Comparisons between the HP 945
to the HP 850, the camera on which it is based, are unavoidable.
In most respects, the HP 945 is a 5 megapixel version of the
HP 850, and retains many of its quirks. Although it's shutter
release is very easily triggered — a bit too easily — the
HP 945 is not a fast camera when it comes to processing images.
In addition, after every single shot, the camera displays "Press
OK to delete", highlighting the wait between every shot.
Similarly, the HP 945 retains
the bright red AF-assist lamp of the HP 850, and its peculiarities,
namely to come on under low light, irrespective of the shooting
mode.
Indeed, with the lens set to infinity focus, or landscape which
assumes that the subject must be distant, the AF-assist lamp comes on,
sending its bright red beam of light into infinity, draining the batteries
without reason, all the more regrettable since the HP 945 is already prone
to going to through a set of batteries quite quickly.
An option of the Setup menu is
available to turn off the AF-assist, but one has to remember
to enable it when the assistance is needed.
The lens, retained from the HP 850, has similar characteristics with this
5 megapixel CCD as it does with the 4 megapixel CCD of the HP 850. The
images show some barrel distortion at the widest angle, dissipating quickly
past the widest angle, reappearing as a bit of pincushion distortion at
the maximum telephoto setting. Moreover, images show no serious chromatic
aberration and have good sharpness from corner to corner.
However, without a stabilizer
to absorb the inevitable slight camera shake that gets amplified
by a long telephoto lens, the HP 945 requires fairly well-lit
subjects. Without good light and when the zoom is used at its
maximum magnification, the shutter speed can drop to a point
where camera shake becomes an issue and a tripod becomes necessary.
With good direct sunlight however, the HP 945 will easily yield crisp and
sharp images of relatively distant subjects, as is shown in the photo at
right and below.
Aperture: f2.8, shutter speed: 1/641 sec., 100 ISO
In the image above, captured
at the widest angle, the yellow rectangle shows the difference
between what the wide angle and the telephoto capture (the zoom
photo is at left).
Still, while the HP 945 has a nice in-hand feel and can be hand-held quite
steadily, its viewfinder has a low resolution image, and occasionally the
lack of detail makes it difficult to tell accurately if the subject is
as it should be for the photo.
However, aside from this, the HP 945 offers a very high image
quality. Photos show lots of detail, and when saved with at the Best image
quality, are normally free of any compression artefacts.
Exposures are usually precisely
metered, capturing details in both bright and dark areas. Shadows
tend to have a slight but pleasant blue tint, while bright colours
such as reds and yellows are vibrant.
As with most cameras, at the higher ISO levels (400 ISO) the HP 945's images
show a fair amount of noise. However, up to 200 ISO, images are generally
free of noise.
Aperture: f11.8, shutter speed: 1/153 sec., 100 ISO
Aperture: f5.7, shutter speed: 1/313 sec., 100 ISO
In summary, the ledger for the HP 945 has both
positives and negatives. On the negative side, the HP 945 is
relatively slow, and seems to consume power more than comparable
cameras. On the positive side, it offers a useful 8X zoom and
a very good image quality. The same thing can be said of the
user controls, with both shutter and aperture priority offered,
but no Manual mode that would have made the long shutter capability
of the camera more useful.
Clearly, potential purchasers will
have to weight pros and cons carefully. But at least, the image
quality of the HP 945 should not be a source of disappointment.
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