Sharing digital still and video photography with sound just got easier and faster, if your television has red and yellow audio-visual jacks.
Out of the box, the 5.3-megapixel Hewlett-Packard 935 camera and Photosmart 8886 docking station will have you entertaining a crowd in about an hour, including shooting a few photos, narrating each with up to one minute of audio and taking up to two minutes of video, all on the included 32-megabyte Secure Digital memory card.
This impressive stunt is possible thanks to intuitive buttons on the camera and docking station along with an easy-to-use help menu viewed on the camera's 1.5-inch color LCD screen.
Take an hour to study the manual and load software into a USB-compatible computer and you'll be sharing images worldwide via the Web using what HP calls "Instant Share" technology.
But you'd better have high-speed Internet access, and beginners will need a tech-savvy friend as a lifeline. File sizes are huge when left at the default 5.3 MP, and the setup can be challenging.
Printing is a breeze using the camera to preselect images. The software automatically chooses the best layout to print three photos on one sheet of paper.
Don't expect to use the camera for longer than 15 minutes, the life of the two included AA-size lithium batteries. An optional AC power adapter or docking station allows the camera to function as a battery charger for a pair of included Nickel Metal Hydride batteries. But, the camera will take more than 15 hours to fully charge the batteries. External battery chargers typically recharge four batteries in an hour.
Red-eye reduction is buried in several layers of viewing screen menus, and the use of an add-on flash is not allowed.
For those seeking a digital camera that makes images easy and quick to share, this model has potential. But it's particularly power hungry, shy on lighting and pricey.
