HP PhotoSmart Mz67

...the spots off my older HP camera. The extra megapixels do make a difference.
The camera menu is easy to navigate and the buttons that do the navigation are nice and simple to operate. The select or OK button is at the centre of the navigation and is very large so even people with big fingers can operate it with ease. The zoom button is L shaped so you cannot mistake which way the zoom lense is going.
Talking of the lense, the 6X optical ...
...of the camera to charge. HP do sell an "easy charge" kit for £20 but all the kit contains is a normal AA battery charger that you can buy for about £5 and a flimsy carry case. At least taking AA batteries it can easily be replaced when the batteries run out but i think they missed a big opening by not providing a battery that charges in camera. However, a set of batteries has a massive lifespan.

Also included in the box is ... more

You cant really argue when someone offers you a camera for free can you? But when it has more megapixels and more optical zoom than the slightly older model you already have and does not perform as well, you do have to ask youself, is it all worth it?

Here im talking about the Hewlett Packard Mz67 digital camera. It was given to us brand new as a thank you from my hardware supplier. While it offers much in the adverts, it fails to deliver quite as much as it claims. Im not saying it is a bad camera, im just saying its not as good as it could be.

Firstly, the casing. Finished in matt black, the camera body feels a bit plastic like and even still, flexible plastic. The top of the camera looks like it is finished in brushed steel or even a tungsten colour that marks easily with finger prints. It discolours and looks attrocious!
The front of the camera is dominated by a huge zoom lense. Im not sure if its a camera with a lense or a lense with a camera! The flash bulb is wide and short in height but appears to be very bright.
Also on the front is the ergonomically designed finger grip that allows easier 1 hand operation.

To the rear is a nice big 2.5 inch full colour screen that gives you a good preview of your snaps prior to taking the picture as well as reviewing them afterwards. You can also use the big screen for editing pictures.

Usability and taking pictures is very simple. The camera has a nice big button that also acts as the fine focus button. Hold it lightly and the camera twitches and fine tunes the focus. This can take some time to get right which can be a pain but the results are breathtaking. The clarity and sharpness of this camera knocks the spots off my older HP camera. The extra megapixels do make a difference.
The camera menu is easy to navigate and the buttons that do the navigation are nice and simple to operate. The select or OK button is at the centre of the navigation and is very large so even people with big fingers can operate it with ease. The zoom button is L shaped so you cannot mistake which way the zoom lense is going.
Talking of the lense, the 6X optical lense is fantastic. However, it does tend to protrude from the front of the camera along way! Be careful that you dont take someones eye out with it! You certainly can zoom in on some small items. This does come with a double edged sword though. I find once zoomed in and working up close with the portrait or close-up option, the camera is unable to focus. This means when taking pictures up close, it does tend to struggle. I suggest its used on traditional photos and forget and micro work!

Connectivity is good. It can hook up to your PC to download the pictures via the included USB cable or you can take the pictures out of the camera on the storage card (not included). The size of card it takes is SD and you will need a decent sized card due to the 8 Megapixel pictures it takes. The built in storage only holds 5 pictures at full resolution!

Battery life. Its ok but I think its a major drawback that the batteries need to be taken out of the camera to charge. HP do sell an "easy charge" kit for £20 but all the kit contains is a normal AA battery charger that you can buy for about £5 and a flimsy carry case. At least taking AA batteries it can easily be replaced when the batteries run out but i think they missed a big opening by not providing a battery that charges in camera. However, a set of batteries has a massive lifespan.

Also included in the box is a driver CD for connecting it to a PC, a quick start manual, a warranty booklet and 2 AA batteries. Oh and the USB cable that i have already mentioned.

Overall its not a bad camera but feel its not quite as capable as my older model and missing out on the in camera charging option as well as the inability to take up close pictures really lets its down.

=UPDATE - 06/02/08/=
After using this a bit now and getting a feel for it on our spanish trip this weekend, I have to say im very impressed with how it takes pictures. The battery life is amazing. After 70 snaps (mostly with the flash) its still on its first set of batteries. However, 2 things I have noticed are:
The shutter sometimes gets stuck when opening and closing. It still takes pics with the shutter half open leaving you with diagonal black shadows on your snaps. Not good.
A could of times when flicking between reviewing the pictures and taking more, the rear screen comes up with a LENS ERROR message. Turn it off and on again and this clears. A bit annoying though. 

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