In marketing terms, bigger is better, leadingHP to use a 6.2-megapixel CCD in the newR717. That sounds superior to its predecessor,the R707, but pixel count is largely academicover 4 megapixels unless you want A3 size.

Hewlett Packard's new digital camera takes many steps in the right direction to introduce professional-level features for the consumer photographer, yet suffers from a few, minor flaws that detract from its overall polished design.

Out of the box this camera produced beautiful results, despite being only 3-megapixels. It produced some fantastic images under our testing conditions and also in regular applications.

The HP PhotoSmart 850 has a huge protruding lens, and a fairly fast-responding display and a clever feature that turns off either the viewfinder or the LCD if not required (depending on which one you're using at the time).