Pentax Life

Steve’s DigiCams reviewed Pentax Optio S7 – the last model in the Pentax’s S series of ultra-compact point & shoot cameras. Steve was impressed by the image quality of such a small camera, ergonomics deserved some kudos as well. “Indoors is where this little camera shines, except when needing the flash… …it did work very well when shooting portraits from about 4 or 5 feet. People shots showed sharp facial features, good flash exposure along with great natural skin tones. Portrait photography is one of the S7′s best uses.” But the camera’s shooting performance found to be below average.

PopPhoto guys staged unique underwater camera shootout to find out the winner in the budget waterproof point & shoot category. There are only two competitors: Pentax Optio W20 and Olympus Stylus 720SW. Both cameras costs less than $300. Pentax is $50 cheaper, but Olympus dives 5 feet deeper. Also Pentax W20 have a better underwater ergonomics, better image quality, focusing faster, and can record video in 640*480 at 30fps mode against Olympus’ 320*240 15fps.

TrustedReviews has issued dedicated review of Pentax Optio W20 this week. Their verdict is:

If you need a camera that can withstand immersion in water, your choices are basically limited to the Pentax Optio W20 or the Olympus mju 725 SW that I reviewed last week. The Pentax is cheaper, smaller, takes slightly better pictures, and looks more like a normal compact than the Olympus, but lacks the shock-proof credentials.

Pentax Imaging US have announced Optio E30 entry level point & shoot digicam today. The most significant differences with it’s predecessor (Optio E20) are one more megapixel on the 1/2.5″ sensor and brand new design – more like Optio M20 model. Also Pentax claims better battery life with up to approximately 200 photos on alkaline batteries. The LCD screen size and zoom range have remained the same as in previous model. At MSRP under $150 Optio E30 is one of the cheapest camera on the market.

Impress Watch have posted a brief review of the Pentax Optio A20 point & shoot digital camera (auto translated). There are a dozen of real life samples including ISO from 64 to 1600 performance test. Low ISO shots shows pretty much details for the tiny densely packed with 10 million pixels digicam’s sensor.

British website Pocket-lint have reviewed three Pentax digital cameras: K10D (this one is actually “first look”) and K100D DSLRs and Optio A20 point & shoot. All verdicts are highly positive. Pentax K10D does not got any reviewer`s score but Doug Harman (the author) said that “Finally, over many years reviewing cameras of all types, Pentax has consistently produced some great products and looking at the K10D, it is continuing that great tradition. So for one, I can’t wait to get one to play with.“

Pentax K100D gets 8 out of 10 and the “If you’re looking for a compact, easy to use D-SLR that won’t bust your budget then the K100D is worth a look, if you have old Pentax lenses, then it you should certainly check out this camera” conclusion.

Pentax Optio A20 digicam rated 9 out of 10: “Picture quality is as a result simply superb and I can heartily recommend this camera“, said Doug Harman in his verdict.

Cameras.co.uk have reviewed Pentax Optio S7 point & shoot camera. Their mark is 74 (it’s below average) with the conclusion: “The Pentax Optio S7 is one of the cheapest pocket sized, seven megapixel digital cameras you will find. I did experience a degree of inconsistency with picture quality and shutter lag was a major problem too“. Sample images provided are heavily downsized.

Dan Havlik at the Imaging Resource have reviewed Pentax Optio A10 compact digicam. He likes camera’s very small metal body, good image quality with sharp details and accurate skin tones and shake reduction system. He dislikes slow performance (“One of the slowest compact cameras I’ve used recently with below average startup, focusing and shot to shot speed“), high ISO noise, battery life “below average“.

Digital Camera HQ named Optio E10 “The worst digital camera ever”. Michael Patrick Brady, DC HQ editor, wrote:

It may be because it’s a more recent camera than the others, but I’m tempted to officially name the Pentax Optio E10 the worst digital camera ever. It debuted in January of 2006 with claims of how easy to use it was and how affordable it was, and for a while it looked like the E10 might be a decent, economical 6-megapixel ultracompact for simple use. Since then, an unmitigated stream of vitriolic, hate-filled user reviews have deluged the Pentax E10′s product page. “It says 6mp but it looks like a 2mp image stretched and interpolated,” says Eli, “I have seen $20 cameras outperform this piece.” Greg offers a familiar refrain, saying “I’ll NEVER buy Pentax again, and will actively discourage anyone I know from buying one as well!” Perhaps the most succinct summation of how people feel about this camera comes from Jon, who explains that the Optio line is really an acronym for “Oh, please turn it off!”

DPreview forums user Paul Iu have posted brief review of Pentax Optio A20 point & shoot camera. You can see camera exterior, package content, ISO sensitivity tests from the minimum ISO64 through ISO800 (ISO400 is pretty usable as for me), Shake Reduction test and even video sample. Paul is quite excited with his new camera.

The focusing speed is slower than my EX-Z750, it takes around half second to hold up the screen for focusing, however the shutter lag is ok for me, I didn’t feel there is big shutter lag after press down the button even SR is enabled.
…
I am so impressive with the flash recycling. The first cycle time takes around one second to finished and can takes two or three shot every cycle, the second cycle time even less than one second, much much better than my Z750.

DigitalCameraInfo.com have posted preview (or how they call it, “First Impressions Review”) of Pentax Optio S7 by Richard Baguley. S7 is the smallest Pentax point & shoot digicam. It weights just 120 grams with battery and is smaller than most mobile phones. Camera loaded with 7 Million pixels 1/2.5″ sensor and all the features of the other Optio models except for the Shake Reduction. Richard likes camera size, good AF, bright LCD, DivX video format; and dislikes battery life, noise at higher ISO settings, lack of manual modes. His conclusion is…

The Optio S7 packs a good range of features into a small case. It takes smart-looking pictures, and is easy to use… …it take pictures quickly and efficiently if you don’t mind spending over $350 on a new camera.

There is no sample images and image quality tests in this preview but you could download official samples from the Pentax Japan website.