HP Photosmart M22 4MP Digital Camera

I've owned this camera for two years and haven't had one problem with it. My batteries usually last 400-500 shots. Very few of my pictures have ever turned out bad, and those that did were operator error. The only problem I have ever had with it is the red-eye. I have added photos on this site that you can view....you can see for yourself. I just "don't get" the bad reviews that other people have put in.

I borrowed this camera from my grandson and almost didn't want to give it back. This camera takes awesome sunset pictures! Even better than my own expensive camera. So far, it's no. 1 on my sunset list.

I have never been good with cameras, but I bought the HP M22 in May 2006. I read the manual and tried all the features to learn how to use it. I took all the photos of my 40-yr. high school reunion, my sister's 70th birthday celebration, my trip to an organizational retreat, and made picture calendars for my family. This is a great little camera for the beginner to learn about digital photography. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would give it a 10!

I've spent a small fortune on batteries for this camera and tried new and rechargeable batteries. It's gotten progressively worse and now (after 2 years) the camera turns on only occasionally and even then only when it's plugged into the battery charger. It's a shame because it's a nice camera when it's operating.
Don't waste your money. Now I have to buy a new camera. You can bet it won't be an HP.

We wanted a smallish idiotproof camera b/c one person in the family was a bit intimidated by our Canon's many options. The HP was reasonably priced and seemed to fit the bill, but was a big mistake.

The first set of photos, indoor, came out really poor and yellow-ish. After that every time we tried to use it it was dead - it seemed to eat batteries (freshly charged rechargeables) just from sitting around for a week or two. We'd open the little door, but no red light. When we put freshly-charged OR new alkaline AA batteries in it and tried to use it immediately it worked only occasionally - it would take proably 3-4 battery swaps to actually work. These are the SAME rechargeable batteries we use in the Canon and in other devices, with NO problems.

All in all we've used it THREE times in almost a year - the initial set of yellow-ish shots, a few outdoor shots that worked ok, and a few indoor ones that were also ok.
Today we decided to check on warranty repair since it's almost one year old, and guess what, it has only a 90 day warranty! Hmmm...it's not too hard to figure out that HP didn't put much faith in this camera.

On the positive side, when it worked it did work easily, and it was easy to download the photos onto our Macs. Unfortunately, "when it worked" is the important phrase here - it seldom worked, and after seeing other reviews with similar battery problems, it doesn't seem that ours is unique. Too bad we didn't get smart and read the reviews before buying it!

We're going to get another Canon and the non-tecchie in the family can just set it at auto and leave it there.