HP PhotoSmart 912

Now this is innovative -- the camera can be powered by four AA type batteries using the supplied battery carrier. It can also be powered by an optional 7.6v 1400mAH lithium rechargeable pack ($99 including combo charger/AC power supply). HP claims that their lithium pack holds enough power for 800 exposures, no doubt with the LCD off.

Congratulations to HP/Pentax for this versatile design that allows the user to chose between inexpensive AA type rechargeables or the more expensive (and proprietary) lithium pack. As with all digital cameras I wouldn't even suggest the use of alkaline batteries - no matter what brand, it will be a major disappointment!

The majority of the camera controls are located along the top of the camera, they are clearly labeled and positioned to make them as easy to access as possible.

• Night - Optimized for dark, flash is trailing
• Action - Bias towards faster shutter speed
• Close-up - Bias towards smaller aperture, greater DOF
• Landscape - Bias towards smaller aperture, greater DOF
• Portrait - Bias towards large aperture, shallow DOF
• AUTO - Camera does it all, point-n-shoot mode
• Program - Shutter/aperture picked, variable by user
• Tv Shutter Speed Priority - Set shutter speed camera picks aperture
• Av Aperture Priority - Set aperture camera picks shutter speed
• Manual - User sets everything manually

Located on top of the camera are dedicated buttons for flash mode, AF focus mode (Wide or Spot), selftimer/remote (10 sec selftimer, instantaneous and 3 sec delay remote) and drive mode (single, continuous, timelapse).

The extra large data LCD gives the user instant visual feedback for the most important settings which are outlined below.

The exposure bar graph is useful in indicating the amount of over or under-exposure the current shutter, aperture and exposure compensation will produce.

Below the shutter release on the front of the camera is the Sub-dial which is used to change shutter speed, aperture value, EV compensation or Program AE variables when in Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority or Manual mode. It is inactive in all other exposure modes.

You press and hold the Exp Comp (+/-) button and rotate the sub command dial to change the EV comp value. After pressing the AE-L button the calculated exposure is held for twenty seconds regardless of how many pictures are taken.

To the left of the color LCD on the back is the combination Capture Mode dial and 4-way navigation switch. Positions on the mode dial are for Record, Play, Index and Connect to PC. Above the dial is the JetSend button which can transmit your picture data via high-speed infrared to a properly equipped HP printer.

Above the JetSend button is the builtin speaker for playback of camera sounds and voice annotation recordings.