Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart C315/315xi

THIS IS MY SECOND DIGITAL CAMERA, MY FIRST WAS A POLAROID FUN FLASH (640X480)WHICH I PAID $100.00 I WANTED BETTER PICTURE QUALITY COMP-USA OFFERED THE HP 315 FOR $176.00 & THREW IN A 64MB CARD WOW WHAT A DIFFERENCE $76 MAKES, ALSO ONE DAY IT FELL 4'' TO THE FLOOR AND COME UP UNDAMAGED !

DURABLE , GOOD QUALITY , REASONABLE PRICE

WOULD LIKE A TEXTURED BODY TO GET A BETTER GRIP

POLAROID FUN FLASH

I rate this camera as "good" for a beginner digital camera and “fair” to “poor” for a professional use camera. I rate this camera as "good" for a beginner digital camera and “poor” to “disastrous” for a professional use camera. This camera is my first digital camera. After I became aware of a couple of weaknesses with this camera, I could work around its weaknesses to get it to take some decent pictures. However, I also now know when to use a different camera. Attempting to use this camera under low light conditions or to capture action can be very frustrating. Low light conditions result in disappointing picture quality. The flash doesn’t appear to always be in synch with the shutter since come pictures come out too dark even when the flash goes off. The camera shell design also makes it easy to get one’s finger covering the flash. The camera’s very slow response is my biggest frustration with it. After pressing the shutter release button, the camera may take a couple of seconds before actually taking the picture. For anything but still photography, I suggest don’t try to use this camera. Fast moving subjects result in smearing of the subject or missing the subject altogether. The grainy and small LCD screen does not allow reviewing the picture in sufficient detail to determine the quality of the picture. This means that when you get back to your computer to review the picture in more detail, you often find that the picture needs to be retaken because it’s out of focus or smeared because the camera is too slow. The display of the picture on the LCD is also noticeably slow. The software that comes with the camera is OK. However, the automatically chosen folder names are in the form of mm_dd_yyyy hh:mm makes finding the folders inconvenient. A better folder naming scheme would have been yyyy_mm_dd hh:mm. The convenience of digital photography at a reasonable price is what makes this camera attractive.

Low cost. Conveniences associated with being digital.

Slooowwww!!! - resulting in smearing and/or loss of subject. Low light performance. Auto-focus. Flash is easy to accidentally cover. Flash occasionally out of synch with shutter. 8MB Flash RAM should be minimum of 64MB.

None.

Good. Used web to update camera firmware.

I have used 35mm cameras for many years. This was to be my experiment with digital cameras. I did not want to risk much money and I choose my HP Photosmart 315 (non XI). Well I have now converted to digital and am getting a second camera a Fuji FinePix 2400. First off for all the ZOOM lovers out there, this camera offers little. The three steps of digital zoom are nice but the price to pay in picture quality is high. The old fashioned rule works very well here "get closer to your subject". Pictures created by this machine mirror the care the taker uses. This camera is simple to understand and use. HP is a great company and they have provided in this camera a great tool for anyone who wants to try digital photography. For the price of this camera you could buy one lens for a 35mm camera and it would not be the best. The flash works well. The lens max. opening is well chosen and allows great pictures in low light, without the flash. The Jet Send feature is a great boon to people who use it. Using it with a NIMH battery recharging system is the way to go (2 sets of 4). I find the self timer a great asset. Sliding lens cap - love it. The software and USB cable work well. All the software that comes with the camera is good.

Very affordable in relation to it''s quality! Simple to use and understand The 2.1 mega-pixels is satisfactory for most of us. HP has done a fine job here - just like many of their fine printers.

No optical zoom. I would have liked a focus lock my finge is too shakey.

Many 35 mm cameras for many years (I believe that is why I appreciate the genius of this camera).

HP web services.

The HP 315 is a nice start for the beginning digital photographer. Obviously it is not the high end 4.3 megapixel camera with every feature under the sun, but then too, it doesn't carry the $3K price either. The HP 315 performs well in most general lighting conditions. The flash, though small, works very well in a 2 - 15 foot range. And can be used as a fill flash in outdoor sunlight shots with above average results. Color rendition is superb in all resolution modes. Reds do have a slight tendency to bleed, but most digitals have this problem when compared to traditional photography. The high resolution mode is the only one to use. Sure, you only get 10 shots this way with the included 8MB Compact Flash card, but buying a 48MB or 64MB card is actually quite reasonable now-a-days. And at 2.11 mp, the images print very well (especially on photo printers such as the Photosmart or the Kodak (made by Lexmark). Price is decent. Do your shopping. You can regularly find this camera on the Net for under $250. Myself, I picked it up from Staples.com using coupons and rebates to get it down to just under $150. Look for the price to continue to fall through Christmas as HP introduces it's newest digitals and as 2.1 mp becomes the new benchmark as the minimum entry level digital camera. This camera is easy to use. The kids can snap photos using this camera. Just keep the LCD screen off so you don't chew up the batteries. And have fun.

2.11 MP at a reasonable cost. Fast USB downloads. Last picture review ability. Decent battery life w/o using LCD screen constantly. Superb color rendition. Price. Included software is very nice.

Reds do tend to bleed, especially at lower resolution. No OPTICAL zoom (has digital). zoom operates only with LCD screen on. No interchangeable lens or lens filters to fit directly on the lens itself.

Kodak DC40, HP 215, Kodak DC50, Olympus C-211, Minolta Dimage, Olympus E10, Ricoh 5000, Kodak DC4800, Nikon 800.

N/A

This camera is my second HP digital. My experience with my C500 took great pics but was not as good as this one because it was SO SLOW and ate batteries faster than a 6 year old eats french fries. The 315 solves these problems. It is super fast, takes GREAT high quality pics, and downloads at great speed with the supplied USB connection. My only real gripes are that you have to buy an AC adapter in addition to the camera and you can't take photos very close up with any detail. Standard indoor and outdoor pics are superb. If you don't want to buy an adapter, camera does last a long time on NIMH rechargeables. I purchased an aftermarket adapter for $25.00 instead of the HP $50.00 unit and it works perfectly. They are for sale on Ebay. I compared this camera to many other digitals and none of them were in this league unless they were at least twice as expensive. Quality for the money, I can't find one better...and I am very picky.

Great image quality even on lowest setting.

Poor close-up ability. No AC Adapter.

HP C500 Nikon EM

None yet... Fingers crossed.