|
Average rating:
3.78
|
|
|
|
|||
 |
HP Photosmart M224.1 megapixels | 1.5" screen | 37 mm
|
|
Average rating:
3.78
|
|
|
|
Opinion: Considering the specifications I decided M22 is the camera for my daughter (she is 10): metal case, waterproof, small, no external moving parts, standard batteries, easy to use, reasonable image quality.
I have deliberately ignored the internet warnings over reliability considering that every product has its share of bad copies. Big mistake! Twice as big since I live in Bucharest and here the price is twice the price in NY (I have paid about 170$).
The first camera the seller took it from the sealed box refused to start. He changed the batteries, and then he replaced them with rechargeable batteries... no result. It was like he took it from its coffin.
The second one started nicely. I have played with it a bit but I have failed to notice the aluminum case had a defect, not a big problem but annoying.
I knew this kind of camera does not correctly report the status of battery, so I replaced the firmware with the last released version and then I took about 20 pictures. Then... the camera ceases to work: each time I pushed the shooting button the LCD started to flicker like a psychedelic light and then the camera restarts. Finally, like the one in the first coffin, it refused to start. I have changed the batteries... nothing... dead!
The service guy refused to officially tell me how many HP cameras failed to work but he, unofficially, told me I bought the worst camera. HP proved it has no respect for customers.
Pros: when you start the camera (if it starts!) with the flash button pressed, a set of test applications start. One of these applications is searching for dead pixels and, if it finds any, it re-computes the interpolation matrix so as to hide the dead pixels. The service guys from Canon asked me about 30$ to perform this operation on an A70.
There is one good thing about this story: I have learned to listen to internet opinion.
Opinion: I wanted an inexpensive point and shoot camera without a motor driven optics extender.
Heck, with 5.1 megapixels and digital zoom, coupled with Paintshop Pro, who needs optical zoom!
I can grab a wide "point and click" shot at 5.1 megapixels, and still have a better quality cropped image in my photo editing program than I could take with my older 3.1 megapixel camera!
Wonderful.
Problems: None yet
Opinion: I'm an architect and wanted a very portable camera to use in lots of circumstances - inside and outside of finished buildings, details, construction sites, client workspaces, meetings, etc. This camera is excellent for the purpose. Cost and size were minimized by elimination of optical zoom but the 4 megapixel image stands enlargement and captures great closeup detail. Best point/shoot digital I've had for indoor shots without a flash. Color fidelity is pretty good and manual selection of light source makes it better. Water-resistance is a plus.
Problems: Sliding front door protects the optics nicely but I thumb-print the lens frequently. When turning on the camera, it is possible to retain any manual adjusments previously made, but holding in the back button while simultaneously sliding open the front cover takes some practice. Ate batteries until I discovered the HP web site had a downloadable firmware upgrade. Battery life much improved but use the movie mode sparingly. When will HP make interface software for modestly competent grownups? Just download and store, don't need flowered picture frames, thank you. But the only way to get sound recording on stills is if you let their software take over your computer. I'd buy this camera again but all these gripes are fixable if HP would listen to their customers and put a junior engineer on it for a couple of weeks.
Opinion: I bought this camera because I wanted a small and light compact to carry with me at all times. The handling is good and the controls well laid out. Picture quality was also very acceptable. Bearing in mind that this is a small pocketable camera I am very pleased with the results.
Update 5 March 2006: I have dropped this camera a couple of times, once onto concrete! Although it is now looking rather battered it is still functioning perfectly. Since I downloaded a firmware upgrade the battery life has improved.
Problems: I found it difficult to remove the memory card so instead of using a card reader I used a USB cable to transfer images to computer. The camera seems to eat batteries. A set of fully recharged NiMH batteries only yielded 60 pictures
Opinion: I've bought this camera three weeks ago.I liked the size and the look of it and I didn't expect a good performance.
I have another (more expensive) camera and I needed a second smaller pocket-size camera for everyday use.
However the camera turned out to be a good one.
It has very comprehensive intelligent menus,it's easy to understand and use.I find the digital red-eye reduction very useful.
The picture quality is not impressive,but it's not bad,either.
I was surprised that the lens don't suffer from noticeable chromatic aberrations and there's a good infra-red filter allowing me to capture beautiful sunsets.
The quality of the movie clip is quite good for such a cheap camera,although the sound is noisy.
I already managed to get this camera sprinkled with sea water and nothing happened.Suppose the construction is well done.
Overall,I am glad that I bought it.It even surpassed my expectations.
Problems: The lens are very easy to touch with fingers.One should be aware of it,or else the fingerprints make the picture blurry.
It drains the batteries too fast.However I bought a pair of 2500mAh NiMH cells and I took more than 150 pictures without recharging.
I work in 2Mpixels mode.When I use slight digital zoom,if the resulting picture is again 2Mpixels,the picture is grainy.I suppose the interpolation is not very good.If I zoom-in more,this effect disappears although the resolution is decreased to less than 2Mpix.It's a funny effect and I can't notice it always.
The sound of the movie clip is very weak and noisy.
The colour depth of the CCD is not a good one.If you underexpose the picture and try to compensate it afterwards,the digital noise very soon is brought to the surface.That's why it's very important to expose the picture properly.I usually use +1/3 EV.
Most of the settings (like white ballance,EV and so on) are set to the default values when you turn off the camera.For some unexperienced users this may be a good feature,but I don't like it.
|
|
Reviews and specs
|
Galleries
|
Challenges
|
 | 22.3 megapixels 3.2" screen Full frame sensor |
