Digital Camera Review

Digital Camera Review

Nov 12, 2004 - By Christina St. Pierre
The HP Photosmart 435 is the “little black dress” of digital cameras; it is elegant in its simplicity, and works for just about any occasion. Plus, with an MSRP of $129.99, it’s economic and affordable. Containing a sleek metallic front, sliding lens cover, 3.34 megapixels of resolution, and an internal 16MB memory, the HP 435 has appeal and substance. Created for budget consumers and novice photographers, this point-and-shoot has a 5x digital zoom lens, intuitive features, and a movie mode that captures video at 15 frames per second with audio. Beginning photographers will find the Photosmart 435’s direct print and e-mail options attractive. They allow the user to select photos to send to specific destinations and printers as soon as the camera is connected to a PC or printer.
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Manual Controls
While there is no manual mode to speak of, certain settings such as ISO, white balance, flash, and exposure can be adjusted. If the user wants to change back to auto, they either have to go back into each setting and reselect auto, or turn the camera off and on to reset it. This may prove cumbersome if time is of the essence, and makes me wish that the HP 435 had just created a manual mode for them, as most cameras have.

Focus
Auto Focus(6.5)
Those who buy the HP Photosmart 435 as their first digital camera might find the focusing method similar to a basic film point-and-shoot. The camera has a fixed focus control range from 33.5 inches to infinity, which is fine for portraits and landscape shots but not suitable for any macro shots.

Manual Focus(0.0)
As with other point-and-shoot cameras in its price range, the HP Photosmart 435 does not have a manual focus mode. As the target audience of this camera is composed of snapshooters and beginning photographers, this is no surprise.

Metering (4.0)
There is a TTL (Through The Lens) metering system on the HP Photosmart 435, although no selectable settings are offered. This is a bit disappointing as various metering options would grant the user more control over the image, but it might compromise the niche the camera is geared towards.

Exposure (7.0)
Another feature that gives the shooter control over the image is the exposure mode. For extreme lighting situations, it is often useful to be able to manually change the exposure, and the Photosmart 435 gives you the standard range of -2.0 to +2.0, adjustable in 1/2 EV increments. Like the other options in the Photosmart 435’s menu, there is an easy explanation of this setting in the help column.

White Balance (4.0)
Along with ISO, the white balance is also found in the menu, and provides five different settings: Auto (default), Sun, Shade, Tungsten, and Fluorescent. Although this is not as comprehensive as some cameras that distinguish between “cool fluorescent” and “warm fluorescent” and contain custom white balance options, the selections available are perfectly suitable for its user base.

One common attribute on similar models that I would have liked to have seen included on the Photosmart is a white balance preview. Many menus utilize the live composition as the menu backdrop, previewing each option on your subject in real-time. This makes it easier to judge which setting is best for a particular shot, rather than changing the setting, exiting the menu mode, and then trying again. The Photosmart 435, on the other hand, offers a help column that explains when you might use each setting, which could make things easier to understand.

ISO (7.0)
Considering that the HP 435 is more of a novice’s camera, and most cameras in its price range only have one ISO setting, the ability to select ISO 100, 200, or 400 is surprising and appreciated. The ISO settings can be quickly found in the menu and those who don’t fully understand ISO can read the accompanying Help menu option. The camera can be left on auto to pick the best ISO setting, which makes it easy for amateurs to use, while the option to manually change the ISO settings leaves room for them to grow.

Shutter Speed (0.0)
The Photosmart 435 has a functional shutter speed range of 1/1000 of a second to 4 second exposures, although they cannot be chosen manually. You can control the shutter speed slightly by selecting the action mode, which is programmed to choose faster ISO and shutter speeds. Again, this supports the idea that the Photosmart 435 takes some of the thinking (and simultaneously, the control) out of shooting, and for certain types of shooters, this is the objective.

Aperture (0.0)
The Photosmart 435 shoots between f/4.0 and f/8.0, which is a pretty narrow range, compared to other similar point-and-shoot cameras which generally offer aperture ranges of f/2.8-f/8. As with shutter speed, the user has no manual control over aperture settings.

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