كامرة HP [الأرشيف]

R1 THE ONE

29-11-2004, 10:39 AM

Conclusion - Pros

Good resolution, clean images with few processing artifacts and no over-sharpening

Vivid yet natural colors

Efficient noise reduction - even at high ISO and with long exposures

Excellent auto white balance in all but the most extreme situations

Fast startup, fast zoom and very responsive in general

Excellent build quality, design and materials

Superb user interface that guides the novice photographer by the hand

Adaptive lighting function works very well at lifting shadow detail

Easy to use and nice handling

Nice bright and snappy LCD preview monitor that works well in bright light

In-camera red-eye removal that really works

In-camera panorama stitching preview

Very good movie mode

Excellent battery life

Well priced

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Conclusion - Cons

Only two aperture settings

An ISO 50 setting would have been nice to cut down the need for noise reduction

Even the best quality setting uses quite heavy JPEG compression

Some fall-off of sharpness in the corners, especially at widest aperture

Occasional focus problems in low light at tele setting

Steel part of body prone to scratches, entire camera shows fingerprints

Camera locks up after 3 or 4 sequential exposures - very slow to clear buffer

Gets hot in use, which causes increased noise

Poor flash performance - not powerful enough to reach distant subjects, burns out highlights if the subject is closer than about 0.6M

Flash can take up to 6 seconds to recharge

Position of zoom buttons makes single-handed operation difficult

Shutter release not very responsive
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Overall conclusion

First impressions of the R707 are overwhelmingly positive - it is beautifully built, feels 'right' in the hand and is responsive enough for most every day photography. HP's new 'Real Life Technologies' - from the extensive in-camera help to the red-eye removal and image advisor - offer a real benefit to the novice snapper without getting in the way of more experienced users. Shooting outdoors in good light the results are excellent; sharp, relatively free of processing artifacts and colorful without being over vivid. Noise is well controlled (though the Adaptive lighting function inevitably increases noise in shadow areas) and overall - for a point and shoot compact - there is little here to cause complaint. Photographing indoors in low light (such as at social occasions) is a little more hit and miss, with flash exposures a little unreliable and the relatively slow (F4.9) maximum aperture at the tele end means flash range is limited and hand-held non-flash exposures are prone to camera shake.

Aside from the less than perfect flash performance the biggest cause of complaint is the inordinate amount of time taken to clear the buffer memory, meaning if you regularly take sequences of more than 3 or 4 shots in rapid succession you are going to see the camera locking up for at least 10 seconds before you can take another picture. Given the overall speediness of the R707 in general use, this single bottleneck comes as a real disappointment.

So then, a camera capable of great results, a camera that will actually teach you how to improve your pictures, and a camera that looks, feels and performs like a more expensive model. It's HP's best point-and-shoot model yet, and represents a significant and welcome leap forward for a company that has previously failed to offer anything to match the design and performance of its Japanese competitors. The R707 is far from perfect, but unless you shoot a lot of action or in a lot of dim bars I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as an ideal pocket camera, especially if you are new to digital photography.