The Best Choice For Ambitious Beginners!
Written: Jan 18 '06
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Pros: Extremely easy to use; intuitive in-camera coaching; plethora of shooting modes
Cons: Small LCD; external media not included; colours tend to be a bit oversaturated.
The Bottom Line: This camera is ideal for those just entering the realm of photography. It yields some fantastic images and is very easy to use.
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| camlover's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Photosmart R717 Digital Camera |
Although I purchased this camera for a relative just entering the world of photography, I couldn't help but use (and admire) it for a while. After all, the 6.2-megapixel R717 is a pleasure to hold, thanks partly to its rubberized body and brushed-metal coating. The controls are very nice and intuitive, though I did find the long banana-shaped zoom control button a bit weird to handle.
I really enjoyed the R717's vast selection of different scene modes, some of which include portrait, action, and landscape. An addition, that is quite mentionable, is the new Museum mode that lets you take photos without the flash and mutes all camera sounds. However, my personal favourite was the Panoramic Mode that lets you stitch 3-5 pictures on your camera.
Moving onto the menus, I quickly grew fond of HP's Adaptive Lighting function that lets you tone down images with very light and very dark areas and I think its quite essential for reducing the annoying flash glare that you get while photographing glass items etc in a darker set up.
A nifty time-saver is the HP Instant Share feature through which one can easily tag shots for email and printers and subsequently send the images out from a PC. The in-camera red-eye reduction is very effective too.
Over the years, I've been particularly impressed with the ease of use of products from HP. The R717 is no exception. From the R717's Playback menu, one can easily see image advice related to the improvement of focus, exposure, depth of field etc on shots already taken. I also loved the idea of the "Top Ten Tips" targeted at new owners of the R717. All in all, a very welcome addition! Moving onto image quality, the R717 produces some very impressive crisp and sharp images. However, I did notice that colours, although good, were a bit oversaturated.
Battery life on the R717 was pretty decent thanks to the included rechargeable lithium ion battery, lasting well over 200 shots. A USB cable is also included for connection to a PC or to a compatible printer. However, a minor quirk I had was the lack of any external media included in the box. Then again, the 32MB of onboard memory will prove sufficient for taking a few snaps. Another issue is the fact that captured video isn't great. Just don't expect anything phenomenal in this department and you won't be surprised.
All in all, the R717 will definitely prove to be a fantastic camera for beginners.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 220
This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
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Epinions.com ID:
camlover
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Member: Tom M
Location: El Dorado, AR
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 3 members
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