HP 612 Digital Camera - Easy and fun. I would buy it again.

The HP 612 is a good family camera. It works as a point-and-shot for all the family tech idiots (which includes most of the population) but will do enough fancy stuff to keep the shutter savvy busy for a while. If you want to focus other than center, you can with this one. You can zoom. Flash settings are adjustable (including a shut off for those moments ruined by a photo flash bombs busting in air). But, you don’t have to worry about anything if you are a “look in the hole” (or LCD screen) kind of person.

There are 3 basic kinds of digital cameras you can buy. The old ones with the 3.5 disc storage are being phased out. Though it seems a nice idea to have the photos on the 3.5, you can’t store much. You have a bulky camera and disks all over the place. The newest CD (mini) size are really high dollar, but they may very well be the ones that come out on top. That leaves the mid-range cameras like the HP 612 that use memory cards which are similar to the 3.5 disks but are smaller and hold a lot more.

When I looked over the Compact Flash style cameras, I decided to go with the HP 612. There were several reasons I went with this one after reading online and trying out digital cameras at work and with family cameras. I just have no shame at all and will say: “Let me check that out.”

So, here is how I decided . . .

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to use this camera.

Since I have two little boys and one who especially loves to take pictures, I wanted a camera that was really easy to use. Eli could not take photos with the Canon digital from work. It was just too complex. Even the college students had a heck of time getting anything worth printing.

This one involves looking in the viewfinder hole and then pushing the button. It works just like his Canon Owl 35 mm point-and-shoot which is a wonderful starter camera for little guys. The box button on the back of the HP above the LCD viewer means that the shot shows in the LCD to check out shots (just push the button), and that is just one click in addition to pushing the top button to take the picture.

Eli uses both those options—easy as pie point and shoot and then almost easy as pie with the LCD. It took him about 5 minutes to nail the basics on this camera, and he is 9 years old.

It’s pocket size.

No one wants to be the holder of the stuff. At the best you can do if you have kids, you have all kinds of things that you have to haul around. I never thought I would carry the monster purse, since I usually jammed my important stuff in my Levi’s pocket. Now, I do carry the purse (-: and this camera can be tucked right in for the ride.

It is the size of the regular 35mm quick-pic cameras. The HP doesn’t come with any sort of case, so I would suggest that you protect it with something. You can buy the case, or you can use any kind of sturdy little bag. I have a little drawstring denim bag that works just fine. It keeps the camera clean and protects it. The carry handle is not the greatest and won’t go around you neck, but it’s OK. I keep the camera in my purse or around my wrist.

You can buy your batteries at the Quick Trip on the corner.

OK. I know that AA batteries are not the best way to go, but I like a camera that will work with the garden-variety batteries. Perhaps this bias comes from living overseas where I had to point and grunt. I hated to need things that I could not describe even in English. I still do not know how to say sage in Greek, and I did not have sage in the dressing balls I made that Thanksgiving. Dressing balls are not very good without sage. Give me batteries I can recognize at a glance.

Anyway, this camera will work with any AA batteries you stick in the bottom. It holds four of those. They do not last very long. We run through a set of four almost every time we take pictures. Our style is to carry the camera around for a couple of hours and shoot things at a birthday party or at a cook out. We run about 2 rolls per set of batteries in the 35 mm world—or about 48 digital pics. If I am the keeper of the camera and I'm more careful about the juice, then I can get around double. The average adult could get 100 photos on a set of batteries.

Right now, I am saving up to get the charger that plugs in the wall socket for rechargeable batteries. We have that at work, and it is a good idea. You charge and use the batteries over and over. That will be pretty expensive, but it does pay off in the long run. If you can afford the charger and recharge batteries, I would suggest that you get 2 sets of batteries and rotate those in the camera. You can always fall back on the regular AA when you have to.

If you’re thinking about getting this camera, then you do need to buy some other things . . . (oh sigh—wish it all came together).

The real must-have would be the media card. Actually, it works out really nice to have two of those. They are like the 3.5 disks, but they are smaller. Just take the camera to the store and say you need a media card. Or, you can look in the booklet and find out what you need and buy online. Check out Fat Wallet (www.fatwallet.com) and click at the top to Forums and watch the message strings. You’ll see good deals come up. I got a Smart Media card for half the local price by doing that, but I got the first one at the local store to make sure I got the right thing.

