Pentax Optio S Review
Review by Dan James
- Product:
- Pentax Optio S (company site)
- What's Good:
- Tiny size, great images, easy interface.
- What's Bad:
- Poorly placed power button, low video quality, navigation button.
I had been eagerly awaiting the release of a good quality digital camera that is small enough to fit into my life as my cell phone has (attached to my hip). So, on a trip to the local electronics mega-store I came across the Pentax Optio S. The Optio S is a 3.2 megapixel camera that has a façade smaller than a credit card and is about as deep as the width of an average sized thumb.
As soon as I picked the camera up I knew the technology had finally reached my purchasing tipping point. The camera is really as small as it could comfortably get. Any smaller and they’d have to include a stylus to hit the would be point sized buttons. Sold on the size I purchased the camera and a 256 MB Secure digital card. Total price - approx $850 CDN. Keep in mind that this is when it first came out. It since has dropped significantly in price and newer 4 megapixel models have been released.
Pros:
- Size: I have comfortably carried it around continuously for over a year now. It’s so small and light that I hardly notice it.
- Picture quality: It’s a 3.2 mega pixel camera. It takes good quality photos, seems to have great color.
- Case: The camera itself is a solid metal rectangle. Feels, looks, and is very very strong. On a camping trip last autumn, I dropped it over six feet onto a big rock and all it suffered was a small dent. It’s also quite stylish (machined metal).
- Interface: The software interface is as good if not better than other digital cameras I have tried. It’s quite intuitive and self explanatory.
- LCD: Bright, durable and well positioned.
- Zoom: It's a 3X optical zoom. It's easy to control, well placed buttons, maintains picture quality.
- Battery life: My battery will last roughly about as long as it takes to fill up my 256 MB card with 1.5MB photos.
- James Bond gadgetry: When the camera is turned on and the lens comes out of the camera you feel like you’re watching a special effect. The lens seems to come out of thin air (it’s roughly twice as wide as the camera itself).
Cons:
- Power Button: The power button and the picture taking button (shutter?) are poorly placed side by side. I found myself a couple of times accidentally turning the camera off when I was actually wanting to snap a photo of something awesome happening. As you can see in the accompanying photo the power button (circled in red) is where one would assume the picture taking button to be.
- Digital Zoom: I disabled this feature as it severely affects the quality of the photo.
- Battery Cover: It’s the only plastic piece on the camera. It seems a little flimsy. Haven’t had any concrete problems with it yet.
- Navigation Button: The four-way button to navigate the software is unecessarily small and takes a while to get used to.
- Video Quality: Compared to other similar cameras the video quality just doesn't seem to be there. Very pixelated.
Overall I am very impressed and would strongly recommend it to anyone looking for a small but good quality camera.
[see the official specs]
[Read CNET's review]
Comments
Adam Bramwell - April 28, 2004 4:40 am
Yes, the case is quite durable, but should you drop the camera on its lens, the poor thing is quite vulnerable. I dropped my S3 onto carpet due to excessive post-photograph hand-waving, and it cost half of the purchase cost to fix. Grr.
A point on photo quality: some reviews note a blurriness in the top left of photos. This is quite consistent with my camera and not the best effect.
I take the camera on rough outdoors activities like mtn biking and rockclimbing, which is quite a test of faith, considering i can't find a case small enough to ensure it's security whilst not compromising its exceptionally small size. Perhaps a cut-down stubbie holder will do the job?
Hanh Truong - June 23, 2005 11:22 pm
Hello dear Pentax,
I have a problem using the Camera on my computer. The softwaer CD is lost somewhere and now I need the softwaer CD to reinstall so I can use it again. is there a chance that you have me with that . I really appreciate it. thank you very much in advance and hope to hear from you soon.
With Best regards
Hanh Truong