This metal-body camera combines generally good image quality and an excellent feature set with a stylish, truly pocket-sized design.
Pentax's 3.2-megapixel Optio S is roughly the same size as a pack of cards--an especially notable feat for a digital camera that sports a retractable 3X zoom lens. Measuring 8.3cm wide by 5.2cm high by 2cm deep and weighing just 115g, the metal-bodied Optio S has a curiously strong feature set and delivers generally good (if unremarkable) image quality.
At just 115g with battery and media installed (98g without), the Optio S is small and light enough to slip comfortably into almost any pocket, while its stylish aluminium-alloy body is tough enough to allay any fears about its robustness. The camera isn't especially scratch resistant, though, so keep it away from keys and change. Impressively, the Pentax 3X zoom lens retracts fully into the 2cm-thick body, and all buttons and controls seem well up to the demands of frequent travel in a pocket, a purse, or a shoulder bag.
Mastering all of the camera's controls will take a little doing, and we had to resort to checking the manual on a few occasions. However, once you've learned your way around, you'll find numerous settings within quick and easy reach. One nice surprise: a ring of bright green light appears around the power button at the top right of the Optio S when you turn on the camera, adding to its high-tech appeal. If you prefer to shoot discreetly, however, you might be disappointed to find that the light can't be disabled. If you hold down the button for a couple seconds, the ring lights up in red to indicate voice-recorder mode. The camera's ultra-compact design makes it particularly well suited to doubling as a voice recorder.
Pentax has endowed this little camera with plentiful features and supplies both a virtual mode dial and a standard menu system to give you access to many options via the LCD. The real challenge of learning to operate this camera comes when using the small four-way rocker to make menu selections, cycle through the virtual dial and activate other functions. Twice, we inadvertently recorded audio notes while browsing captured images, and it took some trial and error to learn how to use the directional buttons to change shooting mode. Your finger size may determine how convenient you find the four-way rocker, so we advise you to try it before you buy it.
The diminutive Optio S has all the features that most snapshot photographers would want and then some, giving it impressive flexibility for such a tiny camera. In addition to image-quality settings such as resolution, light sensitivity/ISO rating and three levels of JPEG compression (unfortunately, there's no uncompressed TIFF mode), you can choose from several metering and focus modes; set white balance manually or via presets; and even alter saturation, contrast and sharpness. No manual exposure controls aside from exposure compensation are provided, but there is a limited manual-focus capability, as well as selectable autofocus points.
The camera's virtual mode dial gives you access to eight scene modes, as well as a panorama mode and a digital-filter mode that lets you choose from numerous colour effects, as well as other filters. You can shoot 320 by 240 video clips with sound in the movie mode, and there's a time-lapse setting for moving pictures. Although most of us could live without it, the camera includes a mode you can use to create 3D images; after capturing and printing the images, you look at them using the included plastic viewer to achieve something of a 3D effect. A more practical feature is the voice-recorder mode, although the microphone isn't powerful enough to produce clear recordings of speakers more than a few feet away. There's also a customisable User mode, and you can set the camera to retain particular settings when it shuts down.
The Optio S comes with 11MB of internal memory--enough to hold five images at the camera's top resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 and best-quality compression level. A media slot accommodates SD/MMC cards, but no card comes with the camera, so you'll need to add that to your shopping list. Unfortunately, the Optio S doesn't make it easy to switch between the internal memory and an SD/MMC card when you're taking photographs, reviewing them on the LCD or transferring them to your computer. To review images stored in the internal memory, for instance, you have to remove any installed media card.
The Optio S delivers good image quality in some respects, but has some weak points too. In our tests, its exposures were usually right-on or slightly dark. Although we did see some clipping in both bright highlights and deep shadows, the Optio S offers a reasonably broad tonal range. Colours are generally pleasing and well saturated. We did notice a tendency to oversaturate areas of bright colour, which occasionally led to too-blue skies and a loss of visible detail in bright reds.
When it comes to sharpness and image detail, this camera falls slightly below average for a 3-megapixel model. The level of image noise and artefacts is also a little worse than normal. However, if you're not planning on making a lot of large prints, you'll probably find image detail, noise and artefact levels acceptable. And everyone will be pleased to hear that we spotted very little purple fringing, even in areas of especially high contrast.
Pentax rates the camera's macro features for distances as close as 6cm, and the macro capabilities worked reasonably well during our testing. If you're after really excellent macro shots in a Lilliputian camera, though, take a look at the Casio Exilim EX-Z3, which uses the same 3X Pentax lens. In side-by-side testing, the Casio did a better job of locking focus in macro mode and captured crisper, deeper macro shots.
Company: Pentax
Price: AU$949
Distributor: C.R. Kennedy & Company
Phone: (02) 9518 9500
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