Photosmart M307: HP's Newest is Put to the Test
by Stephen Caston on November 27, 2004 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
The Design: HP Photosmart M307
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The front of the M307 features a 3x optical zoom providing a fairly standard zoom coverage of 40mm - 111mm. On the wide end, this camera is just a bit less wide than average. To the upper-right of the lens is the viewfinder window. At the upper-left is the built-in flash and just to the left are the self-timer lamp and the microphone. The front of the camera has a lot of extra space on the left side for use as a handgrip. The left side even has a "dip" in the body for easier handling.
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On the back of the camera is the 1.8" LCD monitor with 130,000 pixel display. Just to the left is a column of 4 buttons: Flash, Mode, Timer/Burst, and HP Instant Share/Print. Above these buttons are the viewfinder and two indicator lamps. The top indicates video recording and the bottom indicates auto-focus status. To the right are the "Live View" and "Playback" buttons. These toggle between record and play modes. To the right is the main power switch with a power indicator lamp next to it. On the right side of the LCD is a 4-way controller pad with a separate Menu/OK button in the middle. Just to the upper-right is the activity light that blinks while a file is being written to the flash card. To the upper left of the activity light is an indention fitted for your thumb where the zoom controller is located. The zoom controller serves both to operate the optical/digital zoom in "Live View" mode and to zoom in/out on images in Playback mode.
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On the top of the camera are the shutter button and the video button. This concept of two "shutter" buttons can be seen on some other previous HP models such as the R707 and 935.
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The bottom of the M307 features a connector for use with the optional HP Photosmart M-series dock. The optional dock can serve to transfer images to your PC or printer, view images on a TV, or charge Ni-MH batteries that come with it. The dock sells for about $50. Also on the bottom of the camera is a plastic tripod mount.
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 Click to enlarge. |
On the right side of the M307 is a sliding hinged door that reveals the SD/MMC memory card slot and the battery compartment. Although the camera is bundled with 2 AA alkaline batteries, NiMH batteries are recommended. There is also a post for the included wrist strap.
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 Click to enlarge. |
The left side of the camera features the 3.3V DC-in port and USB port. A rubber tab fits into these openings while they are not in use.
Overall, the M307 feels pretty comfortable in our hands. However, its boxy build makes it rather difficult to pocket. The body is fairly durable and constructed of hard plastic with a metallic finish on the front. It is unfortunate that the camera does not have a built-in speaker for reviewing video clips and voice memos. Now, we'll move on to recording capabilities.
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MadAd - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
320x240 for video? Thats worse than a creative 1mp camera that i picked up over 2 years ago, that did 352x288 back then. Why are the manufacturers not moving on with movie clip mode like they have done with the photo eye?If the eye in a similar priced cam is now 4-6 Mp for stills, why is movie mode not at least 640x480? Sure its a chunk more memory, so just buy a bigger card or switch the mode down to what they have now??
I guess theres something im missing here, I just dont understand it.
brian_riendeau - Monday, November 29, 2004 - link
It is nice to see a review be a little more negative, however this comment near the end really left a bad taste in my mouth:"there is a bright side. Firstly, the Photosmart M307 is priced very reasonably at ~$165."
No its not! For $165 its total junk. It is like right at the end of the article they just had to throw somethign in to make people think that all camera for less than $200 are junk :(
DukeN - Sunday, November 28, 2004 - link
HP = terrible cameras. Avoid like the plague!Then again people do buy Fords, and Compaqs so they will buy HPs as well...
phaxmohdem - Saturday, November 27, 2004 - link
I must concur that HP cameras suck in general. Now I have never had the opportunity to play with a "top model" HP digicam. I own three digicams for home use, two for sucky eBay pictures and one for personal nice quality pics. I chose to get two Olympus D-520 Zoom cams for my ebay cams (These are very good for ebay pictures as you can get very close to an object without it loosing focus, though it only shoots upto 2.0 MP's and over-all aquality of the picture is not grainy but still mediocre.) For my persoal cam I when with a Minolta Dimage F100 4.0 MP camera. IT is nice and compact and takes beautiful pictures (though not as close as the olympus cams) My only beef is that it is a tad slow and the flash is positioned so that your finger will always be in front of it and block it if you do not think about it. (The autofocus is a little crazy too with up close objects and its a toss up whether or not it will be in focus at the time the shutter clicks open.) But overall I have never owned a better picture quality cam. I would kill for a digital SLR cam but they are a little outta my price range.But yeah, avoid HP! Prices may tempt you but you get what you pay for (and in HPs case you get a little less ussually)
stephenbrooks - Saturday, November 27, 2004 - link
What I dislike most about digital cameras is the laggy shutter delay. Prefocus sometimes doesn't work if you move around a bit or the subject of you picture is.AtaStrumf - Saturday, November 27, 2004 - link
I had the displeasure of working with a 2 year old HP 2 MP, no zoom 315 model and it's preety horrible even for a 2 year old camera. I had hoped they had changed, but I guess they haven't. Too bad.Bonesdad - Saturday, November 27, 2004 - link
I have never been impressed with HP digicams. We are forced to use them at work, at least until I made an executive decision and bought a Canon A75 (which the last time I checked was about $199). I hope people do their research when looking for a good camera and avoid HP.Souka - Saturday, November 27, 2004 - link
Get a Canon SD100 for that money....If looking at the 4mp Kodak model, go for the Canon S410 or SD300. (S410 better pic quality, SD300 TOP notch video...60fps capable!)