Customer Reviews

Hewlett Packard PhotoSmart C215xi 1.3MP Digital Camera

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

 

 

The HP C215 is a dirt-simple camera to use. The software install under Win98 was a snap, and the comination knob/button function control on the camera is a real slick idea. However, the camera is a real battery hog! You might get 2 dozen pix on a set of 4 AAs, and that's if you use the viewfinder instead of the LCD. HP is not real 'consumer-friendly' with this, either. They state explicitly that using rechargeable batteries *will* damage the camera and void the warranty! Their approved AC adapter runs ..., so saving batteries while downloading is expensive, too. Lots of helpful discussion on [HP's user forum]...

Hi....bought my camera 3 months ago ---first the "Goods"....The camera takes excellent photos...indoors and out.I print up 8x10s and they come out great! The Flash is excellent...Photo's come out at the 20 ft. range! That was surprising for a lower end camera!The downloads are quick and great! Now the "Horribles" Battery consumption is terrible! Everytime you click a button on the camera----remember to turn it off right away!(Very Inconvient) Now....the "Bomb" !! HP Techs...are you listening?? What you see is NOT what you get with the Optical Viewfinder!! Have lost many a good shot --- chopped off heads etc. Haven't you designers ever heard of parellex correction for this camera?? Im sure its called that. I have to aim the camera upwards every time i take a shot to get the whole photo without cut-offs! My daughter's [price]dig. camera at least frames the subject properly! Very Inconvient! Now lets get to that Shutter! Too slow and unpredictable! The Smiles have disappeared... The dog has dropped his bone...the kid has took his hand out of the Pie....and that Lady at the beach has quit picking sand out of her bathing suit! All good shots lost because the Shutter hesitates! Lets hear it...HP..I know you can do a better Job!! Aren't these camera's tested?? The LCD Viewfinder is also terrible in daylight! So...People...if you can put up with the above...it is an excellent camera to have. Minus 2 stars for Optical Viewfinder and Shutter!

I use my digital camera to photograph nonsensical things to add to my website, and also for snapshots. I have not printed anything on photo paper yet, but the quality of the shots I have taken so far is OUTSTANDING. I passed the files around the office to our jaded technophiliacs who were floored when I told them that this camera only cost $200. It takes better photos than theirs, and theirs cost three times what mine did.

I bought this camera because of its price, the zoom feature and the HP name. I haven't been disappointed. The pictures I've taken have been crisp and clear with great color. The "shutter" (do you still call it that if it's a digital camera? hmmm) speed has not been noticeably slow, especially if you're on fresh batteries. It was so simple to set up with my computer -- I use Windows 2000 -- and I really like the photo editing software they sent with it. I also noticed that the batteries wore out VERY quickly, but this is a problem for ALL digital cameras. Do yourself a favor and buy rechargable batteries, and this will not be an issue.

This is our first digital camera, and we are hooked! It is so easy to use, and very reasonably priced. It takes great pictures, and the instant playback and delete is a great feature. You only keep the pictures you like! I highly advise getting this one for your first digital.

Be prepared to spend a LOT of money on batteries because this thing will eat them up faster than you can buy them! I find myself turning off the camera between every picture, and every time my husband uploads pictures from the camera, I find myself nagging him to make sure to turn the camera off to save the batteries. It's a shame - this camera takes fairly decent pictures. My only other problem besides the battery problem is the fact that the view finder seems to be off - what I see in the view finder ends up being off. I have to aim up if I actually want to get what I want in the picture.

This is a very nice camera, but I suggest that if the battery thing bugs you, you should find another camera.

Even taking into account the fact this is a low end camera, it was very bad. The auto exposure setting never took a natural looking picture. Colors were washed out. Moire patterns emerged with any type of pattern. I suspect the JPG compression setting (even at it's 'super fine' mode) was too high. This is more like a 320x200 camera that interprets pixels up to 1024x768! AC adapter is not included and this camera SUCKS the life out of batteries. Also, you must buy the HP adapter or void your warranty ($50!). Luckily, I was able to return the one I bought.

I actually bought two of these. The first one had major menu issues and turned out to be defective. The second one worked fine(I'm assuming)functionally. The picture quality was horrible. I found that all of my pictures looked washed out (overexposed?)and with no exposure adjustment, I had to settle for that. I did end up returning this one as well and bought a Kodak DC3400 and the difference in quality is amazing. I know it costs twice as much, but The Kodak at it's lowest quality setting and lowest resolution produced images 100x better than the HP at it's highest quality setting and resolution. I could barely tell the difference between pictures captured with the HP and my web-cam. In all fainess if you want an apples to apples comparison, my mother has the Kodak DC215(same specs as the HP)and it is a much better choice. HP, stick with printers.

Had it for 1 year, still great pics, using there softwear to touch up photos. Almost bot a new Kodak 4800 but there indoors pics are worse than the Hp. Save your money and buy the HP

This is a good camera if you just want to take snaps of the kids to email to Grandma. The autofocus, autoflash, point-and-shoot style is good if you don't want to fiddle with a bunch of complicated stuff while your subject makes its escape. You won't get super-duper-high-quality shots in the low range, but they're still pretty good. The USB connection is so easy and intuitive, I was downloading pics in about half a minute. Plus you get the fun software packages, which not only let you crop, rotate, correct red-eye and all the usual photo functions, but also has a host of wacky frames, outlines, greeting-card templates... The kids' favorites are the PhotoFantasy templates, which let you layer your subject's face onto the body of a model in a posed scene -- stuff like a fighter pilot, medieval princess, matador, surfer dude...

The main drawback to this camera is it's a real battery hog. Stock up on extra batteries & always carry some with you if you're going to shoot more than a few pictures.

In all, this camera is totally worth it for the price. If you're a technophile, you probably wouldn't be looking at a low end camera anyway; this camera is the right one for everyone else who just wants to have some digital fun with pictures.