Customer Reviews

HP 318 2MP Digital Camera

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I spent months researching digital cameras before deciding on the HP 318, and the time spent was well worth it. The camera itself is little, but is big on quality and features. I love the 2X zoom, and the full-color preview screen provides good display clarity, plus the ability to magnify the displayed image. Using the features built into the camera is incredibly user-friendly, too. Even if you've never used a digital camera before, you won't find this one difficult to use, but that's not to imply that this camera is in any way 'simplistic' when it comes to quality. You'll also have a hard time finding another camera that provides 2.31 MP for the same price. I recommend buying a 64MB flash card to go with it. At the lowest quality setting, you'll be able to store nearly 1,000 pics on it (another great feature about this camera- you have 3 quality settings to choose from). All in all, one of the best investments I've ever made.

Great for the beginner. Clarity of prints is excellent at 4x6 and even 5x7. Very user friendly. The software is excellent and is my preference to make quick adjustments, crop, and print into album pages and varied size prints. The only down side is the lag between shots but this is a small inconvenience considering the quality and price. The best pics come from inside day shots. Outside, the camera has some difficulty deciding on exposure given varied light intensity. Inside night shots have somewhat the same problem but they are still quite acceptable though one needs to almost use the LCD to get a clearer perspective of what you will get. This camera is actually fairly easy on batteries. I can get 500+ shots per set of batteries.

I did upgrade to a Nikon Coolpix 880 within a few months of buying the camera so if you are an intermediate photographer you'll probably not want to start here. Still I won't sell mine as it is a great backup camera. For most novice's I'd recommend it.

After a few weeks, I like the 318 just fine. It is, however, a tremendous battery pig, as all the digital cameras are, and you'll need to pick up the 8 rechargeable batteries and a charger. This'll run you 40 simolians. Litium AA batteries are about 10 bucks a quartet, so you'll be ahead of the game by Xmas if you get the rechargeables. You might also want to get a 32 or 64 meg flashcard. I want one, but I haven't got it yet--I'm still playing around and getting used to digital photography.

One thing that astonishes me is the tremendous light sensitivity of this system; if you play around with the autofocus (that is, if you learn how to manipulate what the camera thinks it wants to do), you can literally, faithfully, and often very dramtically, shoot the light you see. This is probably characteristic of all digital cameras, but I LOVE the chiaroscuro effects this one captures.

Mild gripes: at the lowest resolution (there are 3 settings options), the 2x "zoom" (which doesn't scale out, it just pops out to 2x--hence "zoom" is a misnomer) is useless and pixilates ridiculously. And it takes some time to get used to the fact that the camera will take a second or two--literally--to focus, and it won't let you snap off a shot in virtually real time unless you're already depressing the button for focus. And it's clear that HP low-balled the market with this system because they plan on selling you a big box of exorbitantly (yes, exorbitantly) priced accessories--wait until you get a load of the catalogue HP includes in the packaging.

But the camera is nice, the softward and cable are useful, and the price is spot on. Recommended.

This camera is a wonderful buy. The ease of use and quality of photographs are unbelievable (2.3 megapixels). The only downfall is the internal memory only has 8mb, but it has a compact flash memory card slot, which makes for nearly endless picture taking. I would recomend this camera to anyone looking for a quality camera at an affordable price.

I'm a Leica and Nikon user, so I approached digital with great skepticism. However, I needed a simple camera for online imaging and this unit seemed to provide the needed features at the right price. After a week's use, I can report that this little camera is a gem. The controls are intuitive and the pictures stunning. For eBay users, the camera focuses down to a few inches and the images are pinpoint sharp. Lack of optical zoom doesn't seem to be a great disadvantage; the 2x digital zoom is adequate for most purposes and consumes less battery power. Two recommended peripherals that I purchased were a memory card and a battery recharger.

OK, this camera might cost less and not be a cam loaded with buttons, and video capture. But the camera is light, has a slim design, and the quality of the pictures is nice. I do recommend for the user to get a 16mb or higher compact flash memory card, because the internal memory is not quite enough. It would also be better to get a rechargeable battery pack and recharger, because like all other digital cams, the hp 318 does eat batteries! Try to hang on to lithium batteries (they last much longer!). I looked at a sony cam for 200-what a rip off! It had a small display, a bad zoom, and only 1.3 megapixel! The kodaks have a better design, but the megapixel for the price is still not good. So do buy this great cam!

