Customer Reviews

Hewlett Packard PhotoSmart 315 2MP Digital Camera

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Excellent camera! 8mb card holds 80 pictures at the lowest resolution and are very viewable. Pictures print good and email quickly. When saving pictures to a computer a new folder is created using the current date and time. Very nice for when you begin using the same numbers and don't want to overwrite older pictures. The HP315 camera lets you look through a viewfinder or through a LCD display. We are really enjoying the camera. Great quality for the price.

I first purchased the HP 215 Digital Camera. I was low on money and thought it would do a great job. It did except for one thing. I didn't want to burn up the batteries so fast so I did not use the LCD. I trusted the Optical wievfinder and when I got the pictures downloaded, they were all shifted to the left and to the top by 1/4th of the frame. I upgraded to the 315 for $100 more and have been happy ever sence. With this camera, you can totally trust the viewfinder and know that "What you see, is what you get!" I can take up to 400 pictures in the "Fine" mode with Enegizer Titanium batteries. This is, of coarse, without using the LCD. Pictures are crystal clear and you can go as close as 10" for close-ups. I use 64mb of compact flash and get up to 173 pictures in fine mode. If you take lots of pictures, this will be plenty of memory unless you go to Las Vegas and try to shoot everything there is! This Camera is the Best for the price. Very Easy to use. HP gets 5 stars from me!!

This camera is so easy to operate, I took it to a class reunion after having the camera for only 2 days. I took 35 pictures and emailed them to the school website and all the alums could download the photos they wanted. I had also purchased a 48mb flashcard, so I have been able to take 60 photos at the sharpest setting. I had heard about these cameras eating batteries, but I have taken well over 200 pictures, reviewed, downloaded, and erased with the same batteries that came with the camera. The battery indicator is still registering full battery capacity. I use the optical view finder to actually take the pictures. Photo quality is excellent and the software that accompanies the camera is also user friendly. You just plug the camera into either a serial or USB port and follow the easy steps to view or download the camera. After shopping the internet for the best features and prices of digital cameras and borrowing cameras from friends, I am really impressed with this camera. The only thing that keeps me from giving it the highest rating is that it doesn't have optical zoom, however, it does have digital zoom. This camera is a bargain for the price.

We bought the HP315 having trust in the HP name from printers we have used. My first digital camera mind you, and I am sure there are features and functioons I have not used and that I am not qualified to critique. The camera is simple to use, a battery hog if you are foolish enough to use the LCD screen on batteries, but performs well on low resolution, storing 70 to 80 clear pictures on an 8mb card. The viewfinder is not as accurate as a regular SLR camera, they assume you'll use the LCD screen. So the aim is a bit right of center and bottom heavy. After 800 photos I am impressed however. Here's the rub. The retailers are not allowed by HP to stock the 6 volt AC adapter because HP wants the buyer to come to their shopping site. Not only is it the worst website we've ever encountered, they haven't even manufactured the bloody adapter yet. The week the camera came out, they were "out of stock." And rude help on the other end, amazing that they stay in the running. If I was the CEO, I'd bring out the big AXE. But that is besides the point. If you want to use rechargeables and get a large memory card, buy this camera. If you are trying to power it up for a studio setting, for online auctions, etc, beware. If anybody knows any other power adapter I can use for this camera, please contact me.

This is my first digital camera, but I'm not necessarily a novice though. I've used a few other cameras (borrowed from friends) so I at least have a frame of reference. Let me just say that for the price and what this camera has on it, it's a great deal. Granted, it doens't have optical zoom, but if it did, I'd be paying another $60 to $100 along with maybe one or two other features. It takes very good pictures. It's very easy to use/understand. Took me no time at all to take it out of the box, flip through the instructions, and start taking and downloading pictures to my PC. There isn't one feature that's confusing to use. I think this is the perfect 'first' digital camera for anyone. If you're experienced and want all the bell's and whistles, don't buy this camera. If you want good quality photos, you can e-mail and print and view on PC with a decent amount of feartures, buy this camera.

If you can get this camera for less than $200, it's worth it. This is a perfect companion for those are new to digital imaging. Don't use the lowest quality (640x480) - not good for printing. The medium quality (1600x1200 with less compression) is best when you resize to 800x600 for printing (esp. in an under light condition). The best is to use 1600x1200 with the highhest compression - good for printing 8'x10".

