HP PhotoSmart 850

Wish I had bought another camera.

I've had the HP PhotoSmart 850 a year now and have taken some spectacular photos in Cuba, Amazon Jungle & of the kids!! As my first real digital it has been superb although I was sometimes reluctant to take it everywhere with me because of the cost (down £100 since I purchased) Battery charger and extra memory are a must.

I bought the HP PhotoSmart 850 as my first digital camera. I dint know what to expect nor how to really use it. I really liked the camera and figured out how to use it fairly well. I dont have it anymore. I sold it because of one big drawback to me and that was the software hangs up all the time. Also if the camera gets cold, it will hang it. The auto focus is not all that great but is ok for the money. I finally bought a olympus C-750 and it wins hands down over the HP850. The zoom is a 10X and is remarkable on everything it does. It even has some features I have not used yet.

The HP PhotoSmart 850 is a great value for money camera. Looks like an SLR but is slightly smaller and lighter. Picture quality is high (with a 4Mpix sensor it should be!). Built in flash and SD card slot. An easy to use menu system. Also a ridiculous level of zoom - up to 56x including 8x optical. Don't use unless you have very stable hands! Only 3 bad points: the SD card capacity is limited to 128M (though that will hold 64 pics, so not a major problem), the battery life is not great (buy rechargables, you'll need em - but that's true of most hi res digicams), and the software occasionally hangs.

Uses ordinary AA bateries (4) and SD type card. Linux compatible (standard USB type interface). Plastic body a bit flimsy. OS can wig out, usually due to low batteries. Viewfinder should switch on when you look in, but doesn't work well with glasses. For left-handers, LCD not best placed - get big thumprints in it.

I've had the HP PhotoSmart 850 digital camera for over a month now & can't say that I've found any bad points!

The photos that you get using the highest resolution (4M.P.) are really stunning!!

The camera instructions are very easy to follow & the camera it's self is very east to use!

You WILL have to buy more memory for it as the 16MB sold with it is just no where enough!

My advice is buy a 256MB memory card & then you can leave it at 4 M.P. & get about 120 images on the card! I personally don't see the point of downing the image resolution just to get more photos which will not turn out that great, use the highest resolution your camera offers & get great pictures everytime!!

I got my camera from ebay (www.ebay.co.uk)for £220 Which was brand new & sealed WHAT A BARGAIN! & I also got the memory (which is quiet hard to find in the average high st. shop) from ebay also, for £45 which is more than half price on average!

If you're looking for a good digital camera buy the HP PhotoSmart 850 it really is a fantastic camera & if you get it at less than the average(£300)price it makes it all the better!!