, then goes over it again with a fine comb to make it look nice. This process takes only a second or two, but when you're cycling through pictures it's kind of a pain.
Actually, I have two more complaints that just occurred to me... the LCD display is too darn dark. If you are in a poorly lit area, or there is a light source behind the subject you are photographing, you won't see anything in the display. Just pitch black. Even my old Polaroid was better about this kind of thing.
Speaking of taking indoor pictures, I have a small problem with the red-eye reduction flash. Other cameras make their flash give you a big flashy show before finally taking the picture. With the HP, the camera merely flashes once, then takes the picture with the next flash. This is kind of bad, because people posing will think that the first flash was "it", and get out of their pose. It's a pain having to explain the process to people every time you take a picture- so much so that I hardly use the red-eye feature.
PICTURE QUALITY:
First thing's first: as I mentioned before, this camera has a 2.11 megapixel resolution, which dwarfs my old camera by far.
[IMPORTANT POINT! Before I go on I want to clarify that the resolution of a camera basically means how big your picture is going to be when you upload it to your computer. People somehow believe that this means quality. Not so. Low resolution cameras will give you smaller sized pictures, and naturally, when you blow them up, they look all grainy. Of course, since it is the higher-dollar cameras that have higher resolution, they will also be equipped to take better quality images- and, when printed, higher resolution photos look clearer. Still, don't be fooled... just because two cameras have the same resolution, that doesn't necessarily mean they will take the same quality photos!. There. I had to get that off my chest.]
As far as picture quality goes, this camera takes pretty great pictures in many conditions. Indoors, outdoors, close, and far... this camera really can do all of them very well. I can blow pictures up to cover my whole desktop and there isn't a hint of poor quality anywhere. Colors are vibrant, and even indoor pictures come out great. And of course, anything can be touched up by the software that comes with this camera...
MEMORY STORAGE:
The available memory is adequate if you upload pictures to your computer often. Otherwise, 8MB just doesn't cut it. The camera has three image quality settings (which can easily be changed at the touch of a button). The lowest setting (labeled "basic") is 640x480, which is good for the web or e-mail. You can store eighty of these pictures. Setting number two (labeled "fine") is 1200x1600, and only twenty can be taken with the 8MB card. The highest setting (called what else? "Super fine") takes very nice pictures, but you can only store eight of them with the standard memory card. To put a point on it, you'll probably be wanting a higher capacity card. Cards of 16, 32, 64, 80, and 128 MB are available.
FREE SOFTWARE: Overall, I like the software that comes with this camera. It's easy to figure out, and powerful enough for everyday use (and then some). The HP software for uploading pictures and printing them is very simple to use and actually has some neat little touches to them. The printing software, for instance, allows you to choose from many print and album layouts. What's more, you can adjust the brightness of various aspects of your pictures just before printing them. The camera also comes with some photo editing software, and it isn't near as rinky-dink as the software that came with my Polaroid. Rather, here you have options of layering pictures, removing red-eye (a very nice feature to have, although it makes everyone's eyes look silver), and all the normal stuff you see in photo-editing software like smudging and coloring. A few cute touches like making greeting cards or putting your face on the Statue of Liberty are included.
Another program called Photo Montage is very cool. Ever seen those Darth Vader posters made completely of tiny little scene captures, and they all combine to make Darth Vader? That's what this program does. You can make a large photograph composed of hundreds of tiny photographs you have taken with your camera.
Here's my problem with the software, though: every time you upload the pictures to your computer, you upload ALL the pictures in the camera. I had gotten used to the Polaroid program, which would quickly upload thumbnails of pictures, and allow you to select which ones you wanted to fully download. This is no biggie, though.
What I have found to be a glaring problem with the software is that it won't do some of the basic things like rotating the image 90 degrees. It has free-hand rotate, but you've got to get it juuuuuust right.
BATTERY LIFE:
I'm lucky in that I had gotten used to my battery-chomping Polaroid! This camera is not near as ravenous, but it does, like all digital cameras, drain batteries a good deal (it uses four). The manual that comes with the camera specifies two kinds of rechargeable batteries you could use, and I recommend it. Unfortunately, whereas my old Polaroid came with an A/C adapter, this one does not. It can be purchased from Hewlett-Packard for around forty dollars.
ACCESSORIES:
I casually browsed through an accessory booklet for my camera, and was pretty impressed by it. Here are some things that may interest some amateur photographers: a super close-up lens ($15), a telephoto lens ($40), a wide angle lens ($40), a light polarizer, several memory readers, high capacity memory cards, and tripods, to name a few. (A $20 mounting piece is required in order to fit all the specialty lenses). So, if you want to do just a little more than take casual photos, there are options available.
VERDICT: IN SUM, THIS IS A HECK OF A CAMERA AT A HECK OF A LOW PRICE!
Even though I got this camera as a gift, I really tried to review it as if I had bought it myself. During my days of longing for another camera, I looked at prices and specs of various cameras, and very, very few had the deal that this one did. Even eBay didn't have prices like this. Shall we get to the bottom line, then? If you're a casual point-and-shoot picture taker and want a LOT more bang for just a little more cash, BUY THIS CAMERA.
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