This 4MP camera has an 8x zoom and produces vivid and crisp photos. With a wide range of features including video and audio capture, the Photosmart 850 will entice anyone seeking a quality digital camera at a reasonable price.

Hewlett-Packard pitches this 4 megapixel camera as a "camera for the whole family." It brings some decent specifications to the table, although some additional features would have made it more of a compelling package.

A metallic casing fused with a black rubbery grip gives the 850 a vintage appearance. At the front of the camera is a prominent large lens that pushes the dimensions out to 114 x 85 x 83mm. It weighs in at about 380g and its curved edges make it comfortable to hold.

On the top of the camera is an on/off switch which doubles as the capture mode selector. The toggle seems slightly loose when turning the camera on. It's a touch too easy to end up in video or timer mode when rotating the switch for still shot mode.

Next to the capture selector is a manual pop-up flash that can be set to on, off, automatic, red-eye or night function. The hidden away flash is handy for those times you want to ensure the flash to doesn't go off -- without having to shuffle through the preferences. The SD card slot is on the side of the camera. A meagre 16MB card is included, enough to store 13 pictures at the default resolution of 2272 x 1712 pixels. If you decrease the resolution down to the alternate setting of 1136 x 848 pixels and opt for the lowest image quality, up to 71 images can be stored.

Most of the interaction is at back of the camera and the controls seemed a little daunting at first. All up there are seven buttons and a four-way directional pad with an OK button in the middle. There are two rubber zoom controls, a button for macro, flash, display, playback and sharing. HP has built-in a large 5cm LCD which is sharp and bright.

A slot on the bottom of the camera opens for the insertion of four AA batteries - the 850 comes bundled with four e2 titanium batteries, but we recommend going out and purchasing some rechargeable cells. To conserve power the display turns off after 60 seconds and the camera will power down after six minutes of no activity. Be careful not to leave the camera turned on and connected to a PC as we foolishly did - an auto off feature in this case would have saved us a set of batteries.

A lens-centred tripod mount is on the underside and beside that is the port that links the camera to the optional (AU$179) dock. The dock has an "instant share" button (mirrored on the camera itself) that allows you to either print images you have marked previously or email the pictures to addresses stored in the camera. The same function is possible via a button on the camera so the dock certainly is not a necessity. If you have rechargeable batteries, these can be recharged through the dock with an AC Adapter (AU$69). There is an AV output on both the dock and the camera, however the cable is another accessory not supplied.

The photos we took turned out clear and vivid under a range of lighting conditions, with the exception of one overexposed night shot. Colours appeared bright and images well focused, thanks to a little red auto-focus illuminator on the front of the camera. While zooming, the subject often becomes blurry; pressing the shutter button half way down will bring the image back into focus by enabling the illuminator.

HP boast the 850 has a 56x total zoom. This is true, but all we got excited about was the 8x optical zoom, not the 7x digital zoom. To its credit the camera does have a neat way of incorporating the digital zoom. When passing over into digital zoom an adjustable red square encompasses the image to be interpolated and the megapixels your image drops down to is displayed in the corner or the viewing area (LCD or electronic viewfinder). A nifty feature is the sensor just under the viewfinder that projects the image on the eyepiece when held up to your face and senses when you take it and swaps to the LCD on the back.

While the 850 is pretty much a point-and-shoot camera, there are a couple of settings that can be tweaked. ISO speeds (either 100 or 200) didn't affect our test images to any appreciable degree, but the option is there for those who need it. There is adequate EV compensation (+/-3 in ½ steps) readily accessible via the left and right buttons on the directional pad. There is a macro mode available for shots high detail shots within 10 - 70cm. The exposure mode can be adjusted for action, landscape, portrait, shutter and aperture priority shots. The fairly standard white balance (sun, shade, tungsten, fluorescent, manual) modes are also variable under the menu. A handy feature is that the settings are saved automatically and can be effortlessly restored by holding down the OK button when switching on the camera.

Our tests of the video mode of the camera gave an average performance with slightly grainy results (more so in dim surroundings). Audio can be recorded with video clips and 30 second annotations can be attached to stills. The microphone picks up the photographers voice accurately, but while shooting clips avoid zooming as it will record the noise of the lens moving in and out.

Overall we found the Photosmart 850 easy-to-use with a wide range of features including an impressive zoom. Semi-professional photographers and consumers alike should be impressed with the capabilities of this digital camera. With digital camera prices constantly dropping, though, it would be nice to see more accessories -- dock, rechargeable batteries, higher storage or an AC power cord -- included with the camera.

HP Photosmart 850
Company: HP Australia
Price: AU$1,399
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 13 13 47

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