8MB CF won't be enough for anything. Get at least 64MB or 128MB + rechargeable battery.

Pros 1: Don't need to install the software. Just plug-in the USB cable, and windows will take it as a removable drive. Very user friendly. The OS of the camera also very easy. My grandma will be able to use it without reading the manual. Pros 2: Not battery eater. I won't say it's the best, but I am quite satisfied. 80 pics taken with LCD on and transfer all of them with the same battery. Not to mention sometimes reviewing the pics taken. Pros 3: In almost totally dark condition, with highest setting, produce a decent quality.

Cons 1: For Win2K users only: all HP digicam won't support CF higher than 32MB for direct transfer. You need to get a CF Reader. I have 128MB Viking and I need a CF Reader to download all the pics. No problem with other windows. Cons 2: Don't use the digital zoom. It's horrible. Cons 3: USB Cable is very special - hard to find replacement. Cons 4: In the dark, there is no light/backlight. Not easy to control the cam.

The camera has lived up to everything I've expected from both digital photography and HP. It is easy to use and reliable. The USB port allows very fast download of your pictures to a USB equipped PC (running Windows 98 or Windows ME. Warning - USB is not really supported in Windows 95). Photo colors are excellent and quality terrific. If you use the viewfinder instead of the LCD, your batteries will last a reasonable length of time.

The SanDisk 8Mb CompactFlash chip that came with the camera worked the first time out and continues to work well. On the other hand, the PNY 16 Mb CF chip that I bought did not work even after multiple attempts to format it. I will have to exchange it and hope the new chip will work. PNY technical assistance is poor.

Okay, I've seen some reviews putting down the quality of this camera. My only guess is that they haven't dealt with digital cameras before.

This camera takes great pictures, especially when considering the $300 price tag (I found a code on the internet and got it for $260, shipped free). What it sounds like people (giving poor reviews) are doing is keeping the pictures in the large 1600x1200 format. What you need to do in order to make the pictures more crisp and clean is resize the picture to 1024x or 1280x pixels. This puts out fine pictures. Yes, it lowers the size of the picture, but these resolutions are still larger than most people's desktops. I use a free program Infranview which is downloadable off the net. It will resize pictures very easily.

Will the pictures be as good as regular film. No. But the pictures are very good for a digital camera at this price. I spent a good amount of time doing research for a digital cam and decided on this one.

The cam is fairly sturdy and has fine battery life (On 2 AA's I've taken roughly 25 pics using the LCD, and 140 w/o the LCD). The USB connection is fast. I would suggest this camera for anyone without a lot of cash to put into a dig cam but still wants fine pictures. Great for auctioneers. Good Luck.

The PhotoSmart C315 was actually my third choice when I was looking into digital cameras. I'd considered the Olympus, but ruled it out on features. I then settled on the Fuji, which was out of stock. Being in a hurry, I switched to this one and have been very happy with the choice.

Being a Mac person, my choices were limited to begin with, but I made the right one here... even if it was by default. Not only does this camera give crisp images, but it also mounts to my desktop as an external USB hard drive for click-and-drag simplicity.

FYI- When not using the LCD monitor as a viewfinder, the batteries will last quite a bit longer. Also, the Super Fine mode cuts the number of pictures you can take in half with negligible quality difference between the Fine mode. Stay with Fine unless you're just set on having fewer pictures.

Overall, this camera gives high quality images and is easy to use.

I bought the HP 315 Photosmart camera several months ago to learn about digital photography. Before using it, I had seldom produced a picture I would call remarkable, so the low cost of the camera was attractive. Thanks to the high storage capacity and reusability of Compact Flash cards, I have been able to capture hundreds and hundreds of images at a very low cost, and throw away the bad ones. Slowly but surely, I am becoming a better photographer, an accomplishment I never would have achieved at the high cost of film and film processing. I carry the HP 315 everywhere. I send digital pictures as email attachments to family and friends each week, and soon I'll burn CD photo albums as holiday gifts. This camera is perfect for me. With two 256MB Compact Flash cards in my pocket, I can travel and snap pictures for weeks without ever having to offload the images onto my Mac. In my opinion, the digital camera is to photography what word processing is to computing, a tool that enables everyone to create something useful, maybe even something extraordinary. Don't hestitate. Even camera and computer phobics will fall in love with this one!