Digital-Camera Reviews

I've used this camera on many occasions for projects at school. True it is good for taking quick snaps, but otherwise, it's horrid.
Let's go for some examples:

1.Unless the two 912s we have are horribly malformed, the "zoom lens" must be an afterthought, cause it barely works.

2.The SLR-like design is good, and I'm quite partial to the old school camera design. However many of the controls are seemingly pointless.

3.Many of the useful features are buried within a cutsey (so typical of HP) menu.

4.It's downright spendy

5.Finally this thing eats batteries like being an absurdly power hungry device is going out of style.

There are plenty of better >2 mpx cameras that aren't as monetarily exorbitant.

All I'm saying is: consider your options before you get this one. If you're just happy with taking the same old pictures over and over again, go for it. But if you want something with more professional controls, look somewhere else

Someone wrote that the HP C912 was the "Best kept secret in digital cameras." I agree, now that the price has dropped from [$$$] to about [$$$] (... price new). I really like the 6 automatic and 4 manual modes of operation, the hot flash and the remote control features. The camera has been easy to learn and to experiment with ... I have used a point and shoot digital camera for years. The 912 in one of its auto modes functions as a point and shoot, with the advantage of the TTL viewfinder. Traditional P&S cameras do not come close to this feature. If I don't like the settings (visible in the viewfinder) it is not difficult to change to manual mode and adjust a setting or two. The external selectors make this very simple for most features. With a SunPak 610 flash I can shoot good pics out to 50 feet with good resolution. This is tough for most other digitals. At the price this camera has dropped to, it is truly a bargin for anyone who likes the SLR type cameras married to the new technology of the digital revolution.

For this price this camera is unbeatable. I have used a lot of digital cameras and this one takes the best, most accurate pictures. Plus there are options all over the place.

The C912 camera takes great pictures but does not perform well when you want to shoot with manual settings. This camera won't replace a 35MM SLR as I had hoped. Overall, I think I would have been better off buying a new 35MM SLR camera and a smaller digital camera like the Olympus C700. I sure miss my old Canon AE1!

Shortcomings:

1) Manual focus is a joke. You have to select between distance settings measured in "meters." I haven't found a way to change the readings to "feet." Adjustments to the manual focus are done at the back of the camera where your left thumb is. Neither the LCD display nor the viewfinder work very well for judging focus. I'd suggest that you set the camera for a small aperture so you'll get fairly well focused pics. Manual focus on the lens like a standare 35MM would be way way better.

2) The hot shoe only has one contact; you'll have to shoot with manual exposure settings when using an add-on flash unit.

3) Very low light pictures shot at long exposure come out with "noise" in the picture that looks like snowflakes.

4) When using the flash, aperture or shutter speed priority perform poorly. I would have expected the flash to compensate better for changes to aperture and shutter speed. I've taken some pic's that came out with poor exposure this way.

5) The camera is as large as a 35MM SLR, too big to put in your pocket. On the bright side, you don't have to worry about it falling out of your pocket...

6) Shooting in Automatic mode provides average focus so you get pictures that are often out of focus.

7) The autofocus has a half-second or so delay that you have to compensate for. I guess all auto focus cameras perform this way. You have to shoot in manual focus to get instant shutter response. I sure miss my old Canon AE1.

8) A 10x zoom lens like the Olympus C700 would be much better. A removable lens like standard a real 35MM SLR camera would make this camera the best thing since sliced bread! The 3x zoom is okay for general photography. I should have bought the C700!

9) Zoom is electric not mechanical. It's adjusted on the lens like a 35MM focus ring. It's a bit slow to respond. Mechanical would have been way better.

Advantages:

1) Shooting in "P" for program mode and set with center point focus produces excellent pictures just about all the time.

2) The flash is small but quite powerful.

3) The camera has an excellent look and feel.

4) Diopter allows you adjust the viewfinder to your eye so you can shoot without your glasses and see clearly.

