I've been very happy with this purchase. The 2.5 Mega pixels are just fine for printing 5x7 prints, and 8x10's if you set the picture up well. The features of the camera are many, the automatic ones work great and there are overrides on almost all of the auto ones. I take up close "macro" pictures a lot and was thinking about getting a ring flash, but so far I've been pretty happy with the built in flash lighting up my subject... This feature and two others are why I would recommend this. You can set the ASA from 25 up to 400 (a lot of other cameras have one setting 100). The other feature is the compact flash memory, they work well and I feel they're very reliable.

I was not dissapointed by this camera. It works like a manual 35mm camera for focussing on the subject, has a great zoom, great optics, and all of those digital camera features we've come to expect. One absolutely key feature is the remote control which works like a wireless cable release, this is excellent for those long exposures where the camera needs to be motionless.
The only drawback is the one so many digital cameras have, power.
It eats batteries like salted peanuts. I regret not having ordered the AC adapter and rechargeable batteries from the start.

The C912 camera takes great pictures but does not perform well when you want to shoot with manual settings. This camera won't replace a 35MM SLR as I had hoped. Overall, I think I would have been better off buying a new 35MM SLR camera and a smaller digital camera like the Olympus C700. I sure miss my old Canon AE1!

Shortcomings:

1) Manual focus is a joke. You have to select between distance settings measured in "meters." I haven't found a way to change the readings to "feet." Adjustments to the manual focus are done at the back of the camera where your left thumb is. Neither the LCD display nor the viewfinder work very well for judging focus. I'd suggest that you set the camera for a small aperture so you'll get fairly well focused pics. Manual focus on the lens like a standare 35MM would be way way better.

2) The hot shoe only has one contact; you'll have to shoot with manual exposure settings when using an add-on flash unit.

3) Very low light pictures shot at long exposure come out with "noise" in the picture that looks like snowflakes.

4) When using the flash, aperture or shutter speed priority perform poorly. I would have expected the flash to compensate better for changes to aperture and shutter speed. I've taken some pic's that came out with poor exposure this way.

5) The camera is as large as a 35MM SLR, too big to put in your pocket. On the bright side, you don't have to worry about it falling out of your pocket...

6) Shooting in Automatic mode provides average focus so you get pictures that are often out of focus.

7) The autofocus has a half-second or so delay that you have to compensate for. I guess all auto focus cameras perform this way. You have to shoot in manual focus to get instant shutter response. I sure miss my old Canon AE1.

8) A 10x zoom lens like the Olympus C700 would be much better. A removable lens like standard a real 35MM SLR camera would make this camera the best thing since sliced bread! The 3x zoom is okay for general photography. I should have bought the C700!

9) Zoom is electric not mechanical. It's adjusted on the lens like a 35MM focus ring. It's a bit slow to respond. Mechanical would have been way better.

Advantages:

1) Shooting in "P" for program mode and set with center point focus produces excellent pictures just about all the time.

2) The flash is small but quite powerful.

3) The camera has an excellent look and feel.

4) Diopter allows you adjust the viewfinder to your eye so you can shoot without your glasses and see clearly.

5) The camera is built very well. This is one of the main reasons I bought it. I'm sure it can take quite a hit without breaking. You could probably use it to break open walnuts! The lens is enclosed so it doesn't extend in and out like smaller cameras. The lens is built to accept screw-on filters and telephoto and other lenses without Mickey Mouse adapters. Install a clear filter the day you get the camera to protect the lens from dirt and finger prints.

6) The camera uses a proprietary battery pack or standard AA batteries. Rechargeable 1700mAh AA NiMH Batteries and a Radio Shack one-hour charger perform well and cost half of what you'll pay for the HP battery and charger. I use the 6-volt AC power supply that came with my camcorder to power the camera without batteries and have had no problems.

7) The date displays on the image. A note and logo can also be displayed on the image.

8) Sound recording is a pretty cool feature. No video recording and glad.

9) A PCMCIA adapter for the compact flash can be bought for [price]. It's fantastic for vacation. I bring along my old laptop to download pictures every evening. 64MB holds 58 pic's at highest resolution.

As with all the other reviewers, I really like this camera. The optical viewfinder is excellent, especially for macro shots. The latest feature I have discovered is the ability to send images from the camera to my laptop via infrared (Jetsend). I also like the high-end approach of not over-processing the images in the camera. It is easy to process sharpness and saturation to your liking using Photoshop. There is an added plus to the 1600 X 1280 resolution. It creates an exact 8 X 10 image. Given the smaller resolution of this camera, it is nice that 8 X 10's requires no cropping at all...so all the pixels you capture are printed. The macro is fantastic and the flash throttles back well to give excellent exposure on macro shots. I also like the fact the camera can do time-lapse with no additional gadgets required.

The remote control has either instant shot or 3 second delay. My Olympus has only a delayed remote so many times the shot is gone before the camera fires. My flash, an Olympus FL-40, works perfect in automatic mode with the HP. The camera must be set in manual mode but that is where you can really get creative. Thankfully, there is no silly movie capture feature. Did any of the reviewers mention that the LCD swings up so you can look down at the screen and compose the picture?

If HP/Pentax wanted to put in a 4 or 5 mp CCD and charge over $1000 for this camera, I would be first in line to buy it. Even at the 2mp size, it is excellent. Plus now it is selling at a bargain price. My other camera, an Olympus E-100RS has its own set of advantages and so these two cameras are a perfect complement to each other.

I have always used a good 35mm SLR and owned a photolab for many years, so I know what I am talking about when I talk of quality photos.

Wanting to get into digital photography on a budget, I bought Mustek MD800 a couple of years ago and it was a disaster. Pics were dreadful and the color/exposure was almost toxic. Every now and then I would check and see if there was anything exciting and affordable on the web and that was when i found the HP 912. I took a long time to make up my mind and to actualy buy it due to residual fear from the last digital fiasco, but the leap of faith was worth it. I just could not believe the list of everything it can do, and that made me even more sceptical. After it arrived, I was taking pics within 5 minutes and was amazed at the quality. Since then, I have put it through it's paces and everything works just as they claimed. Even the built in flash is far more powerful than i thought possible. In flash shots I am so used to seeing the faces over exposed (all bleached out) and the background pitch black, but with this camera the results are quite startling. I took a whole bunch of pics on Christmas day in the sittingroom while the kids were opening their gifts and was surprised to see that things were clearly visible in the diningroom - over 20 feet away and the subjects in the foreground were perfectly exposed! And it is all so easy to do! The results are far more pleasing than my 35mm outfit which cost me well over two thousand dollars. Another thing I found interesting is that I got 154 shots out of the 4 AA batteries that came with the camera! Very economical!