good camera in a small form factor
The HP R817 and R818 cameras provide a good balance between small, convenient camera size, and good zoom. With a 5x optical zoom before digital zoom kicks in, it's very flexible, and can bring distance objects reasonably close. There are cameras with more optical zoon factors, but most in form factors much larger than this HP. There are cameras with image stablization (starts to become a necessity if you don't have a tripod and you're getting up to 10x), but again they would probably be larger -- in some cases, much larger. Many other cameras in the same size range would only offer 3X optical zoom. This camera is small enough to fit in your pocket and not worry about it.
The R818 incarnation differs from the R817 in that the 818 is a dark gray and comes with an extra battery, rather than the shinier silver R817. Note that there are also some offerings where the 818 comes with a optional dock, rather than the 'cradle' that comes with the basic models. The cradle holds the camera and mates with the built-in connector on the bottom, and provides the USB and power connectivity for data transfer and charging. The dock adds the features of being able to charge a battery outside of the camera, which would match up well with the second battery that comes with the R818; it also provides a TV-out capability for watching slideshows (and presumably the video clips these cameras can record, but I haven't confirmed that).
The user interface was fairly intuitive for me, which was a marked difference from some other cameras.
This camera has worked well for me, under a variety of situations.
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Definitely pleased
I first borrowed an r817 (same as r818 except for color) from a friend for a trip to the grand canyon and a trip to Vegas. I was a little worried about the lack of a view finder (only LCD) because I thought it may not work well in bright light or might run the batteries out, but I quickly got over that worry. The camera did incredibly well in the bright sun light at the grand canyon and I never had battery problems. The panorama mode was awesome! I was able to create some phenomenal shots using it at the grand canyon.
So, I purchased the r818 (same as r817 except for color) myself about a month ago and I am very, very pleased with my purchase. The camera is small, light-weight and does not compromise on quality. It is also very easy to use. I actually considered a higher megapixel camera, but after my experience with the quality of photos from my aforementioned trip using the r817 I simply didn't see a need for the additional megapixels. I actually decided that 5x optical zoom was more valuable to me than the competing 3x optical zoom.
My only nitpick on this camera are that the indoor shots can occasionally come out a little off color. However, the image zone software that comes with does a good job with correcting it. This is my third digital camera in the last 4 years and I have to say that I am the most pleased with this one. It is really easy to use and has loads of extra little features.
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Fantastic - HP R817 Underwater Camera Housing
The underwater camera housing is Ike-lite style camera housing, the buttons are easy to operate, and the shutter release and video start mode is easy to operate one handed with a glove on (if diving in cold water). The single o-ring for the housing is easy to maintain and comes with all the care tools required like and plastic easy o-ring remover to avoid getting any scratches or nicks on the ring and plenty of silicon lube to last a while. The release to open the camera is fantastic and gives a real peace of mind in how snug it fits. Additionally, the o-ring itself is visible through the casing to allow you to view that it makes a solid seal all the way around. The housing also ships with 3 moisture removal packets, these may be placed with the camera in the housing to deal with condensation in the event that you must open the housing to place the camera in an evironment that is not air conditioned and dry.
The only problem I have is that the HP R817 camera itself comes with proprietary rechargable battery which has plenty of life for still photos, but is very limited for video ... after no more than 12 minutes of video a fully charged battery is totally drained. Therefore, I limit my videos to "shorts" and keep plenty of charged cells with me to swap during surface intervals. But then again it's a still shot digital camera so it's only a major bonus that it does video at all. Anyway if you've been debating if it's worth it to take your HP R817 into a water or very wet environment you'll have a blast with this very high quality housing ... have a blast capturing memories for a lifetime!
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