5) The camera is built very well. This is one of the main reasons I bought it. I'm sure it can take quite a hit without breaking. You could probably use it to break open walnuts! The lens is enclosed so it doesn't extend in and out like smaller cameras. The lens is built to accept screw-on filters and telephoto and other lenses without Mickey Mouse adapters. Install a clear filter the day you get the camera to protect the lens from dirt and finger prints.

6) The camera uses a proprietary battery pack or standard AA batteries. Rechargeable 1700mAh AA NiMH Batteries and a Radio Shack one-hour charger perform well and cost half of what you'll pay for the HP battery and charger. I use the 6-volt AC power supply that came with my camcorder to power the camera without batteries and have had no problems.

7) The date displays on the image. A note and logo can also be displayed on the image.

8) Sound recording is a pretty cool feature. No video recording and glad.

9) A PCMCIA adapter for the compact flash can be bought for [price]. It's fantastic for vacation. I bring along my old laptop to download pictures every evening. 64MB holds 58 pic's at highest resolution.

I am very impressed with this camera. I have owned several other digital cameras and this is the first one I have used that makes me even consider giving up my 35mm SLR. The only feature I would need to make me give up my film camera would be interchangeable lenses.

The only downside of this camera is that it tends to eat batteries. I would recommend the Lithium batter pack or getting some high quality NiMH batteries. Using the LCD chews up a lot of battery life. After every picture is taken the LCD turns on and shows you the picture. I haven't found a way to turn the LCD off yet but I feel sure there is a menu option to override the default.

I've been very happy with this purchase. The 2.5 Mega pixels are just fine for printing 5x7 prints, and 8x10's if you set the picture up well. The features of the camera are many, the automatic ones work great and there are overrides on almost all of the auto ones. I take up close "macro" pictures a lot and was thinking about getting a ring flash, but so far I've been pretty happy with the built in flash lighting up my subject... This feature and two others are why I would recommend this. You can set the ASA from 25 up to 400 (a lot of other cameras have one setting 100). The other feature is the compact flash memory, they work well and I feel they're very reliable.

Just recently I purchased a Hewlett Packard C618 digital camera. Although I have not used a digital camera before I find that it is very easy to use, even for a retiree as I am. If you wish, you can just turn on the camera, point and shoot. The camera will take care of everything else, such as exposure, focus, flash, white balance to compensate for various light sources, advance to the next frame, etc., etc. It is really a great little camera that comes up with pictures that rival the pictures I have taken with my Pentax.

The instruction book is detailed and covers just about everything you may want to know about the camera. It includes features that I will probably never use, but they exist nevertheless. The camera simulates a single lens reflex as closely as possible, and that includes the sounds of the shutter when taking a snapshot. There is also a quick start guide that gets you on the road quickly.

I purchased the 48 meg memory chip, NiMH batteries with battery charger, and a camera case. All seem necessary, matter of fact, a spare set of batteries is probably a good idea. I'm also planning to purchase the AC power supply because you can spend a fair amount of time at the computer with the camera in operation when working with your images.

Although minor in nature, the automated registration was a problem because the serial number on the camera did not match the number of digits required by the registration form. Also there is an automated camera software download that could become a problem, especially if one is working with brand new NiMH batteries. Initially these batteries seem to have a significantly reduced capacity until they have been recharged several times. Dead batteries during a download may become a problem. A quick call for help to HP solved both issues.

All in all I'm very pleased with my purchase and I'm looking forward to using this camera extensively this summer.

