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HP Photosmart M447 5MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom | List Price: $89.99
Discount Price: $89.99
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Brand: Hewlett-Packard
Binding: Electronics
Warranty: 90 days warranty
Features: - Get high-quality photos with the 5 MP resolution for printing colorful 4 x 6 snapshots and enlargements
- Easily frame and view images, even in direct sunlight, on the bright, 2.4 display
- Zoom in from a distance with the precision lens with 3x optical zoom, 5x digital zoom
- Get crisp photos that aren't blurred with the Steady Photo antishake mode
- Choose from a variety of shooting modes, including automatic, burst, theatre, and sunset
Simple, Small Camera: Standard Batteries &Takes Hi Quality Pics [Posted on 2008-02-23]
This was a gift for my dad, however my daughter owns the M447 as well, and I own the very similar M537. My dad took one look at how simple the camera is to operate and how great the pictures look and had to have one too.
Good features: Takes standard AA batteries, either alkaline or rechargeable. I can't tell you how frustrating non-standard battery cameras can be (Fuji is one). You're traveling someplace, your batteries run out, and you need hours to charge them or you're finished taking pictures. With the HP, just find any convenience store, even a hotel shop, buy a 2-pack of AAs and you're back in business.
Takes videos with audio; especially cool is if you have a nice big 1-2Gb memory card for storage, you can take some rather long videos without running out of memory.
Finally, in the good category, a good price point for the features.
Now the not so good: It is better than my old Kodak digital camera in terms of battery drain, but I average about 150 to 250 pictures per set depending on the number of flash pictures as the flash drains 'em much faster. TIP: Turn the brightness down on the screen display as low as possible to extend your battery life by about 10%.
The zoom is only 3x before the digital zoom kicks in. As you may know (for all cameras) the digital zoom reduces the resolution, so I find it's better to use only the optical zoom and then use a photo program to crop. But I digress... My other camera, Minolta, has a 10x zoom and I use this for serious closeups.
As with most cameras in this price range, you are unable to zoom the videos. That's OK--it's not my camcorder.
Finally, this camera has an anti-shake technology, but it is my contention that most people never use it (I didn't) because they assume it's always on. It's not. The camera is in Auto mode when you turn it on. You need to be sure the camera slide switch on the back is in the position to take pictures, press the Menu button, select the Shooting Mode options, then select Steady Picture. Now the camera is in steady mode. But here's the rub. When you shut the camera off, it forgets this setting and you'll have to repeat this process the next time you turn it on. Not great.
I give this camera 4 of 5 stars. Very reliable, convenient, easy, and great quality pictures.
HP Photosmart M447 %MP Digital Camera with 3x Zoom [Posted on 2008-03-02]
This is such an easy camera to use. The first day I got It I was going to a concert of one of my favorite artists. I took the "How to Operate" this camera... read it while I was trying to figure out how to take a picture (this is my FIRST digital camera) and the pictures were amazing!! This camera is idiot proof. I love it.
Very good for the price [Posted on 2008-03-20]
I purchased this camera for my very technology challenged sister. She managed to break 2.5 cameras in 1 year. The 0.5 because the same camera broke twice under the same conditions. Anyway, I researched about this camera and decided it was cheap enough if she breaks it again, it would be OK. This is what I found out about the camera hope it will help you in deciding if this is the camera for you:
--easy to use right out of the box
--big enough to hold and grab on
--too big to put in pant pockets
--uses rechargable battery, I believe she used Li battery for this camera
--uses SD cards, I believe she has used different memory sized cards and different brands as well, they all worked
--there is no zoom when using video
--when playing video on the camera itself, no sound, but there is sound when played on the computer
--if you zoom in while in the camera mode, then change to video mode, then your video footage will be in the zoomed in mode
--the camera is very cheap
--the footage isn't perfect especially under low light
--I believe the longest video footage you can take on the camera is around 20 minutes
--when you upload the videos onto the computer, the camera doesn't put them in the order you take the videos rather the length of the videos
--it is slow when you take photos, so does take a few seconds after pressing down on the button
--the sound is very clear in video mode
Defective within 90 days & Horrible Support [Posted on 2008-03-31]
With solid reviews behind it I purchased the M447 for my teenage son as a Christmas present. After using it just a handful of times, in the house, the LCD screen became fuzzy with vertical lines. It was so bad you could not see through the LCD or even see the camera icons when pressing the menu button. Long story short - - after contacting HP support 6 times over a two week period and having to repeat my story each and every time, they finally agreed the lens mechanism was defective and they would replace the camera. Twice I was told my "case" would be escalated and I'd receive a call within 48 hours. Never happened! I was given an 1-800 fax number and was told to fax all the details and they would get back to me within 48 hours. Never happened. Lastly, trying to understand and communicate with the HP support reps was very frustrating. Out of six or so reps I could only understand one of them who ended up being the secondary escalation manager out of Canada. Prior to her all the support was obviously coming from overseas.
Not worth the money paid [Posted on 2008-05-14]
I bought this camera January 30th for my sister who is a new mother. In mid April she was in the middle of taking a picture and the batteries died. She changed the batteries and when the camera turned back on, the lcd and all pictures taken looked fuzzy; like stalagmites, very pointed and out of focus. We tried everything to fix the camera to no avail. We called HP support, but of course it was just passed the 90 day warranty so they would not replace it.
The camera took very nice pictures for the short time that it worked, but now it is just a tacky $100 paperweight. I do not recommend this camera to anyone looking for something to last longer than 90 days.
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