Customer Reviews

HP PhotoSmart 850 4MP Digital Camera w/ 8x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

1. Zoom:
I don't understand why people buy 3x zoom cameras (digital zoom should be banned because it's absolutely useless -- if you want to crop, it's much better to take the bigger one and do it with software). I've used an Olympus 3x zoom film for years, hardly ever using the zoom. 3x is not powerful enough to be of value.

Now 8x, we're talking.

2. 4MP:
Do I really need 4mp? Not really. How many times have you EVER enlarged a picture you took with film camera? Or enlarge to >11x17??? I didn't think so. I could be quite happy with 2mp. I wish they made it 2mp with a lower price but, hey, with this price I'm not complaining about 4mp, either.

3. Size:
If you want the tiniest, cutest thingy, don't get this. This is the size of an SLR (without lens attachments). But you never get 8x zoom out those cuties. I actually like its retro styling.

4. Photo quality:
Superb, even still objects in VERY low light. I did one with 2 sec shutter, holding it with my hands (which are not the steadiest I'm sure), and it came out OK. Macro is very nice, too. Yes, there's noticable delay between shots, the lower the lighting, the longer. Under sunlight, it feels quite "normal"; under dim indoor lighting, it can take 2-4 secs. But this is the thing about digitals -- the higher the mp, the slower it gets.

As for complaints about shooting moving objects, 1st of all, don't do focus lock by pushing the button half way down. Push it all the way down. This way, the camera focuses and then takes the pic (after the necessary delay for focusing and exposure). For moving objects under bright light, choose "action" or "shutter priority" as the exposure mode. If you're talking about moving objects in low light, heck, no $... camera can do it, be it film, digital, or extraterristial. And, why do you need to shoot moving objects in dark?

5. Features:
Menu very easy. I took it out of box, put in the (included) batteries, and started shooting right away. Installed the software on CD, plugged in USB cable, and got them into my PC. It does NOT get any easier than this.
Focus assist light -- VERY useful under dim light.
Movie & sound -- cool, occasionally could be useful.
TV out -- a must have for digitals, but this one doesn't include a CABLE!
HP share -- it does NOT get any easier than this!

6. Bad part?
Battery -- this thing CHOMPS down batteries. The included Energizer Titanium e^2 (sounds impressive huh?) gave me ~15, only ~4 with flash (and mostly via LCD). Then I tried some el cheapo ones. They gave me ~10 without flash (and mostly via EVF). Yes, the zoom, the larger LCD screen...but still! I'm waiting for the charger now.

---------------Update
1. Got rechargeable batteries. Battery life is quite good now. Forget about disposables, no matter how sexy the name sounds.

2. I tried to upgrade the firmware from hp website, and failed after several times. In the end, the camera is dead. But HP support has been GREAT through this. After advicing me to try a few things, they sent me a new one, with a return shipping sticker for me to return the old one. This kind of warranty replacement policy is something I haven't seen!

So, be careful before you do the firmware upgrade (as always with any firmware upgrade). If you have to do it, then do it before the warranty expires. Kudos to HP for GREAT service!

The HP850 is a great digital camera. I decided to buy this camera because for its price of $[money], you get a 4 megapixel,
8X optical zoom camera. I couldn't find anything else even close to this level of performance for price.

You can also take short video clips with the camera, which is nice. The camera also lets you take pictures in rapid succession, even with the flash. I really like how quickly the flash can charge up and let you take the next shot.

HP got it right with this camera design. It has a very nice look to it and feels well balanced in your hands.

One thing you definitely need to do is get rechargable NiMH batteries for the camera though. It will quickly burn through normal Alkaline cells. It runs off of 4 AA cells (not 2), which is listed incorrectly on Amazon.com I found the battery life very long using 4AA NiMH batteries (1700 mAh capacity).

Also, the camera can recharge NiMH AA cells in the camera (according to the manual) but I haven't tried it yet. So you just need to buy the HP AC adapter and you don't need a seperate battery charger. ( I wish I new this before buying a seperate battery charger :(

My conclusion: The HP 850 is great!