This past summer I studied in Cuba for a month. Of course this is once in a lifetime opportunity, so I had to get a camera and it HAD to be digital. I've never owned my own camera before and already too many moments in my lifetime have gone by without ever being recorded. I also have a problem with getting myself to the store and going through the tedious and costly process of developing film.
So I went ahead and purchased the HP C615 model and it was probably one of the best purchases I ever made. I also purchased the 96 MB memory card which holds up to 360 photos at the lowest quality (which is better than some film cameras). It was well worth it. All of the other American students whom I met in Cuba, were envious of the fact that I could selectively view and delete my pictures through the camera. In comparing film pictures with mine of the exact same images the HP 615 won out every single time. So that's not a bad large investment compared to buying film, lugging it around and then waiting for it to be developed. Now all I carry is the camera and an extra set of batteries.
Of course this review wouldn't be objective if I didn't put one complaint in. My only complaint is that the viewfinder is not very well lit. It's actually pretty dull compared to some other cameras that I've taken pictures with. It also does not provide a very accurate width of the actual photo that gets processed. But since I realize the fault of the camera, I know its OK to cut off people's arms straggling on the edges of the viewfinder because the photo comes out perfectly trimmed. This does cause a problem for those one or two occasions when you have to rely on a waiter or passerby to take your own photo. They usually include too much of the surrounding area. But I found a way to get around that too; now I set the zoom and area for the innocent bystander.
The pictures I take are breathtaking!! The colors are scintillating, and the lucid ambiance palpable. If you're just starting out this is a great choice. People who now view my photos assume that I have some kind of talent or training, but I am honest and admit to them that it's really the camera.

I bought this camera last summer (...). this camera is extremely better, and aside from what you read, it is an excellent camera for point and shoot. it comes with a users guide on your computer that is useful if you want to do more difficult and more proffesional kind of photography, or you can simply just shoot photos ease and without worry. the options are endless and the picture quality is great. here at college, i use the camera a lot and share the pictures with my friends on email. this camera is durable, simple, and overall a great buy. and its right in between the cheap digital camera, and an the expensive ones.

This camera is so easy to use, and it takes great pictures. I put off buying a digital camera for a long time. Too complicated, I thought. Too much to learn, it'll be a hassle to use with the computer. But our business required that we advance and go digital. When it came, I was apprehensive. But within minute's of reading through the basic operation's manual, I was snapping pic's around the house! Wow, I thought! What took me so long?! It's very user-friendly, it feels and fits well into your hand, is light-weight & has a large view window. I like that it's a marriage of both HP and Pentax technologies. Both companies that I know and trust. It come's with an infra-red remote to snap shots, but I found this a little tricky to use as you have to get it pointed at the camera just right in order to triger a shot. The automatic timer works better. There was one clitch however. It was draining the batteries over night. I called HP and they somewhat hinted that, yes, that was a little problem with a few of them. But it was no problem at all to swap it for another new one with either Amazon, or HP. I'm glad we opted to try again and not choose another brand. The 2nd. one has a much longer battery life (week's), and we use it a lot. If this is to be your first digital camera, I'd recommend you also order an extra flash card, extra set of rechargable batteries and a re-charger, and a card-reader. I like the "SanDisk" reader. It's simple and easy to use. So figure on spending at least another $100.00 on accessories. For a mid-range digital camera, in my opinion, this one can't be beat.

In addition to all the other comments here, the HP C618 has a couple of very appealing features:

- Traditional Pentax "retro" appearance, more resolution than most people need, very nice onscreen menus, unique IR blasting features, automatic lens cover, and picture quality is light-years better than my last camera (especially on outdoor shots). The default 16mb card stores 100 800x600 images or 29 1600x1200 images at "better quality"

- PC Connect mode simulates a generic hard disk to both Macs and Win2K (no software or adapters needed for to connect to an average PC, plug it in using any standard USB printer cable)

- Scripting language is very useful, I downloaded several free scripts and documentation from the ... site and had them copied to flash in minutes...I've since written a couple of scripts, including one for "bracketing" shots (takes multiple pictures with various exposure or zoom levels)

On the flip side, you'll need to accept that...

- The battery drain is significant at times...I found some AA couldn't provide enough oomph when the camera what shooting (especially several shots in a row). The includes AA Photo Lithium batteries were flawless and provided 200 shots with a high percentage of flash shots, screen usage, and USB connections. I plan on trying Radio Shack NMH rechargables as people suggest

- The flash is too bright on indoor shots less than ~5 feet...as others suggested, I've taped some tissue over the flash and sometimes also have to reduce the exposure setting to get a good shot in these cases. If you're doing eBay or inventory work you'll need to set up other sources of light. and disable the camera flash.

