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Auto Mode
In the auto shooting mode, users still have control over ISO, white balance, and flash settings, for semi-manual and fully automatic shooting. In the auto mode, users can also set the ISO, white balance, and flash to the auto default function.
Even in the auto mode, users may have to change the flash settings indoors because the camera does not set an auto flash with backlighting, resulting in photos that are too dark. The other option is to bump up ISO settings. Either way, the auto setting is problematic indoors and requires some more fancy work.
The auto mode captured both static and moving subjects just fine. Users do not have to worry about blurry images when photographing walking persons or moving cars in good lighting.
Movie Mode
The movie mode records at 20 fps with QVGA resolution of 320 x 240 pixels.
The zoom locks in the movie mode, which makes shooting at various distances difficult. For recording your child’s game from the bleachers, users can zoom before recording has started, after shooting starts the zoom becomes locked. Users can also change ISO and white balance before recording. The movie mode’s audio works effectively, picking up street noise and even the sound of the button to end the video. Users, however, can shut camera sounds off before recording.
One of the more significant problems of the camera was banding captured in movie mode. In both outdoor and indoor high contrast situations, the camera captured off-colored vertical lines across the video images. Still images did not record banding.
At 20 fps and 320 x 240 pixels, the video is fine for sending an email to the grandparents but won’t look good played back on a television. Most point-and-shoots now carry 30 fps capabilities at a full VGA resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. The video films smoothly enough with steady hands but can be choppy when shifting the camera.
Drive/Burst Mode
The burst mode captures images at 2 fps with a 3-picture maximum. The speed certainly isn’t incredible, and the 3-shot max on the burst mode is very disappointing. If the action being photographed lasts more than a second and a half, there will be trouble. The HP Photosmart M527 takes quite awhile to process the images and write them to the memory card. No flash is available in the burst mode.
Playback Mode
The playback mode is one of the better features of the HP Photosmart M527. The camera comes with plenty of built-in editing functions which anti-desktop users will like. Users can select post-production editing tools such as red-eye reduction and photo effects. Colors can be changed, borders can be added, images can be rotated, and audio can be attached to a still image file in the camera.
The camera also has a nine-frame thumbnail view and fast one-to-one image transitions. Unlike other point-and-shoots, the HP M527 quickly scrolls through images, frame by frame for rapid review. Unfortunately, there are no fancy slideshow presentations with this camera.
Users can also view video on the spot but because the camera lacks a speaker, users will have to do without the sound when viewing movies.
Custom Image Presets
The M527 has 11 preset shooting modes, excluding auto mode: Macro, Burst, Sunset, Beach & Snow, Night Portrait, Action, Portrait, Landscape, Fast Shot, and Self-Timer. The camera includes the standard modes of other entry-level cameras for basic portraiture and landscape photography, while adding a few popular modes for sports and family vacationing. Some may wonder, however, what the difference is for action and fast shot modes; the two modes overlap. The action mode is ideal for sports, functioning with a faster shutter speed. The fast shot is set at a low ISO for bright situations and has a fixed focus. In general, the number of presets is fair enough for well-rounded automatic shooting.
To access the presets, users will have to select the shooting mode internally since the camera lacks the mode dial seen on semi-manual point-and-shoots. Users have two options. The quickest way to access the shooting modes is through the “mode” option on the 4-way controller. The other round-about way is through the menu.
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