The company wants to capture a share of the estimated 69 billion pictures taken every year worldwide - an average of 2,000 snapshots every second.

But rather than targeting professional photographers, it is aiming at the US$32 billion amateur field, namely the millions of family snaps taken at parties, holidays and vacations.

PhotoSmart equipment is bundled with Microsoft's photo-editing software, Picture It!, an easy-to-use system that enables users to cut and paste, enhance, and crop electronic images scanned from negatives, slides or photos.

Flash-induced red-eye can be corrected and grape juice stains from dirty shirts erased to create perfect images.

The snapshots can then be used to design cards and calendars, printed on photographic-quality paper in either glossy or flat surfaces.

The company's automatic point-and-shoot PhotoSmart digital camera is simple to use and resembles a standard pocket camera. It has VGA resolution, built-in flash, and is compatible with Windows 95.

The camera was released last month with a suggested retail price of $399.

Digital images and scanned picture negatives printed on HP's PhotoSmart glossy paper produce sharp images on a smooth, light-catching emulsion, offering prints indistinguishable from photo shop results. However, reproduced images from scanned prints have a tendency to be grainier and slightly less sharp than those from negatives.

The PhotoSmart scanner will take photos up to 5in x 7in in size.

The multi-level PhotoSmart inkjet printer has an output speed of four minutes to produce an 8x10 photo and one minute to output a 4x6 print.

However, it cannot be used for any other function such as text printing on conventional paper, and could result in a home with two printers.

HP will release its PhotoSmart printer and scanner in August, each priced about $499.