- There was not as much software included for Macintosh computers...just some generic image editing tools (the ... site claims to have a free software download for Macs but the link is broken and you end up getting their software for an older HP camera). I honestly don't think this is a big deal, as the connections to my Mac are so easy in USB drive mode I'd just assume not clutter up my disk with stuff I wouldn't use.

I love this camera...originally I'd thought I'd wanted the cute little Canon ELPH S100 but the HP has better optics, value, and customization using the scripting language. I also was very impressed with the Kodak 3400 (this was a close call but the asthetics, scripting, 3x zoom, and USB drive emulation on the HP won me over)

I have had this camera for about a year and I love it. All in all we have taken about 2000 pictures with it and we love the b/w, color, or sepia option. I have taken some really beautiful pictures that are worthy of being framed and out on the wall. I have noticed the battery problem but that is easily fixed by getting rechargeable batteries and putting the quality on good (you still get great pictures). I would say that we can take 125-150 straight shots with the rechargeable batteries. I have not had to talk to HP tech support so I can't comment on that. We did take this camera to Hawaii and got about 400 absolutely great pictures. I also found that it is incredibly easy to download and email my pictures. Once they are downloaded I email them to friends/family or I burn them onto a CD for people as a photo album, it saves a ton of money. I think a lot of the problems that other reviewers have run into have less to do with the actually camera as it does with either tech support, or technology problems with their computers. If you follow the setup instructions, this camera is very easy to use on the computer and a lot of fun to take pictures with.

This so called camera turened all the pictures I took in to terriable waste. I would never buy anything from this company agian because they don't have any acceptable pieces. Not only did I have to spend 95 dollars on this I had to buy somthing somthing just to prtint the picture.

I read alot of reviews before purchasing this camera and I was amazed at all of the features that this camera has. However, I quickly found that all of these features where useless because after taking only 1 picture using the LCD the battery indicator would flash and the camera would turn off. I thought I must have a faulty camera and upon calling HP technical support they told me that I should be able to take around 6 pictures using the LCD. I was disapointed to hear that 6 pictures would be the maximum pictures I could take when my friend was taking over 80 pictures with his Fuji on christmas day. I have a great camera with lots of features that is always being recharged.

Wow you get lots for what you pay!! I know everyone complains about battery life but if you charge up and drain the batteries 4 times like it says they last forever. We bought a second set too just so we never have to worry. Pictures come out excellent. I printed an 81/2 by 11 glossy and you wouldnt know it wasnt from a studio! I fully recommend this digital camera.

I bought this camera several months ago based on online reviews and recommendations and based in no small part on the fact that this was one of only a handful that had published support for Windows 2000.

The camera is easy to use both when shooting pictures and when uploading those pictures to your computer via its USB interface.

The camera has three basic settings for picture quality (size). Like all digital cameras, it uses a lossy compression to save stored photos and the smallest ones cannot be blown up without significant pixelation. The medium sized ones are better for snapshots or web-ready pics and the large ones are quite large and would need to be edited or scaled before viewing over a slow connection. Larger pictures require more storage so the larger your chosen size the lower your capacity. At the camera's highest quality (largest size) setting this camera will store 8 photos. The camera uses standard memory sticks so this may not be an issue for you if you have more than one memory stick.

In my experience toting the camera around to take snapshots it has two significant drawbacks.

1. It is a battery hog - forcing you to take your picture and then turn the camera off quickly (close the lens cover). It will automatically turn off after a period of inactivity but not before significantly draining the battery. Turning off the LCD display vastly improves performance but of course instant results is one of the great things about having a digital camera in the first place.

2. Don't expect to be able to take very quick snapshots. I took this camera on a tour bus once and tried to take a couple of shots but to take a picture you must first aim, frame, depress the shutter button halfway, (to get a focus lock), and then depress the shutter button the entire way to save the picture. Even with practice it's very hard to get off a quick shot especially if you're moving. Many of my attempts resulted in no picture at all. I might have preferred an off-center photo but that's not an option.

