Hewlett-Packard PhotoSmart 215 review

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Verdict:

Review Date: 1 Jun 2001

Price when reviewed: (£153)

Reviewed By: Rod Lawton

Our Rating 2 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

Cheap and cheerful...

or just cheap? The HP packs a decent 1.3-megapixel CCD, but is resolution all that matters?

Image quality

For a camera at this price, the HP's results aren't at all bad. Up close, JPEG compression effects creep in, displaying a little ghosting along high-contrast edges, and a slightly gritty appearance, but nothing that most of us couldn't live with.

Overall exposure control wasn't bad, but the HP struggled with our landscape shots, being fooled by the bright skies into underexposing the main part of the image. Colour rendition was good, though, with no noticeable colour casts creeping in.

Features

Sorry, HP, but this camera is so horrible to use that you hardly care what it can do. Its huge, slab-sided body is ugly and feels cheap, while the little navi-wheel on the back is awkward. The Power and Mode switches somehow manage to be both stiff to operate and sloppy-feeling.

The 4Mb card supplied is reasonable, without being over-generous (the 1.3-megapixel Olympus comes with 8Mb), and the HP uses easily-obtainable AA cells. Like the Kodak DC3800, the HP is a casual snapper that's not much good for creative types.

Overall

The price is tempting, and this camera turns up a lot in dealer bundles - but, frankly, few people would choose it as a standalone purchase. On paper it looks good, but in the flesh it's ghastly, from batteries that clank about to a teeth-grinding pause after pressing the shutter button.

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