included software, as I have an SD card reader and use that to transfer pictures. The camera is lightweight, easy to hold, and the LCD is large enough and bright enough to clearly browse through pictures. The built-in red eye correction is OK, but you're better off using 3rd-party software to make this correction on a PC.

Though I've pointed out a few shortcomings, the M417 is a very nice 5mp camera whose few faults are easily dealt with and not insurmountable. For the price, it is one of the better 5mp buys currently on the market.

NOTE: If you choose to buy this camera bundled with the M-series camera dock, know that the rechargable batteries included with the dock drain very quickly and take a dispreportionally long amount of time to recharge.
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Great camera and printer combo!, December 3, 2005
Reviewer: K. Peterson

We bought this combo after checking out some of the other combonation's out there and this one is great. The setup and install were easy and had no problems at all. The camera works great, although it can only take a few pictures when set at the highest resolution. However, for us, that's not a big deal.

The printer is very compact and has a handle for easy carrying. The camera connects on top easily and works flawlessly.

The only thing I was disappointed about was that it said it came with a Photo Index card kit, cards to print the pictures on, but it wasn't in the box. We used normal note cards to try it out before buying cards. Not too big a deal, but still.
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Fairly good Camera, good for normal photos, June 14, 2005
Reviewer: Roy Burstiner "evan23"

I got this expecting a really great camera but I think it's okay for a simple point & shoot camera. It does take some fairly good 4 x 6 photos, but the detail is still not as sharp as a good 35mm camera (my Minolta 400 Maxxum SLR still takes sharper pictures especially with far away distance detail). This camera is best for normal photos (people shots about 4 to 20 feet away it's very good) However there are some good things & bad things about this camera.

Pros: Great selection of modes, settings, exposure settings, different lighting situations etc. The software that comes with the camera is excellent & it's very is to download the photos from the camera to your computer. The manual is excellent also.

Modes: Closeup, Fast Shot, Action, Landscape, Portrait & Auto. It's easy to juggle thru these settings via a button on the camera as well as thru the menu system. Nice feature of being able to turn on the camera to the last setting mode is convenient.

3x optical zoom, also digital zoom. As with any digital camera you should use just the optical zoom, digital zoom always reduces the resolution & you will never get any good photos from it. Optical zoom is okay but also with any digital camera, when you use the zoom your hands better be very steady or use a tripod otherwise you will get blurry shots.

Has a self timer which takes 1 or 2 shots automacially. Also has a Burst shot mode which takes 4 pictures in a row as long as you hold down the shutter.

Can take photos in 5 different resolution setttings 1-5 megapixals but I always tell everyone to always shoot in the highest resolution to get the sharpest photos (I run a photo lab & have seen a lot of pixelated photos because people shoot in low resolution to get more photos on their memory cards)
I have a 128 mb SD card in my camera & get 49 photos at a time at the highest setting.

Cons: Alot of times I get slightly blurry shots if I use the LCD screen to take my photos. The camera is so small that like other digital cameras it's hard to hold the camera stedy while pressing the shutter. Your best bet is to use the viewfinder & hold the camera close to you to brace it for the best results. But I also use the burst shot mode to take a lot of my photos (when you do that your chances are that 1 out of the 4 shots will come out really good)

LCD screen is very hard to see in bright daylight (but I have yet to see a digital camera that you could see well outdoors well)

In low light situations if you don't use the flash I'ts very hard to get a really good sharp photo. The camera is so small that it's alway hard not to avoid camera shake when depressing the shutter. indoor shots come out okay, outdoor day shots are always much sharper & clearer.

I wont go into the video mode or the audio recording option on the camera, basically most still digital cameras do this but they are not that great. You buying these cameras to take still pictures anyway.

summery: It's an okay camera for taking normal good photos, compact enough to put in your pocket, but not better than a good 35 mm camera. It's a good carrying around camera, that's better than a disposable & good for most situations.
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