If your photography consists of taking pictures of still subjects or does not require you to aim and shoot quickly this may be a good camera for you at a reasonable price.

It has 2.1 Megapixel, In other words really high quality for non-professional use. And its price is really nice. It is really easy to use (taking pictures, uploading images, its software). I strongly recommend this digital camera.

I found the camera I was looking for at a great price and according to the Amazon comments, it could reach me in 14 days which fit my vacation schedule - close, but a fit. When I got Amazon's confirming e-mail the 14 days had turned into 21 days.
This leaves me on Waikiki with no camera. I contacted ahauction about upgrading the shipment to some faster method. At no additional charge, the camera arrived (PA to CA) before the e-mail with the tracking number got to me. That is CUSTOMER SERVICE

I would never hesitate to purchase from ahauction. P.S. I knew what I was getting in the camera. Everything was there, in a HP factory box and it works just as it is supposed to.

I was first time buyer of this package deal, camera and printer. Was so happy when i got it home till i went to hook it up and OMG THE SERVICE I received from HP was so bad I will never purchase another product from them. IT JUST WAS NOT WORTH THE HASSEL THEY GAVE ME. AND THE RUDENESS TO A CUSTOMER.AND THEN LIE TO BOOT. OMG

Just bought this package and have been extremely surprised. I had been looking at digital cameras and just recently my printer went south. If you buy the camera alone it is 7/8's the total package price.Printer set up well and seems easy to use. No problems but don't really expect photo quality. Camera is great too for my purposes. Software quite simple. I recomend you also get the optional black printing cartridge and definately ugrade to a larger flash card like a 32 or 64mb. All in all I was not expecting a ... top notch printer [and camera] so I am very pleased. A real value. Only thing I don't like is HP sells the A/C adapter for [aditional money]. This is really necessary if uploading alot. And don't expect the batteries to last as long as the one in the TV remote.

I bought this package about 2 weeks ago and have been very glad that I did. I was looking for my first digital camera but did not want a 1.3 megapixel camera to start with. The image quality is quite good with great color and sharpness. I'd have spent double of what I did buying the printer and camera separately. It is a really sweet deal considering that I was only after the camera. What's more is that both are fully compatible with Mac OS X and iPhoto. I highly recommend this package looking for an entry level digicam and a good quality printer!

HP continues to live off their printer reputation by engineering over-priced products that are riddled with bugs and incompatibility issues. I spend most of my time manually unplugging the set from the power supply because the system continually wigs out and locks up, and removing the power cable is the only way to reset it. Their search feature is archaic at best. What they don't tell you is that this device can only read certain bit/sampling rates. If you've copied your CDs using the Windows Media Player's WMA Lossless format the songs will not play on this device. By an XP computer and use the Windows Media Player with a good sound card and you'll be much happier and have a lot more functionality.

The box seems incapable of handling any network unreliability which can happen in a wireless network. If I shutdown my WAP, the connection to the server is lost, but when I bring it back up the EW5000 does not reestablish the connection--you either have to power cycle or re-apply the network settings in the config menu.
Secondly, the unit has a tendency to get behind on button presses from the remote. When accessing things on the network, the user interface hangs until it is complete. Then all those button presses are processed. My unit has had a tendency to hang(requiring power cycling)--especially when I make the network unreliable by walking near the unit with my cordless phone(2.4Ghz). The unit also seems a bit deaf. I get 60% only 15 feet away from my WAP. My laptop gets full strength signals all over the house including downstairs. HP, to their credit, is sending me a no-hassle replacement, but they didn't sound to hopeful that anything significant will change. The support team, however, spent a great deal of time with me to try to solve the problem. I give them very high marks. Oh yes, in case you are wondering, I did update the firmware to the latest release. It helped slightly, but did not fix the problems.

