HP Photosmart 620

There's one word for HP's Photosmart 620 camera -- big. It's a chunky 2.1-megapixel camera that looks like it would be more at home with a roll of 35mm film in it than a memory card. There are certainly smaller cameras available in this quality/price range, although some consumers may find the larger size more comfortable to use.

Powered By AA Batteries
The reason for the large size of the Photosmart 620 is that it takes 4 AA batteries to power the camera. AA battery use is something of a mixed blessing. There is a convenience issue here -- AA batteries are available everywhere -- but at the same time you don't want the batteries to die in the middle of a shoot, and a camera with a preview LCD will chew up the power like nobody's business. We'd strongly recommend anyone pondering the 620 to invest in a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger.

Like the very similar Photosmart 812 camera, the accent is on taking simple photos; you won't find any options to alter exposures, white balance or anything similar -- this is a plain point and shoot camera. It's at a better price point than the 812, which makes the simplification a little more palatable; this is definitely an entry level camera.

Similarities To The Photosmart 812
The Photosmart 620 reminds us a lot of the Photosmart 812. It's got the same basic, easy to use photo structure, the same lack of customisable features. It's just under half the price of the Photosmart 812; but the 812 is a 4 megapixel camera that uses rechargeable batteries, while the 620 is a 2.1-megapixel AA battery camera. Both use the same rather annoying side-by-side zoom layout that we're still not terribly comfortable with. Like the 812, the 620 has a short delay when moving between optical (3x) and digital (4x) zoom. It's not a bad way to remind you that you're going into interpolation territory, but at the same time it's a problem if you want to quickly catch a temporary shot.

We can deal more with the camera auto-switching off the LCD on the 620 than on the 812; with non-rechargeable batteries it does make more sense.

Best For Outdoor Photography
Like the 812, the 620 uses a simplified star system for quality purposes. One star quality shots are 80KB (640x180 pixels). Two stars shots are 500KB (1632x1232 pixels), and three star shots come in at 900KB (1632x1232). We found the Photosmart 620 best for outdoor shots; the balance of flash vs necessary illumination left us with some washed-out looking indoor shots as well as some dark ones.

For a camera that prides itself on simplicity, the button layout is unnecessarily complicated. For some reason the video clip capture facility is a button on the top of camera near the shot button. It's possible to rotate and magnify shots in-camera and view the results on the LCD, but the lack of up/down buttons means that moving around a single shot involves choosing between horizontal and vertical movement; you can't simply move around the shot.

Editor's note: The HP Photosmart 620 camera is currently only available in Korea and Australia.

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