HP Photosmart R707 Digital Camera Test

[Photo-John]

Read a hands-on report and view studio and other sample images taken with the HP Photosmart R707 digital camera.

Pros Compact size Excellent ergonomics for a super-compact camera Excellent image quality at ISO 100 My Mode feature Price: Approx. $350 US

Cons Minimal exposure control Limited aperture range Lots of noise at ISO 400

HP Photosmart R707 Test Images
		ISO 100 Sample >> ISO 200 Sample >> ISO 400 Sample >> HP Photosmart R707 Sample Gallery >>
HP Photosmart R707 User Reviews >> Hewlett-Packard Web Site >>

HP Photosmart R707 Digital Camera Test
The new HP Photosmart R707 is a very cool little camera. I saw a working prototype in February, at the annual PMA (Photo Marketing Association) show. The camera impressed me then and I've looked forward using one. I think this is the first time that HP has been able to bring together all the important camera design elements in one package. The physical design, features, build, and image quality of the HP Photosmart R707 make it a very compelling super-compact digital camera.

The most notable thing about the Photosmart R707, and absolutely the first thing that I noticed, is the physical design. It's tiny - about the same size as the Canon Digital ELPH and Pentax Optio digital cameras. Tiny cameras can be awkward to use, though. Bigger cameras have more mass, which makes them more stable and easier to hold. The HP design engineers took care to make the R707 a stable camera in spite of its small size. It has a very comfortable rubber back with a depression for the photographer's right thumb. And there's a groove in the right-front metal cover for your index finger. The result is possibly the best feeling and most comfortable camera in its class. It fits your hand like a glove making it easy to hold and press the shutter-release without shaking the camera. Congratulations to HP for the excellent R707 camera design.

For the most part I enjoyed using the Photosmart R707. The small size made it easy to always have around makes it a great hiking and biking camera. I took it on a bunch of mountain bike rides and got some very nice action and landscape photos. The only real problem I had was with exposure. I'm a very hands-on, manual photographer and the R707 only has basic auto-exposure modes (full auto, picture modes, and aperture-priority). I used aperture-priority most of the time because it appears to offer the most control. However, a very limited aperture range makes it more of a tease than a true manual exposure mode. Good metering and exposure-lock helped me get good exposures most of the time, though.

Besides the camera design, one of the nicest features of the R707 is a menu option that HP calls, "My Mode". My Mode allows the user to save exposure modes and other settings so that every time the camera is turned on it starts up with the My Mode settings. This is a very practical feature. It allows faster start-up by having the camera come on with your preferred settings. Faster start-up means less missed photo opportunities. Olympus has been designing cameras with customizable start-up settings for a long time. It's good to see this type of user-friendly design starting to show up in more cameras. It also illustrates HP's dedication to improving the digital camera user's experience.

Almost anyone would benefit from owning the HP Photosmart R707. It's comfortable, easy to use, and it takes nice pictures. It would make a good family camera. It would be a nice, compact addition to the serious photographer's more complicated SLR kit. And for anyone who needs a very small, take-everywhere camera, the R707 is an excellent choice. And for $350, how can you lose? The only people who won't like the R707 are camera snobs who aren't comfortable with the HP name. And for them, there are plenty of big-name cameras with bigger price tags.

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Other Resources: HP Photosmart R707 User Reviews >> Post a Review >> Hewlett-Packard Web Site >> Discuss the HP Photosmart R707 >> HP Photosmart R707 Sample Gallery >> Studio Sample Images >> Buy Now >>

[Photo-John]

Here are a couple of nice landscape I shot with the R707. As always, I've done some simple Photoshop adjustments for color, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. The intent of these photos is to show a camera's potential, not the raw data. For the pure technical test, check the studio sample images.

I was impressed with the auto white balance and dynamic range of the R707. Even though I wouldn't want to use it at ISO 400, at 100 it's very impressive. And the small size means you can have it with you whenever a nice scene presents itself.

The first photo was taken in Half Moon Bay, California. The second image was taken in the Santa Cruz Mountains, looking west, towards the Pacific. Both were taken in aperture-priority mode using the spot meter to control exposure.

[Photo-John]

Here are some close-up samples taken with the Photosmart R707. Like a lot of other compact digital cameras, it has a macro/close-up mode accessed via a button marked with a flower symbol. My cactus blossom image was taken at 1/971 second @ f/2.8 at ISO 100 and a focal length equivalent to 39mm on a 35mm camera. I would like a little less depth-of-field for an image like this. But it's a little tiny camera - you can't have it all.

This picture was optimized in Photoshop for color, contrast, saturation, and sharpness. I didn't do much to it, though. Note that the highlights are a bit lost. It's not that they were blown out. It just appears that the very subtle details are hard for the sensor to differentiate.

[Photo-John]

Here's a photo of my beat-up keyboard. This one hasn't been optimized at all, except for some sharpening on the resized version. The detail photo is at 100% and hasn't been touched except for the crop.

This image was taken at ISO 200 with a shutter speed of 1/45 second @ f/2.8, in Program mode and the lens at it's widest - 8mm (equivalent to 39mm on a 35mm camera).

[Photo-John]

Here are a couple of obligatory Photo-John mountain bike photos. As with any compact camera, technique is the key to getting good action photos. Both of these were taken by pre-focusing and carefully planning the photos. When I took the dark one, I prefocused on the the log and then panned, following the rider and pressing the shutter release just before he went over the log. It took me a couple of shots before I got the timing right. But the final image is very nice. Most people would be surprised to find out that it was taken with such a small, simple camera. As I said, technique is key.

The bright photo was easier as the light allowed for a smaller aperture and more depth-of-field which meant I didn't have to be as precise about focus. I also didn't have to worry about motion blur from a slow shutter speed. The midday light in this image is very harsh. But there's plenty of detail in the shadows if I wanted to lighten them up. The R707 captures a very nice range of tones in all types of light. I also noticed that R707 outdoor photos have really saturated, blue skies. I don't know for sure, but I assume that's the image processing. If you like to take outdoor photos, getting rich skies without a polarizing filter is a nice bonus.

[Photo-John]

Here's a photo of my foot and my bike, taken on my birthday

The reason that I posted this is it's a good example of a low-light, ISO 400 photo. It was taken on a mountain bike trail in the redwoods and it was pretty dim. ISO 400 was the only way I could take the picture without getting too much camera shake. Even at ISO 400 the shutter speed was 1/11th second and there was a little camera shake, which you can see in the 100% sample.

[Photo-John]

Here's a nice, pretty landscape photo. This image is important because it took about 3 hours for us to reach this spot on our bikes. It's no fun carrying heavy camera equipment on a mountain bike for 3+ hours. Small cameras like the HP Photosmart R707 are the best when you need something small, light, and unintrusive camera. It was no problem at all for me to take the R707 on this ride and others like it. And the quality of the images I got was very, very good, even though the camera is small and pretty simple. And for most big rides, I'll happily trade some control for small and light. If I had to take my big SLR, I wouldn't have any photos of this ride at all - because I wouldn't have taken it. If you want a small, simple camera for climbing, backpacking, picnics, etc., the HP Photosmart R707 will serve you well.