The reason you want the media cards is that the camera has only 8 bites of memory. That means about 24 pics stored depending on the quality you set that for (the default is the mid range). If you can take the time to check and then discard all unwanted pics on the spot to make room for more or if you stay at home all the time and can upload the photos, then you may be OK. I wouldn’t bank on that though.

If you get some pics on the camera and not on the disk, then you can read the booklet that comes with the camera and upload right from the camera to the disk. That is much easier I think. I try not to put any pics on the 8 mb on the camera, but sometimes I forget the memory card and then have pics there on the camera which don’t show when you stick in the memory card.

Media cards come in lots of sizes as far as what they hold. They all look the same on the outside other than the numbers printed. I go with 64 for that and have 2 of them. They hold about 125 photos, which is enough around here. I keep one in the camera and one in the printer most times and switch out when one gets full. That reminds me to look and see what I want to get rid of or print.

You don’t have to buy a printer. You can use the one you have if it is color. Do buy photo paper though, so the pictures will look like pictures. It’s nicer to have a printer made for photos though. I got the HP 1115. The nice thing here is that I can put the memory card right in the printer and then make 4/6 photos on the spot by the numbers of the shots (it does not show the picture on the printer). Though it seems like a nice idea to have all those memories stored on disk, it is just not the same to have computer pictures. They are not as much fun to look at as hard copies.

One way around the printer problem is that you can take the pics and then upload to SnapFish (www.snapfish.com). Once you have the pics up and can look at them, you can edit at SF and then can order the prints you want. That’s a little extra work, but that can work out if you don’t want to spring for the printer.

The HP 612 is not better than homemade biscuits.

Though I love this camera, there are some things that I don’t like. They are not major things, but they are part of the package.

The big thing for me is that digital has lag time. In other words, you push the button and then it drags for a split second. That means that it is hard to get action shots. Kids are active, so I miss a lot I would want to capture and could capture with a 35 mm. I usually carry both a pocket 35 mm and this camera and get all I want with the two cameras.

One nice thing about digital is that you have the LCD screen and can really look at the shot before you snap. But, the LCD is really hard to see when the sun is out. I find it better to use the regular viewfinder outside.

When you use the LCD, you get a black flash up and know you took a picture. When you use the viewfinder, you press and don’t hear a sound. You will wonder if you actually took the picture. I often shoot 2 or 3 thinking that I did not really make a picture. I don’t catch this until I review on the LCD, which works great to see what you shot or put it up on the computer and look. On the plus side, I often get better pics when I have 2 or 3 shots.

Yes. This one does eat batteries (and so do all the digital cameras). I’m used to 35 mm which will go on and on with the same batteries. It took me a while to learn to always carry extras. This is just part of the digital camera world right now. I hope that gets better.

That covers the basics . . .

But, how about the options?

This camera does let you play around some. It does not have as many options as some, but it has as much as I would want (unless I could afford the professional level digital which I can’t). You can push the button on the back and get the menu and make the selections and also on editing some with the photos on the spot (like you can dump a bad one). The book covers it well that you get with the camera, and I can use these options when I want to.

Off center focus is the one thing I use the most. I hate really flat photos, and this lets me make some changes with good results. Box in on what you want to highlight. Push the button to take pictures half way down. Then all the way down. Easy enough.

The zoom 2x can be nice. Be aware that zoom does not have the same quality that standard would have. It’s better to walk in than to zoom in.

The various flash options are good. It has fill flash and also OFF flash. The main one I use is the off when I don’t want to light up a room.

The software for photos is OK. The big thing is that you do not get a booklet to cover how to use that. I use software at work and can guess on most of that. They do have some directions that you can pull up on the computer, but it is still nice to have directions to hold in your hand and look at. One of my students who never used much software called the company and raised cain about that and got a free book to help her. I think I will borrow that, so I don’t have to guess so much.

Do you want to spring for this camera?

If you want an easy digital camera that takes good pictures, then I would say this one is solid. You’ll really want to add on with the other items that do run the price up but make life easier. To get the Media Card and the printer, I think it about double the price overall (so figure on $500 to do this). The batteries and charger will jack it up a bit more but save you money down the road.

I’m not going top rate on this one, because I don’t think digital cameras have maxed out yet as far as being wonderful at home. I still fall back on my 35mm, but this HP is great for what it is and what it does. If I had to pick again, I would go with this one.