HP PHOTOSMART 945

HP’s photosmart 945 (£399 inc. VAT) isn’t what you’d call an attractive camera, and its blocky casing is finished in dull black plastic. However, if you look past the design and examine its features, then it has a lot going for it. Key among its features is an 8x optical zoom lens, matching 37-300mm in a 35mmfilm camera. This means that you can take a variety of shots ranging from group photos to close-ups. With a 7x digital zoom, total magnification is 56x. Unfortunately, the optical zoom in our review unit wasn’t very smooth, progressing in small jerky steps.

The photosmart can capture images at up to 5 megapixels, ensuring high detail. Its maximum image size is 2608 x 1952 pixels, and a 1-megapixel mode gives you 1296 x 976 pixels. Three compression settings balance picture quality with file size, and you can capture288 x 208-pixel video with sound for a maximum of one minute. A 32MB Secure Digital (SD) card is supplied, which holds 11 images at the highest settings and up to 96 at the lowest. That’s enough to get you started, but you should budget for a bigger card at some point.

However, it’s a convenient format because it’s used by most PDAs and laptops. This camera is particularly easy to operate, and the primary control is the shooting-mode selector surrounding the shutter button. You can choose from auto, action, landscape, portrait and video modes. It also has AV (aperture priority) and TV (shutter priority), giving a high degree of creative control. The flash pops up by pressing a switch on the top of the camera. An excellent ‘digital flash’ feature achieves a similar affect by electronically balancing bright and dark areas, and it’s very good at enhancing detail in shadows. More controls are around the back of the device, with a thumb-operated zoom above a 4-way menu navigation pad.

Buttons take you through flash control, self-timer and focus settings, the latter allow in auto, macro, infinity and manual modes. You can also toggle the screen, display recorded images and control automatic printing and emailing. Specific settings, such as resolution and colour balance, are done via the on-screen menu, which includes a handy help feature. You have the choice of using either the electronic viewfinder or the 2-inch colour LCD display screen (557 x 234 pixels) for taking photos, viewing results and navigating the menu. However, the viewfinder’s dioptre adjustment ring is annoyingly easy to bump from its setting and the electronic image is slow to react to movement, even blacking out when an image is taken.

A sensor turns the viewfinder on and off as your eye approaches. Because the 2-inch screen uses up batteries quickly, you might want the optional camera dock with rechargeable batteries, adding to the cost. The HP photosmart 945 is a mixed bag with some disappointments, specifically the zoom action, the electronic viewfinder and the lack of AC adapter. However, it also packs a high specification into a rugged camera that’s simple to operate, and gives you a very useful optical zoom range for the price.

RATING: 7
PRICE: £339/£399 (EX/INC. VAT) / £382/£499 WITH DOCK
SENSOR: 5 MEGAPIXEL CCD
LENS: 8X OPTICAL ZOOM, 7X DIGITAL
IMAGE SIZES: UP TO 2608 X 1952 PIXELS (STILLS) AND 288 X 208 PIXELS (VIDEO)
MONITOR: ELECTRONIC VIEWFINDER & 2-INCH POLYSILICON TFT LCD
IMAGE STORAGE: SD CARD (32MB SUPPLIED)/MMC
FLASH: BUILT-IN AUTO FLASH WITH SEVEN MODES
WEIGHT: 460G WITH BATTERIES
SIZE (W X H X D): 115 X 85 X 85MM
BATTERIES: 4 X AA
TRANSFER: USB
SOFTWARE: HP PHOTO & IMAGING; HP MEMORIES DISC CREATOR
CONTACT: 08705 474747 WWW.HP.COM/UK