HP Photosmart 320 Digital Camera

This digicam works fine for my purposes, but if it's professional results you want, keep looking

One of the drawbacks to being a poor student is, well, poverty. Aside from the obvious complaints (no change for the laundromat, surviving on Chicken Ramen and frozen peas, etc.), it's difficult to keep up with Real Cool Technology as it comes along. I've wanted a digital camera for almost two years running, but haven't been able to afford, much less justify, the cost.

Then came my birthday.

I realize it's slightly Bad Form to enjoy birthdays because of the gifts you receive, but I've got to say that check from Grandma came in very, very handy. Even better than birthday cash, though, was a gift from Mom—a Hewlett-Packard Photosmart 320 digital camera. She knew I wouldn't buy one for myself, so she got it for me.

As a poor student, I'll be doing only a few things with this camera: 1) taking pictures of my honey, the Wee Bairn, and other family members, 2) snapping pix of all my worldly goods to be sold on eBay. (Now I can do my laundry again! WIIGII!) For my purposes, a top-of-the-line digicam would be needlessly ostentatious, so this little model suits my needs perfectly. But will it work for you?

Here are some of the fine features of the HP Photosmart 320:

2.1 megapixel resolution
Not a bad size, and it has 8 MB of memory with an upgradeable memory card.

Digital zoom
Zoom up to 4X—but be aware that because the zoom function is digital, picture quality will suffer the closer you zoom in to a shot.

HP Instant Share technology
This feature allows you to send your photos automatically via e-mail. To be fair, I haven't used it as I have no real need for it.

Video clip feature
You can take and play back short clips with the 320 (video only, no audio). The feature is best used in bright light, and for best results one should move the camera slowly and steadily.

USB connect plug with slot for optional dock

Auto-flash and red-eye reduction

Three levels of photo quality
You can set the Photosmart to take 1, 2, or 3 star photos. 1-stars are the lowest quality, but store up to 76 images. 2-stars are a nice balance of quality and size, storing up to 13 images. 3-stars are good enough to transfer to film, but the camera can only hold 7 images at this resolution.

Simple photo manipulation software
The software which comes with the camera is pretty self-explanatory to use, although you may want to change the default directory as it will otherwise bury your photos deep in recursive directory no-man's-land. Photos are saved in JPEG format, making them easily transferable to various paint programs. This is good, because although the proprietary software is simple enough, I prefer Paint Shop Pro for twiddling with my images.

Some troubles with this digicam:

The battery compartment is a bit wonky and prone to sliding open when you take pictures. Bleah.

As with most digicams equipped with a flash, the HP 320 sucks AA batteries dry like the Vampire Lestat in a Big Easy bar on Saturday night. I've only had it a week, and it's already time to change the batteries. The auto-flash feature is particularly sensitive to light and will usually err on the side of caution by going off, although you can manually turn off the flash.

The camera has both a manual and digital viewfinder. The manual viewfinder is not very accurate for shot composition, especially for close-up shots. But the digital viewfinder doesn't work at all if the batteries are running low, requiring you to pray, point and shoot. At least you can immediately delete if you don't like what you see.

To connect the computer to the USB cable, you must open the side flap that houses the memory card and plug it in. This doesn't seem like a particularly inspired design, although it does the job well enough.

There's no way to manually focus the camera. Over time, through trial and error, you begin to get a feel for the distance you need to be to get the focus right.

From these complaints you might infer that I don't like this camera. Far from it! I've loved playing with it, taking pix with it, using it to sell my stuff, etc. It suits my current needs perfectly, and I'm quite content with it. However, it is a camera best suited for amateurs and casual users rather than hardcore enthusiasts.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go make some Chicken Ramen money.

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