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"HP 945 and Canon Digital Rebel Digital 'Through the Lens' Cameras will serve you well"
Here are two popular cameras that have a lot to offer in the digital world of photography. Given their distinct personalities and features, you might find that one of them meets your own style and needs. As two of the more popular "pro-sumer" digital cameras, both the HP 945 and Canon Digital Rebel have the goods. This is not a comparison between the two as much as a look at two offerings at different price points that do a fine job for those who are ready for more megapixels, features and options in their digital photography.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:HP 945: - With its unusually shaped body, the 945 is cradled by your hand and, although youŐll want to keep both on the body, you achieve good stability for sharper shots. It is a solid feeling camera and comes only really requiring extra batteries and memory cards, like most digital cameras. The LCD is clear and the optical diopter adjustment in the viewer helps this 5.3 megapixel model produce clean, sharp images.
Canon Digital Rebel: The Rebel feels more like my old 35mm SLR, only lighter. I found battery life from the lithium ion cell provided to be excellent and I like the CompactFlash memory card performance. With a whopping 6.3 megapixels and CanonŐs DirectPrint connection to their photo printers, I was amazed by the quality of the output.
HP 945Right off the bat, the HP 945 56X zoom is really amazing. From skylines to eye wrinkles, you can bring the whole scope of a scene together with this larger diameter lens. The images are crisp and even with very little ghosting in the highlights that can appear in some other models. The two-inch LCD is adjustable and works great to check, edit and omit shots as you go. I also like the direct printing to HP Photosmart printers via the available dock. This worked well for me in all applications in OSX including Preview, iPhoto, Photoshop and GraphicConverter when importing and manipulating my images. Clean, sharp and undistorted images are what you get. Another great feature is the ability to connect the 945 to a television to show off your fine photography.
For its more conventional size and appearance, the Digital Rebel ends the familiarity right there. The multistage metering and metering options work just as well for the beginner as they do when spot metering like a pro. Where the CDR really excels is in the speed with sequential flash shots and rapid fire burst being no problem at all. The CMOS sensor is outstanding and the results are nearly dimensional. The variety of options - from lens changes to program/auto and manual modes - offers a lot of camera with great results. I also love the "Playback Zoom" option when viewing images in the CDRŐs LCD.
HP 945: The images had excellent clarity; however, the 945 produced results that were +12% in cyan under mixed direct light and shadows and slightly (about -4%) underexposed with some shots that were in full shade, but clearly enough light to go without flash. In general, I found most images slightly cool, but acceptable in most situations. For Macro shots, the auto-focus was quirky, but achieved very sharp and clear results once exposure was corrected. My only real complaint is in the shot-to-shot recovery time. Lag time from focus to shutter has just enough of a delay to be frustrating, but the results prove it worthwhile.
Canon Digital Rebel: While the standard 18-35mm lens does a fine job, it would not by my lens of choice. The full wide-angle does an adequate job, the lower corners lost clarity in the lower resolution modes. Also, for a one thousand dollar price point, the CDR doesnŐt have the solid feel of a camera like youŐd expect. This is both good and bad since it is light weight, but feels like plastic that you might find on a midlevel consumer camera.
For the price point, these are two excellent options for advanced amateur digital photography for when compact isnŐt your main concern -- image quality is. Both cameras deliver very good results and are priced less than the current the competition offering 5+ megapixels in this category. Both offer direct-to-printer proprietary to their own brand abilities and Mac compatible ease of use.
Given the incredible increase in demand for better, faster and more cost-effective digital cameras, both HP and Canon offer excellent results. Depending on your needs and budget, these are two "best of class" options that will help you graduate from the compacts in fine style and "with honors."
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