HP Photosmart M407
Review Date: December 2nd 2004
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Auto Flash - Telephoto (95mm) |
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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.
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Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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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.
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100% Crop |
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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.
 PhotographyBLOG 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.
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