HP Photosmart M407

Review Date: December 2nd 2004

Page 1
Introduction / Price
Page 2
Features
Page 3
Specifications
Page 4
Design
Page 5
Ease of Use
Page 6
Image Quality
Page 7
Sample Images
Page 8
Conclusion / Links

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 4 megapixel 4MP Best (2272 x 1704) mode, which gives an average image size of around 1.5Mb.

Noise

There are 3 ISO settings available on the HP Photosmart M407 which you can select at any time if the camera is in Auto mode. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:

ISO 100 (100% crop)

ISO 200 (100% crop)

   

ISO 400 (100% crop)

 
 
   

The noise levels look reasonable at ISO 100, but there's quite a lot of noise starting to appear at ISO 200 and by ISO 400 the quality has deteriorated significantly.

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images at the default setting are fairly sharp, with post-processing bringing out some extra detail but also introducing unwanted artifacts.

Original 100% Crop

Sharpened 100% Crop

   

File Quality

The HP Photosmart M407 has 4 different file quality settings available, with 4MP Best being the default option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

4MP Best (1,223Kb)
4MP (891Kb)
   
2MP (444Kb)
VGA (117Kb)
   

Chromatic Aberrations

The HP Photosmart M407 suffered fairly badly from chromatic aberrations in high-contrast situations, displaying a number of different effects as shown in the examples below. Shiny surfaces such as the digital camera in example 3 and the bright white Paris sky invariably caused the camera to add purple fringing to the edges of objects.

Example 1
Example 2
   
Example 3
 
 
   

Macro

The HP Photosmart M407 offers a single Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is between 10cms and 80cms away from the camera.

Macro Shot (click to view full-sized image)

100% Crop

   

The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Flash

The flash settings on the HP Photosmart M407 are pretty standard - Auto Flash/Flash On/Flash Off/Red-Eye/Night. These shots of a white wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off

 

ISO 64
   

Auto Flash - Wide Angle (34mm)

Auto Flash - Telephoto (95mm)
ISO 64
ISO 64
   

And here are some shots of yours truly. As you can see, the Flash On setting caused a tiny amount amount of red-eye, whilst the Red-Eye option lessened the effect very slightly.

Flash On

Flash On (100% Crop)
   

Flash - Red-Eye Reduction

Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100% Crop)
   

Night Shot

The HP Photosmart M407 maximum shutter speed is 2 seconds - not very useful if you're interested in night photography. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot (click to view full-sized image)

100% Crop
   

Overall Image Quality

The HP Photosmart M407 produced images of average quality during the review period, not really excelling at anything or on the other hand under-performing in a particular area. The 4 megapixel images were fairly sharp straight out of the camera and don't require any further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop before they can be printed. Noise is fairly controlled well at the slowest ISO setting of 100, but it becomes quite visible at ISO 200 and even more so at ISO 400. The HP Photosmart M407's worst performance was with chromatic aberrations, which appeared in the form of purple fringing in most high-contrast scenes. Macro performance was distinctly average compared to some other digicams on the market, allowing you to focus 10cms away from the subject. The built-in flash worked well enough indoors with only a hint of red-eye. Overall an average performance in terms of image quality from the HP Photosmart M407.

Page 1
Introduction / Price
Page 2
Features
Page 3
Specifications
Page 4
Design
Page 5
Ease of Use
Page 6
Image Quality
Page 7
Sample Images
Page 8
Conclusion / Links

DIWAPhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the HP Photosmart M407 have been submitted to DIWA for comparison with test results for different samples of the same camera model supplied by other DIWA member sites.