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Manual Control Options
The HP M527 has minimal manual control with options to change white balance, ISO, and flash settings in most shooting modes. For point-and-shooters looking to upgrade to a camera with more manual control, the M527 provides at least some support with its limited, introductory manual functions.
Focus
Auto Focus
The HP Photosmart M527 has two auto focus modes: a normal default mode and macro mode. The normal mode focuses from 0.5m to infinity (1.64ft. – infinity) at the widest focal length. In the telephoto mode, the camera focuses from 0.6m to infinity (2ft. – infinity).
For close-up shots, the HP specification sheet states that the macro mode focuses from 0.12-1m (5.72 in. – 3.28 ft.). During test shots, however, the camera focused more effectively in normal auto focus mode over the macro mode. When set to macro mode, the auto focus sometimes prevents shooting even within focusing range past 6 inches. The text “Unable to Focus” appears on the LCD screen, at which point, multiple depressions of the shutter button are required before focusing. The “Unable to Focus” phrase will be a common sighting: the camera displays it often in low light when the auto focus has some trouble.
The M527 has one focus point at the center. The center focus is highlighted by guidelines: green when effectively focused and red when the camera is unable to focus.
Manual Focus
The HP M527 does not have manual focus, which most point-and-shooters prefer although some entry level cameras are increasingly including the manual function. For users who want manual focus, the step-up model HP Photosmart R927 has it, but for double the price.
Exposure
Users can manually control exposure compensation on the M527 but not much else. Users can change the exposure in 2EV steps by ½ stops, although most cameras have 1/3 exposure increments, a minimal difference in exposure range.
The LCD shows a linear scale in which users can change exposure up or down using the 4-way controller. In addition, the camera has a helpful guide below the scale that shows arrows to indicate which selected buttons make the image brighter or darker. Users will also benefit from the live preview that shows the incremental exposure changes.
Metering
The HP camera only has one metering system, a TTL center-weighted auto exposure meter. Although many cameras include three metering systems such as matrix or spot metering, this camera’s sole metering system has trouble reading light situations outside of the center as well as backlit subjects.
For users concerned with more precise metering, HP offers multiple metering systems in the Photosmart R927 with center-weighted, spot, and average AE metering.
White Balance
The HP Photosmart M527 has four white balance settings besides Auto: Sun, Shade, Tungsten, and Fluorescent. Although some point-and-shoots offer multiple fluorescent settings, this camera does not. Even with the limited preset options, the HP M527 covers the basics for everyday situations.
The HP M527, as expected, does not have a program or manual white balance setting. The camera does have textual descriptions that explain each white balance setting, such as the exposure compensation. For instance, under the “Shade” setting, a brief guide “Outdoors in shade or at dusk” explains the function. This is consistent with the helpful HP menu system in the rest of the camera.
ISO
The ISO range on the M527 is a disappointing 100 to 400. Besides the auto setting, the camera’s limited range is trounced by other point-and-shoots that have sensitivity ranges up to ISO 800 or 1600.
When users change the ISO settings, a textual description follows each setting making it easier for beginning photographers to decipher ISO. In addition, each setting shows an imitation preview icon of a preset HP picture. For example, the ISO 100 setting picture shows that a woman riding a bicycle will be blurred. Like the rest of the control options’ text explanations, the ISO descriptions are very helpful.
Shutter Speed
The HP Photosmart M527’s shutter speeds range from 2 seconds to a fast 1/1000th of a second. The shutter speed, however, is set completely automatically. The camera includes a fast shot shooting mode and an action shooting mode in which users will have to guess what the exact speed is. We can guess that the night mode automatically selects a time of 2 seconds for dark photos. Most point-and-shooters probably prefer the guesswork to be taken care of regardless. The M527 has the same shutter speeds, along with aperture range, as its less expensive HP counterpart, the M425.
Aperture
Like the shutter speed, the aperture is set automatically on the M527. The camera has a fair f-stop range: f/2.8-f/8.0 in wide and f/4.7 to f/7.6 in telephoto.
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