The 850 has awesome features, especially considering the price. 4 megapixels and 8 x optical zoom combine to give you terrific pictures and more opportunities than if you had a much better known, but measly 3 x zoom camera. Buy a 3 x zoom and you will be wishing every day that you had more zoom!!! The HP offers only autofocus. There is significant shutter delay, so action shots might not come out exactly as planned. Of course, you can select Action mode to compensate.

Macros look great and the zoom is really really terrific and picture quality is quite good. Acessories (lens, filters, adapter mounts etc) are not easily available, but tech support at a popular camera accessory store stated that they would have accessories in early 2003. Styling is retro, grip is just perfect and the metal tripod mount seems better than plastic ones. Start-up time is fast. Battery life is not so good with ordinary Alkalines, but when I switched to using NimH rechargables, I have been getting much much better life.

Video is quite good and the best thing I like is the Electronic View Finder (EVF). I tried the Finepix 2800/3800 and couldn't see a thing when I used it indoors in medium to low lighting. The 850 EVF is so much better and clear. AutoFocus Illuminator is a big help and most Sony's have it, though most Nikons omit it.

Kudos to HP for giving us a straight-forward camera with great features and more for a really reasonable price. I would definitely recommend it.

Let me first say that I usually like HP Photosmart devices: Cameras, Printers, etc. This is my third Photosmart camera. It has a number of pluses: 1) An optical zoom that flows right into the digital zoom (and with up to 56X you can really get close), 2) An easy-to-use display menu, 3) A viewfinder that adjusts to ones particular eye strength.

On the negative side: 1) It takes too long to take a picture (after you press the shutter release, it is 2-4 seconds before you can take another picture (I do not know if this causes one to get blurry pictures, but at the 2.0 megapixel size (1.2 MB) for this camera and my HP 912, I had fewer blurry pictures with my HP 912 Photosmart camera), 2) You have to be within an inch of the viewfinder before it "turns on" (you can have the view show on the large display, but that uses more energy, and you still don't see if it is focused right), 3) It allows for several focus points, but even after adjusting to a center one, I still had some pictures where the background was in focus, but my subject wasn't.

I know that I'll probably be in the minority of the reviewers, but to sum it up, if I had it all over to do again, I wouldn't get this particular camera. About the same time as I got this camera, I bought the HP Photosmart 720 as a gift for my step-daughter. While it doesn't have anywhere the zoom power of the 850 and only has 3.3 megapixels, it also doesn't have the other problems with the 850 that I mentioned above.

Be sure to buy GOOD quality disposable batteries if you don't have the rechargables yet. I went to a dinner party last night with NEW batteries from a name-brand (though not the big ones), and my camera would not turn off (yes, it would NOT turn off), and would not function when it was on. Usually you would think bad batteries would simply cause the camera not to work, but instead I got a bunch of strange errors that made me think the camera (brand new) was defective. Once the batteries were changed however with Duracell (love those guys), it worked fine. I'm going to start charging up the new rechargable batteries I got.

The camera's a dream. The zoom feature is amazing, and the megapixel count really allows you to digitally zoom in. You can even zoom around on the LCD screen of the camera. Good job HP!

I really love the quality of pictures on this camera, very crisp and clear. Comparisons to my old Nikon Coolpix 800 (2MP) are not even close. The Nikon was a great camera, but double the Megapixel and quadriple the zoom, and you have an amazing piece of hardware.

I made my decision to purchase this camera after comparing to the Fuji 3800 and Olympus C-730. I went to the store and physically picked up the cameras, the Fuji and Olympus were kind of awkward. The HP is large (I have man's hands after all! :) ) and feels like a quality camera.

Now, all is not perfect, as many have noted.

The cons of this camera include a limit of 60 seconds for video clips... now I have a 256MB SD card, and it can handle a lot of video, why only 60 seconds! HP please get a firmware update to allow unlimited video! Also, the included SD card is wimpy for a 4MP camera, offered a special when I bought this on other SD cards...plus SD memory is dropping in price daily. Get the largest SD card you can afford, you will not be sorry.

Focus, you must have a steady hand to focus in 8x Optical zoom! I find that the Digital zoom is almost as good as an optical zoom as well, if you have a tripod. It gets a decent picture, not perfect, but much better than the Digital zoom on the 2MP cameras I have used.

