5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
Compact, but packs some firepower.
Date of Review: Mar 17, 2007
The Bottom Line: Completely worth the price, if you are after a nice camera with tons of features.
My father got this camera for me after I mentioned to him that I needed one. Now, I'm no expert when it comes to cameras, or technology in general, but this one is wonderful compared to the many other cameras I have used in the past.
So, here's an in depth look at what this camera has got to offer.
Appearance
First off, this thing is tiny. It's 3.7 x 2.4 x 0.9 inches, which means it'll fit anywhere. It's small enough to fit in the palm of your hands! Or my hands, at least. The design is sleek and modern, and even feels nice and smooth! The front features the lens with 6.5mm - 19.6mm focal range and 3x optical zoom. The lens cover snaps open when the camera turns on, which is nice, because it keeps the lens nice and clean. To the left is the flash. The back of the camera features a huge screen which displays what you're going to be taking a photo of, the photos taken, and many different options. There is a button for zoom, one that brings up the menu, and one button for conveniently deleting pictures and videos in one click. The top also has some more convenient buttons for changing flash, focus, printing, and displaying pictures. The bottom has a compartment for the batteries and memory card, and the side features a compartment for USB and recharging. Overall, the design is not only functional, it is also aesthetically pleasing.
Features
I'm sure you can find the specs of this camera at the HP site, since as I said before, I'm not an expert with these things.
But, here are some of the features of the R727.
Shooting Mode
As defined by the camera itself, "Shooting modes are pre-defined settings for everyday situations that give you better control over the results in your digital photography. In each shooting mode, the camera selects the best settings, such as the ISO speed, F-number(aperture), and shutter speed, optimizing them for the particular scene or situation."
There are actually 13 modes, and all of them are pretty helpful, though I have only encountered the need to use about 8 of them.
Auto: "In Auto mode, the camera selects the best F-number and shutter speed for the scene. Auto works well for most shots in normal situations. This mode is also useful when you need to take a good shot quickly, and do not have time to select a special setting." This is the mode that I use most, because it is great for most situations. The flash is great, and the pictures look like what I'm actually trying to take a picture of!
Landscape: "In Landscape mode, the camera combines a higher F-number for better depth of field with higher saturation and sharpness for a more vivid effect. Use landscape mode to capture mountain scenes or any shots with a deep perspective." For this mode, you have to hold the camera still for a few seconds, so that might be the only drawback. Otherwise, it's a very nice shooting mode.
Portrait: "Portrait mode combines a smaller F-number to blur the background, with lower saturation, contrast, and sharpness for a more natural effect. use this mode for photographs that have one or more people as their primary focal point." A pretty nice feature. Skin tones come out quite realistically with this feature, though I think auto works fine if you don't feel like adjusting to this mode.
Theatre: "Theatre mode sets the flash and camera sounds to Off, and optimizes shutter speed to minimize blurry images due to hand shake. hold the camera steady using both hands and gently press the Shutter button for best results. use this mode where the subject is typically in a well-lit area, such as a stage, but the surrounding environment is dark. Examples of this scene may be a play, concert, museum, sporting event or school program." I haven't tried this feature out yet, but I can see it would be a useful feature even if you weren't trying to take a picture during a play, concert, museum, sporting event or school program.
Panorama: "Panorama Right(there's Left also) mode allows you to shoot a series of overlapping frames for stitching into one, large panoramic image using the Stitch Panorama feature in the Playback menu located in your camera or by using the computer software included with your camera. Use this mode for grand landscapes, such as mountain ranges, where you need to capture a wide shot that one image cannot capture. After you take the first shot, an alignment overlay displays providing you with an easy method to line up your remaining shots from left to right (right to left, for Left)." By far the coolest feature. This allows you to take pictures and stitch them together, creating one long image. I've tried this with scenery and with rooms in my house. The resulting image is really cool.
Action: "In Action mode, the camera uses fast shutter speeds to stop motion. Use Action mode to capture sporting events, moving cars, or any scene where you want to stop the action." Another useful feature.
Night Portrait: "Night Portrait mode uses a long exposure with flash to capture the foreground and background. As with any low light scene, hold the camera steady or place the camera on a stable surface while taking the shot. Use this mode when photographing people as the primary focal point in a night or dimly-lit scene." Again, the only drawback is that you have to hold the camera still, or else the picture becomes blurry. Otherwise, it turns out nicely.
Night Scenery: "Night Scenery uses a long exposure with flash set to Off to capture the scene. As with any low light scene, hold the camera steady or place the camera on a stable surface while taking the shot. use this mode when shooting night skylines, or other landscape scenes where the surrounding environment is dark." This feature would be great for taking pictures of cities at night, though once again, hold the camera steady!
Beach: "Beach mode allows you to capture bright beach scenes, with a good balance of highlights and shadows." Haven't been able to test this one out yet, unfortunately.
Snow: "Snow mode allows you to capture bright snow scenes, preserving the correct brightness of the snow." This one I've tried, and it looks nice. The snow looks like snow.
Sunset: "Sunset mode improves the saturation of sunset colors and retains the warmth of the scene with a bias towards the orange colors of the sunset." This one sounds nice, I'll try it out sometime.
Document: "Document mode uses a high contrast setting and a low saturation setting. Flash is set to Off. use this mode for flat, textual, or graphic pieces." I use this feature almost as much as I use auto. This works great if you're too lazy to scan something, because the quality comes out more or less the same. When taking pictures of text, it comes out very sharp. I also use this for taking pictures of my painting, and it works just as well!
There is also a design gallery menu, setup menu and even a help menu built right into the camera!
Why You Should Get This Camera
This camera is by far the most convenient and easy to use piece of gadget that I have gotten recently. I'll condense the reasons as to why this camera is amazing.
- Convenience! The buttons are all there! One click to turn flash on or off, and one click to start recording! You also don't need to install any software. Just plug the USB in and go.
- Easy to use! It has a help menu to walk you through anything you might not understand. There aren't a billion buttons, and no technical language involved.
- Many uses! You can take this anywhere and take pictures of anything with this. Take a look at all the features that I just listed. You are bound to find a use for this camera anywhere you go.
- Quality! The pictures come out wonderfully.
But Also Consider...
Okay, so this is a great camera, no lies. But there are aspects of it that you might not enjoy. Just keep these things in mind when considering the purchase.
- Price. This camera is about $200. If you just want a camera for the sake of having one, and really aren't going to be using it that much, then is it really worth paying $200 for? Otherwise, the price tag nicely matches the quality that you are getting.
- On/Off Button. I found this to be a little peeve of mine. It's nothing big, but the camera turn on and off with the simple click of one button. This means that the camera turns on and off very easily. Which brings me to the next point.
- Doesn't come with a case. It's a nice looking camera, and it has a huge screen. You don't want that to scratch. It doesn't come with a case, and you might have to buy one if you want to preserve the appearance of your camera.
The Verdict
Honestly, this is a great camera. I take it with me everywhere I go. It's compact and easy to use, and fits almost anywhere. If you've got $300 and you're looking for a great camera that will take beautiful pictures, this is it.
