HP PhotoSmart 612

CNET editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.0 stars Mediocre
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 4.6 (2.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Jay Munro
• Reviewed on: 02/21/2002
• Updated on: 10/30/2002

A no-frills snapshot camera for families, students, and eBay denizens, the HP PhotoSmart 612 offers 2-megapixel resolution at a 1-megapixel price. The good news is that the camera is so simple that it has virtually no learning curve, but its lack of controls limits its usefulness for taking anything but daylight or flash pictures. With many 2-megapixel competitors falling into the same price range, the 612 is left trailing the pack.A no-frills snapshot camera for families, students, and eBay denizens, the HP PhotoSmart 612 offers 2-megapixel resolution at a 1-megapixel price. The good news is that the camera is so simple that it has virtually no learning curve, but its lack of controls limits its usefulness for taking anything but daylight or flash pictures. With many 2-megapixel competitors falling into the same price range, the 612 is left trailing the pack.

Simple and slow
With an ergonomically pleasing--if not especially compact--shape that fits nicely into your hand, the 612 weighs 11.5 ounces with four AA batteries and a CompactFlash card installed. The camera's control layout is very straightforward, with dedicated buttons for image quality, flash, and self-timer settings, as well as a nicely out-of-the-way power switch. Its bright optical viewfinder makes composing easy. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of the dim LCD, particularly in outdoor light. In addition, the camera's poor playback display makes it difficult to judge picture quality. On the other hand, it's easy to navigate the minimal LCD menus with the jog wheel on the back of the camera.

Bare-bones is the only way to describe the 612's feature set. You can select from three picture-quality levels and four flash settings, but everything else is fully automatic. An internal 8MB of memory lets you save seven highest-quality images, and you can purchase CompactFlash cards to increase the camera's capacity. The lens zooms quickly through its small 2X range. Although it lacks a macro setting, we got usable images of subjects as close as 15 inches, with and without flash.

The flash covers its recommended range of up to nine feet well in normal room lighting. However, the camera has trouble locking focus in a dimly lit room, displaying an "Unable to focus" message on the LCD in situations that are too dark for it to handle. The 612 also has a pokey shutter delay of about 2 seconds, although prefocusing cuts the wait to about half a second. Processing time between shots can be as long as 10 seconds, depending on the picture quality you've selected. The camera depletes alkaline batteries pretty quickly if you use the LCD as a preview screen, so you should plan to pick up some longer-lasting nickel-metal-hydride batteries and a charger if you opt for the 612. Continue reading

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