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HTC Pro review: Camera
With a five-megapixel camera offering autofocus and a flash, and capable of 720p video recording the HTC 7 Pro is positioned at the upper end of the range. Sadly, though, experience tells us that the camera is a bit below par.
There are a few shooting modes to tinker with such as beach and sports shot, a macro mode and a fair few effects, too.
There are a couple of neat features in all Windows Phone 7 handsets that the HTC 7 Pro offers. First off, you can squeeze the shutter button even when the handset is in standby mode and so are able to shoot quick, off-the-cuff shots easily.
Second, you can get the handset to send shots straight to SkyDrive, an online 25GB storage area you get when you register at Windows Live. Do that, and it is easy to share your photos as well as keep them backed up.
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OUTDOORS: A straightforward photo with no effects selected, the camera struggled with the variation of light and shade in our chosen scene, and made mincemeat of some of the more detailed areas. Take a look at some of the areas of water for example, where detailing is poor
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BLACK AND WHITE: Greyscale mode produces a disappointing image again because of the inability of the camera to cope with light and shade. The area of water going into the distance is too much of a dark splodge to be acceptable
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NEGATIVE: Negative mode is often fun to try, but here it doesn't produce much variety of colour or light and shade at all
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SEPIA: Sepia mode we quite like. That ageing effect is hard to dislike, really, and it is forgiving of the light and shade issues we've already mentioned, since you'd expect some fading from a truly older photo
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SOLARISE: Solarise mode is always fun to play with, though we can't see many practical uses for it, unless you're into photography as art, of course
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CLOSE-UP: Macro mode proved surprisingly effective
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