HP PhotoSmart M22 Review

The PhotoSmart M22 is equipped with a 6x digital zoom lens, 6.11mm (equivalent to 36.7mm on 35mm camera). Its aperture range is f2.8 - f6.5 and the normal auto focus range is from 0.5m to infinity, Macro mode covers from 0.2 to 0.5m.

The Built-in auto-adjusting flash has modes for Auto, Forced Off, Auto w/Red-Eye, Forced On, Night, Night w/Red Eye).

Flash working distance: ISO Speed set to Auto: 5 meters (16.5 feet)

Controls on the back: The Camera button is the Record/Playback mode. The Flash button changes the flash mode. The Mode button changes between Auto, Macro, Action, Landscape, Portrait, Beach/Snow, Sunset, Panorama. The Selftimer button allows you to select between Normal and Self-timer modes. The 4-way selector lets you navigate menus and scroll through images. In record mode you press "up" for digital zoom, "down" to zoom out. In playback press "up" to magnify and "down" for thumbnails. The Menu/OK button calls up the onscreen menu system and accepts selections.

Controls on the top: A handy feature that we've seen on other PhotoSmart cameras, a separate shutter release for capturing still images and movie clips. No need to bring up a menu or flip a mode dial when you want to capture a movie, just press the small shutter button.

The PhotoSmart M22 comes with 16MB of internal memory and is compatible with SD (Secure Digital) cards up to 1GB. It's also compatible with MMC (MultiMedia) type cards.

The I/O ports are on the left side and include a DC IN port for charging the camera battery or using the AC power adapter, and the USB 1.1 port for downloading data to a computer. The M22 can be directly connected to any PictBridge printer for computerless-printing.

On the bottom of the camera is a connector for the HP M-series Camera Dock that carries audio, video, USB and power.

The PhotoSmart M22 is powered by two standard AA type batteries; alkaline, lithium or NiMH rechargeable.