On the other hand, when it works, it is a nice unit. Easy to choose the music, pictures, etc. A nice feature is to assign a music play list to a photo album. Also, when making changes on the PC, the unit seems to pick up the changes without rebooting. The song title/info is in a small font. I wish that they would display the song in the screen saver instead of the HP logo.
The only major drawback is that you need to serve the files from a Windows PC. You cannot use Linux/Samba or any open standard file sharing system. I was thinking of adding a network harddisk to my network. This is no longer an option. I notice that Sony is also using a proprietary solution for their network server. I was also surprised that I could not control the unit via a web page.

I currently own a TurtleBeach Audiotron which is a far more robust and versatile unit. If it had a TV interface for music selection I would not even consider the EW5000 which is a toy by comparison.

I have read a few bad reviews of this product, but I had to verify it for myself. I added the media receiver to my existing wireless network. The unit was placed about 15-20ft (through 1 wall and around 1 corner)from the access point. Upon initial setup of the software it was unable to connect to the router. After repositioning the media receiver (2-3 feet closer to the router and standing the unit on its side)it was able to locate my router. It played for about 2 minutes then lost connection again. I then updated the firmware, which was supposed to improve wirless performance of the device, unfortunately after the update it seemed worse! It took about a dozen tries before finding my server, and after it was up and running, it would drop signal after only a few minutes. I know my wireless network is not at fault because I use a laptop that is double the distance of the media receiver and it gets a good signal. This device may be ok if you are going to use it wired, but for wireless systems, I would wait a while until these type of products become further developed. It seems HP released these way too soon, and possably with inferior hardware!

I like the images, both resolution and quality-wise. It's a little boxier than I'd like, but then the price makes it a closer performer to the $700 cameras. Something not mentioned anywhere I've seen is that the lens used happens to accept standard 37mm filters - Tiffen and Sunpak have a pretty good selection available. Very capable flash unit despite the size, probably due to the pretty sensitive CCD (took some pictures inside the house with all the lights turned off - came out like daylight). Nice bright LCD with fine resolution. A little slow on picture-to-picture transitions when in Slideshow mode (initially resolves a 50% pixelated version, then slowly draws in the refinement over about 15 secs. per picture). TV Out seemed to take as much battery life as running the LCD (you get about 15 mins continuous life max out of the supplied 1400ma Ni-MH AA's.)

I LOVE IT! I read the reviews months ago and bought this inexpensive camera for general and web use. I read that the batteries don't last, and I tried (and failed) to find the Sony adapter to prevent undue battery wear. I went through 4 batteries the first day! BUT WAIT! That was March, and I'm still on my second set of batteries without using any kind of adapter. I've probably taken 700 photos with my C200. Two words of advice: 1-close the cover and then reopen it when the battery reads DEAD; it's good for another month (I wasted those first 4 batteries!) at least. 2- get the HP PhotoSmart P1000 Printer ($700 for both before the rebate). You just plug the disc film into the side and the printer does the rest. Great Quality, nice companion for the C200. I read all the reviews here, decided on this combo, and still had no idea how great this would be for me and my family!

Wow! We are very surprised. We bought this digital camera to help us remember the houses we visited as we looked for a home in the Seattle area - after 80 or so houses they really do all start to look the same! It's an outstanding piece of harware.

The camera takes fine pictures up to a goodenough resolution for reviewing on the TV, posting on a website, or pretty much anything apart from blowing them up to poster size.

The battery life which we had thought of as a really serious concern for digital cameras has been outstanding - we filled the supplied CF card (88 images at low resolution) more than 4 times without even having the battery drop from full - including using the flash and the LCD a little. This is pretty much uheard of in a digital camera.

As a starting point for digital cameras I highly recommend this - it has done a fine job for us! The only issue is the slow download to the PC when you have the CF card pretty much full, but that's only a minor quibble.

I am very happy with my camera but I am having a problem with the computer reading the camera for photo imaging. I have the imaging software on my home and work computer but they both say that it cannnot read the camera. I have check everything but it still will not work. Can you help with my problem? Thank you.