And by BATTERIES I mean BATTERIES! Make sure you have a bundle, because I didn't know I'd need them until I used my HP 318 for about 30 minutes! Dead batteries. So this is my first Digital Camera. They (store's name not to be mentioned) kept trying to sell me those cheapo web cams that also serve the purpose of digital cameras. That's not what I wanted, I wanted the little LCD on the back so that I could easily see what I pointing and shooting at. There is a 2X digital zoom and timer feature on the camera. As far as photos go, I believe you start out with around 60 at the 1 star level (worst) and 12 at the 3 star level (best). That's not enough pictures, so I bought a 64MB Flash Card and I can get easily 1000 1 star level photos and 60+ 3 star level photos. There is nothing that comes with the camera to protect it, so I strongly urge you to buy something to cover up the lense and the LCD. It's also quite easy to turn on by just barely moving it. Another down side is the warm up time. If you need your camera "RIGHT NOW!" then this one is definitely not the way to go. It takes this baby about 15 seconds to warm up after hitting the on switch to being able to take a picture. If you're sitting there thinking that you'll just leave it on with the LCD display off, think again. I haven't timed it, but somewhere between 3 and 6 minutes the camera will shut itself off after being idle. Software comes with the camera for automatic unload once you plug it in via USB port.

Like I said in the beginning... Batteries! It takes AA's. Pick up some rechargables and a charger to save you some extra cash!!

I spent much time on the Internet researching digital cameras because I was planning on buying them. After much searching, I narrowed it down to the HP 318 or the HP 315, but I decided to go with the more expensive one and get the 318. I'm glad I did. This is my first digital camera and is great. If you are looking for an easy to use point and shoot camera, this is wonderful. The 2.3 Mega pixels make for great crisp, clean pictures. The battery life is pretty good for a digital camera, which are known for devouring batteries. The software that comes with the camera is user friendly and the uploads are extremely quick. Recommended to buy a new memory card of 32MB or more. Also, a battery recharger will save you loads of money in the long run.

Well I got one a week before and I am a bit disappointed. There are a few catches

1. Though the camera takes excellent pics during daylight, at night the quality really sucks.
2. The delay time b/w 2 snaps, its way too long.
3. One needs to press the button twice to take the pic, first for focusing and then to actually take the snap and this makes it a bit confusing. I had a tough time explaining my friends.

To this add the fact that it eats batteries like anything. Mine lasted just a day so better go for a rechargeable option.

...should have gone for a Canon S100.

I've been doing my homework on all Digital Cameras and I've concluded that this one had the most features and specs. for the money.

The camera is very easy to use, it's actually the 2nd digital camera I've ever owned. I've been using rechargeable batteries in it and it's been working just fine. The camera automatic shuts itself off if there is no activity after a few minutes. This really helps in conserving your battery life. The other feature that I like is the "self timer", this worked out great for trips where it was only my wife and I.

I also purchased a 32MB memory card to increase the amount of pictures allotted in the camera. Overall, this has been a great investment.

There are 3 different qualities of photos you can take with this camera, and you can change the quality per picture you take. You don't have to choose ahead of time what quality all your pictures will be, but you can select the photo quality right before you click. The only downfall to this is when the higest quality is selected the preview screen tends to take a while to display the photo. I don't know if more expensive cameras have this problem too.

The other issue with this camera is that it doesn't snap the picture as soon as you click the button. There is about a 1-2 second delay between the time you click the button and when the shutters actually snap the photo. This only becomes an issue when you're in a car driving by something that you want to snap, the timing is really hard to determine. But if most of your picture are going to be portraits and still shots this camera is perfect for you.

The easiest and best part of this camera is downloading the pictures to your computer. You don't have to install any software onto your computer in order to download the photos from your camera. All you need is the USB cable that comes with the camera and "Explore" your computer's drives/folders and simply drag and drop the photos from the camera to a designated folder.