Also, I picked up the docking station. This is a great feature, no manually hooking up a cable and starting to offload pictures, just plonk your camera down on the dock, press the button to either print or send to computer and it is all automatic.

Overall, I think this is a great camera, and would suggest it highly. Hopefully HP keeps it up to date with firmware updates, as I would love to see faster focusing, and a mode which allows 'burst' type pictures to be taken. Even allowing different video sizes to be taken and having an opion to turn audio off on videos would be great.

If you don't have a pressing reason to buy digital right now, I suggest you wait another year.

I have used several friends and family member's cameras, and purchased the 850, all have problems. Biggest disappointment with this camera for me is image quality. Almost every shot has purple fringing, and clarity is a bit less than my father's fuji 3800 (3MPixels), and brother's year old Cannon 3Mpixel/3x camera. This is true even at ISO 100, on a tripod, with good light -- even worse otherwise.

Other people's complaints are all true too: Cranky zoom, Software Crashes, etc. One thing not mentioned is that you can't adjust the LCD display for viewing angle. If you are above the camera (like if you set it on the floor to take a picture) you can't see the display. "Auto" white balance is not really auto, "fixed" would be more like it. If you are under electric lights, you have to change setting manually to get good color.

Battery life complaint is not valid though. Get good batteries (1800mah or >), and they will normally last all day, then plug camera in to ac adapter at night and you are ready to go in the morning, don't even have to remove batteries.

One really nice thing is unlike other cameras, simply plugging the camera into the computer will download all the pictures with NO intervention required on your part.

Despite my gripes, this seems like the best the state of the art has to offer at this time and price point for overall issues I care about, and is good enough to switch away from film for. To get a really nice camera right now it seems you have to spend about $...., sigh.
You may want to consider fuji s602 though. Some discounters sell it for around $....

Wish list: Eliminate digital zoom. Full manual control using SLR type barrel rings. Who needs a motor to zoom? Costs more, works worse. HP EVF better than most, but still worse than instamatic like glass view finder. Save the money, keep it simple. Should take larger memory cards, limited to 128M.

In one word, superbe. This camera is a nice surprise. It took less than one half hour to learn to use this camera. By comparison, it took me several days to learn to use a similar but more "sophisticated" Sony camera at work. The camera's onscreen menu is simple and easy to understand. You should read and refer to the manual carefully because there are small tips and pointers no evident on the menus. For example, to save special settings, power up will pressing the "okay" button. The PS850's software interface is fast and transfers pictures quickly to your PC. The zoom lens does take some getting used to, it works in one speed and you have to learn to use you thumb instead of an index finger, but it is managable. There will be a very pronounced pause after each picture is taken as it writes to the memory card and the screen will remain blank. No multiple actions shots here, but it's not that type of camera. Both the EVP and the 8x lens is sharp, the white balance is great. The auto focus lamp for low light situations is a great addition, which is not found in similar priced cameras, the Fuji 3800, is one example. The PS850's case is not made from extruded metal, it does not have the quality feel of the Nikon Coolpix 5700 or a Minolta Dimage 7Hi, but it comes at half the price. If the PS850 is being sold as a bundle with the accessory kit for free. Buy it!

First the great feel. This is a fairly large camera that feels comfortable in my (large) hands. I can grip it well without fear of accidentally pushing a button I didn't intend to. The huge, bright 2-inch LCD screen makes it easy to compose shots. The 8X optical zoom is AWEsome! Some reviews here have talked about not catching the image they intended to when pushing the shutter. I took close-ups of a clock's second hand, and the capture was immediate and in perfect time. There is a very short blanking of the display when the 4.1 megapixel image is written to the card-barely a problem. I also love the fact that the electronic viewfinder automatically turns on when you put your eye to it. Much better cam than both the Fuji 6X zoom or the Olympus 720 with 8X zoom. I tried them both. Love this one!

Having owned this camera for three months, I can say it is still great. But there have been some small bugs. To me the most annoying problem is that the camera would frequently not recognize the memory card at startup. This forces you to restart the camera and lose a moving or action picture. HP has come up with fix for this software problem. Visit the HP web site and download firmware 1.05. Follow the directions to install on camera and this fix is in.