Hewlett-Packard Photosmart R927 Pro Review

Dec, 6 2006 10:21AM

Hewlett-Packard Photosmart R927 Review

HP Photosmart R927 Digital Camera Pro Review

The HP Photosmart R927 is a shiny, attractive, 8.1-megapixel compact digital camera with a huge, 3-inch LCD display. Unfortunately, it appears that Hewlett Packard put their energy into the R927's physical design instead of what really counts - the photos.

HP Photosmart R927 Studio Test Images
	ISO 100 Sample >> ISO 200 Sample >> ISO 400 Sample >>

HP Photosmart R927 Resources
All HP Photosmart R927 Photos >> HP Photosmart R927 User Reviews >> HP Photosmart R927 Camera Specs >> Write a Review >> HP Web site >> nhatgnat Profile >>

Hewlett-Packard Photosmart R927 Pros and Cons

Pros Looks cool - handsome elegant design Big LCD display Good graphic user interface - especially scrolling images Nice button layout Fun options Can easily attach audio clip to image	Cons Big lcd has poor image quality and makes the camera too big Constant auto focus sound is annoying Poor image quality Grainy images even at ISO 100 Big and heavy for a point-and-shoot camera Poorly designed battery door Mandatory camera dock for downloading and battery charging Limited zooming capability

Introduction

I really wanted to like this camera, probably because I like local, San Francisco Bay Area companies and I've visited HP in the past and found their employees to be both friendly and very intelligent. My first impression when I opened the box was positive. The Photosmart R927 is a big, good-looking digital camera.

Hewlett-Packard Photosmart R927 Features

The HP Photosmart R927 includes all the usual suspects as far as exposure modes go - full auto, aperture priority (Av), shutter priority (Tv), and manual. When you're in the "My Mode" shooting mode you can save every function, which is great. If you don't use My Mode, every time you turn the camera off and back on the camera automatically resets every function. But if you select "My Mode" and scroll down to the bottom of the menu to "My Mode Saved Settings," you can choose which settings you'd like to keep. The R927 Shooting Modes also include a "Snow" setting to properly expose for that cold white stuff, and a neat panorama mode, which automatically stitches together 2-5 images.

HP Photosmart R927 - Design Gallery and Artistic Effects
Left: HP Photosmart R927 Design Gallery main menu
Right: HP Photosmart R927 Artistic Effects menu

There are lots of thoughtful and fun features included in the HP R927. One of the neater functions is the built-in "HP Design Gallery," which allows the photographer to add borders or "Artistic Effects", right in the camera. There are many " Artistic Effects", including "Ink Dots," which simulates the pointillism painting technique; "Retro," a two-color, high-contrast look from the 70s; and "Watercolor," which mimics the look of a watercolor painting. What do you do with an out of focus picture? Apply one of the nifty "Artistic Effects " to your blurry photo and no one will ever know the difference! When you use an HP Design Gallery effect, the camera makes a duplicate file so the original image is always preserved. The extra images will take up some extra space. But if you're running out of memory, the Photosmart R927 has a 12-frame buffer (32 megabytes of built-in memory) so you can continue to shoot when your SD card is full or if you don't have one available.

Another neat feature is the ability to attach an audio file to an image. If you take a picture and you're not sure you will remember where the picture was taken, you can record, "this is Chick-Fil-A in Norfolk," and attach the sound file to your photo. Or if you photograph cousin Joe-Bob but know you won't remember his name when you get home, you can record, "this is Joe-Bob, my second cousin from Fresno."
The HP Photosmart R927 comes with a camera dock, which is nice for downloading photos to your desktop computer and keeping your batteries charged. However, the dock is required for downloading and battering charging. So if you're traveling, you have to take it with you.

Hewlett-Packard Photosmart R927 Design

The HP Photosmart R927's overall design is very good. It's a great looking camera with its cool stainless steel case and enormous 3-inch rear LCD display . Whoever designed the body of this camera put a lot of thought into ergonomics. There is a great indentation in the front of the camera that fit my hand super comfortably. The shutter button is in the usual place but smartly raised so it's easy to find by feel.

