HP PhotoSmart 735 3.2MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom & HP PhotoSmart 145 4" x 6" Photo Printer Bundle
See it at Amazon.com for $339.99Average Customer Rating
(3.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(4 out of 5)A decent camera for the price
I purchased this digital camera for my wife for Christmas after comparing some 6 different cameras. This was our first digital camera, but we pretty much knew what to expect.
Some of the negative reviews I believe are a little unfair. The picture quality is completely dependent on the photographer. The camera allows you to take 1, 2, or 3 "star" pictures. The 1 star photos are the poorest quality - we found them to be equivalent of taking pictures with a cheap disposable camera. But the higher star photos are quite good, and we had no problem using the zoom.
Two words of advice - since you will need to take 2 or 3 star photos for the quality, you will also need to purchase a memory card expander. And this camera is a monster on batteries - we used Duracell Ultras for our first pictures and the batteries died after 10 pictures. My suggestion is to use the camera's manual viewfinder whenever possible, don't take too many video or audio clips, and buy decent rechargable batteries.
The viewfinder was easy to read, the directions were clear, and the camera is easy to use. For people interested in purchasing their first digital camera who don't want the poor quality of a 2MP camera and/or can't afford a 5MP, this is a smart purchase.
(5 out of 5)Great photos for a small price
I purchased this camera before taking a trip out West. I'm not a great photographer but found that this camera took good quality pictures without much fuss on my part. I liked the fact that I could change the picture quality settings to hold more pictures (I took 92 one day without having to have a memory card) and I liked being able to set the camera to landscape or portrait or action mode depending on my subject. I found it very easy to use. It's also possible to fine-tune your settings if you're a more experienced photographer. I thought it was a really good value.
(3 out of 5)hp 735 first impressions
I bought the hp 735 photosmart camera to replace an hp 315 which, contrary to reviews I've read, I thought worked very well. I used it a lot for snapshots, eBay ads, and some pretty good picture taking, editing with Ulead iPhoto software that came with a scanner and displaying photos on my computer with GPhotoshow freeware, which I recommend. The 315 display was too dim. The 735 is better. The 315 had 2.1-megapixel resolution and that was fine for me because I wasn't printing larger tham ordinary print sizes but I'll tell you where the higher 3.2 MB resolution has already helped: when I wanted just a small part of a picture that I couldn't get close enough to - just used my software to crop what I wanted.
The 735 is nice sized - I like to carry it in my pants pocket.
The 16 MB internal memory is totally inadequate. I knew that but so far haven't gotten what I need, having once ordered (then resold) the wrong card on eBay. Plan on spending for more memory right away. Plan on something like a 128 MB card. That's what I expect to get, or 256 MB - I sure wish I knew for sure what product to buy & if they work right! The manual that came with it says "128 MB is the largest memory card tested by HP. Larger sizes ... should work - use at your own risk"!! So you tell me!
The movies are worthless indoors. Unless you provide very bright lighting, or can accept just a dark suggestion of what you saw. And a couple of those very few movies I've taken indoors so far had a blue line down the images! It worked ok outdoors.
You have to solve the battery issue. It ought to come with better info on batteries. I don't like being expected to research the hardware. So far, I've found most of the ordinary AA batteries I have around the house don't work. But I'll tell you this much: right now I have some Energizer Industrial batteries in it, and they seem to work fine. If only I knew where my wife bought them ...
And I have around the house some Radio Shack rechargeable batteries that work in other things - The 1.2 V 1000 mAh AA Ni-Cd versions do NOT work at all in this camera, while the 1.2V 1600 mAh AA METAL HYDRIDE versions do seem to work okay. I'd guess you had better carry some spares in your pocket when you walk out of the house with the upgraded memory card. With the 16MB, no problem.
Beyond that, it has more features than I really want to worry about - for you pros - and the biggest issue I have with those is that in a dark room I find it hard to see what settings I'm on - really more difficult that the older camera if only because with more choices it's harder to tell, for example, do I have it set for fill in flash, red eye reduction, or suppressed flash - features I DO use and find it hard to use on this camera because I can't see the tiny LCD indications in typical indoor lighting, such as in a club or coffeehouse where I'm trying to take photos of my favorite band.
(5 out of 5)Cudos for HP 735
For the money this is a great machine. The lens is sharp, colors are well saturated, and everything on the camera actually works. This little guy has rekindled my old interest in photography, and it is possible to take this camera out and come back with hundreds of reasonable pictures. My bags full of high-end 35mm are likely to gather more dust. The optional 8881 dock works well, and the HP photoshare feature allows encoding email address targets or printing instructions on the camera for automatic download/print/email sharing when docked. Standard AA batteries (only two) and generic storage expansion are appreciated. Buy an extra few high capacity NiMH batteries on your own and you will be able to shoot all day long. Moderate resolution setting and a 256 MB SD card will keep you busy for over two hundred shots with very reasonable resolution.
The HP 735 performs much better than I expected it to, and it's highly recommended. A manual focus option is the only feature missing that I would find useful, especially for macro shots. If the functions and output do not satisfy, then the only option is to move up to >5 Mpixels at a much higher price point.
(5 out of 5)My Second HP Camera! And this one ROCKS!
I owned HP's photosmart 315 camera for the last 3 years and decided to upgrade to the HP 735 and WOW! am I glad I did.
This is one fine 'automatic' camera and I am having loads of fun with it. They really thought this one out well. I also bought the 'dock' and it is making my life with this new camera so much easier. It recharges my batteries without taking them out of the camera and it hooks up to my TV to view my photos there if I wish.
Two things I would recommend you upgrade as soon as you receive this fine, easy to use, camera:
1. Purchase a set of NiMH/1800 to 2200mHh rechargeable batteries. (Use the set that comes with it in your child's toys.)
2. Upgrade that 16MB memory card that comes with it to at least 124MB SD card or even an 256MB card. You will be glad you did. Like any computer, we always have to upgrade that memory!
HP products ROCK! No other for me. I highly recommend this camera with all it's ease of use features for the 'snapshot enthusist'! Which most of us are.