The HP Photosmart R817 is one of the smallest 5X optical zoom cameras with full-manual controls. That alone makes this camera impressive. The R817 is also well built and has a well thought-out interface. It performs well for a compact camera, with sharp images, speedy focusing and even several special features like in-camera panorama-stitching (unfortunately at a low-resolution only) and adaptive d-lighting. The major downside of this camera is above average noise which quickly shows on prints above 4"x6". Another downside is the lack of an optical viewfinder despite an LCD which is difficult to see in bright light. For any low-light work this camera is not recommended as its noise levels go too high with long exposures.

The HP Photosmart R817 faces some tough competition such as the excellent Canon Powershot A610 which is better in every point except for a 4X zoom, rather than 5X. The 6 megapixel Fuji Finepix E550 is also a great compact camera with a 4X zoom, full-manual controls and the flexibility of AA batteries. Another alternative is to consider the Fuji Finepix E510 which is a 5 megapixel camera with a wide-angle 3X optical zoom lens. If the 5X zoom is important, the Olympus C-5500 Sport Zoom may be considered in place of the HP R817 which produces less noisy images, has an optical viewfinder and uses convenient AA batteries. On the other hand, the C-5500 is bulkier.

Finally, although no reviewers pointed it out, it appeared to us that image samples at DC Resource and Steve's Digicams had overly dark colors, which may indicate a white-balance problem.