HP Photosmart R927 - lcd and controls
Left: HP Photosmart R927 3-inch LCD display
Right: HP Photosmart R927 button controls

Button layout is very good, with the most important functions (except shooting mode) given their own buttons along the top of the camera. The buttons are big and easy to press so it's easy to turn the flash on and off, switch to the movie mode, etc. The zoom control is placed just about perfectly, on the back right of the camera with the Menu/Ok and scroll buttons right below it. All of these controls are within easy reach of the photographer's thumb. An elegant blue light lets you know the camera power is on.
However, the large LCD screen makes the R927 quite bulky and heavy for a point-and-shoot digital camera. It does fit in a pocket, though a bit uncomfortably. I really like the stainless steel look though I was constantly worried about scratching the camera. But if you like the look of stainless - and who doesn't these days - then you'll love the look of the HP R927. An extra bonus is that you can leave it in your kitchen with your stainless steel appliances and it'll blend right in.

HP Photosmart R927 - LCD Display
HP Photosmart R927 during capture

HP Photosmart R927 playback mode

HP Photosmart R927 playback mode with all image info displayed

HP Photosmart R927 Playback Menu with Image Advice selected

Camera Experience

One would think that with current technology, a point-and-shoot camera would be virtually silent. The HP Photosmart R927 is not quiet. When you turn it on it makes an audible "whrrr-zzzz." And it makes the same obtrusive noise when you turn it off. The noisy auto focus was an unpleasant surprise. The camera is constantly auto-focusing, which wouldn't be half as annoying if the auto focus was silent, as it should be. Of course if you're in a noisy location you won't notice it. But if you're in a quiet place and want to be unobtrusive, then the R927 may be noisy enough to make you uncomfortable. HP Photosmart R927 - Lens

Most people will be excited by the huge 3-inch LCD display on the back of the 927. However, the quality of the display is grainy soft, and generally pretty poor. I'd prefer a sharper LCD even if it had to be smaller. And even with the big LCD, sharing photos is awkward. You can't turn the on R927 without the lens popping out. So even if I you just want to share an image with someone, you can't power up the camera and review photos without the noisy lens popping out and getting in the way.

As I already mentioned in the Features section of the review, one of the major drawbacks for me is the docking station. It's nice of HP to include it with the R927. But it's not optional. You have to use the docking station to charge the camera and to download your images to a computer. If you're traveling and you remember the charger but not the docking station, then you're out of luck - the charger won't work without the docking station. If you use the same desktop computer all the time this isn't an issue. But if you travel a lot and need to charge and download on the road then this means one more item to bring with you. And if you forget to bring the dock with you, it will be a big problem because you won't be able to charge or download without it.

The battery door is clunky and doesn't automatically re-latch when closed. You have to physically move the latch back and forth to open or close the door. I was surprised that a camera with an obvious emphasis on physical design would have a problem like this. With such a beautiful brushed steel body, you would think that every design element, especially the utilitarian details, would perfect.

The printed manual is weak. You really need to refer to the CD for a real, detailed instruction manual. The electronic manual is almost 60 pages long, whereas the paper manual that comes in the box has only 20 pages. As an idealist, I believe HP is saving paper because they're environmentally sensitive and not because they're trying to save money. In any case, don't count on the printed manual if you need information.

Image Quality

ISO is auto or can be manually set between ISO 100 and 400. Of course, like most digital point-and-shoot cameras, as soon as you go past 100 ISO there is a sharp drop in quality. See our studio tests to compare image quality at the different ISO settings.

The HP Photosmart R927 images are huge - about 8x11 inches at 300 dpi or 12x16.5 inches at 200 dpi. But as is so often the case - bigger isn't always better. When viewing at 100% images aren't very sharp and there is a lot of digital grain (noise) in the shadows. The colors are pretty good, though a bit over-saturated.

The flash exposes well and maintains good skin tone so using it is recommended. I was impressed with the HP R927's exposure metering. One image I took of a bright white wall was amazingly well exposed. Typically, auto exposure metering will compensate for the bright wall and underexpose, making the white wall appear gray. And the easily accessible exposure compensation control can correct for any over or under exposure.

In the final image quality evaluation, if you're going to be sharing images on the web then the HP R927 is fine. If you need to make big prints (over 11x14) or expect excellent image quality, then the R927 will likely disappoint you with obvious noise and over-saturated color.

Click on thumbnails to view sample photos.