HP Photosmart R717

In marketing terms, bigger is better, leading HP to use a 6.2-megapixel CCD in the new R717. That sounds superior to the 5.36 megapixels of its predecessor, the R707, but pixel count becomes largely academic over 4 megapixels unless you plan to print at A3 or larger.

More important is the quality of the CCD and the lens, and we've no major complaints here. On automatic settings, indoor shots were well exposed, with good contrast and natural tones. Outdoor photography revealed slight problems, though, with the flash over-keen in dusky light conditions, and noticeable chromatic aberration in high-contrast areas.

There's still a big problem with operational speed, though. The R717 is slow to adjust itself, occasionally refusing to take a shot and compromising its point-and-shoot credentials. The startup time of 5.5 seconds doesn't help either, causing you to miss those more spontaneous moments, and a click-to-shoot time of 2.3 seconds left us occasionally frustrated.

The LCD is also slightly flawed. At 1.8in, it isn't as big as the Canon IXUS 50's and lacks the generous viewing angles too. When the battery runs low, the R717 disables the screen, forcing you to use the optical viewfinder, making picture framing hit and miss.

With the 3x optical zoom at maximum, the aperture can be forced at either f/4.9 or f/8.4. This doesn't give much scope for depth-of-field adjustments, with choice reverting to f/2.8 or f/4.8 when not zoomed. Elsewhere, the R717 will let you force just about any setting through its intuitive menu system, including colour saturation, white balance and metering method. There's a handy hint to tell you what each setting does, as well as a range of generally effective preset settings for specific shooting conditions.

In use, the R717's rounded design and 208g weight make it comfortable in the hand, and the rugged metal and plastic case mean it will stand up to the rigours of point-and-click life. But it's still slightly too chunky to fit into a jacket pocket.

The R717 is certainly an improvement over the R707, and HP has priced it aggressively - it undercuts the IXUS by almost £50. However, we'd still pay the extra for the IXUS 50's superior image quality, slimmer chassis and quicker shoot times.

Author: Clive Webster