Digital Camera
Review is doing what doing what they do, and have a review up of
Pentax's headline Optio, the 8 megapixel
A10. Including a 3x optical zoom,
2.5-inch LCD, and optical image stabilisation, the camera looks to be a decent deal for it's roughly $300-350 asking
price, but the low battery life and sub-par default settings might be a turn-off for some. The back of the camera is
rather dominated by a 2.5-inch screen, leaving out an optical viewfinder, but probably not much the worse off, thanks
to the sharp and accurate LCD. The camera is fairly small, but manages to have decent ergonomics, and easy
customization makes it even nicer to use. Unfortunately, you might be using those menus a bit more than hoped, since
the default image settings were oversaturated and underexposed. Otherwise the image quality was fairly good, with
standard light response and uniform sharpness. Shake reduction worked well, which is a big plus, and while the
rechargeable battery wasn't quite up to snuff, you might have a bit of cash left over for a second one at this price.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
david a @ Apr 15th 2006 5:43PM
Come on now! Shame on you Engadget! Answer the question everyone will ask. Does this Optio fit in a metal Altoids box like the previous models.
Don O'Shea @ Apr 15th 2006 6:24PM
Lemme say it as clear as I can, no amount of electronic displays or electronic jiggery-pokery is gonna make up for a lack of a viewfinder on a digital camera. By eliminating the viewfinder that allows most mortals to stabilize the platform with a nearly-zero lever arm the designers of these cameras add to it another instrument of the devil comparable to the digital zoom.
And the worse your inability to focus on close objects, the longer the distance between your eyeballs and the camera display resulting in pictures that deny all the resolution you paid for to get many megapixels.
Buy a good digital camera that has image stabilization and with the optical zoom that you require and make sure that it has a VIEWFINDER!
Regards,
Don O'Shea
Editor, Optical Engineering
cycomachead @ Apr 15th 2006 6:37PM
1st post
not to sound rude just to let you guys know its actually Digital Photography review
tc @ Apr 15th 2006 7:14PM
seems like a lot of pentax cameras have low battery life
Andrew @ Apr 15th 2006 8:40PM
I recently purchased one of these cameras, I love it. Its small size is great as I can slip it into my pocket when I'm going out to the bar with friends and can still take a reasonable quality video (Shake Reduction is all the more handy when you're drunk!!)
My only beef with it is the battery life which is a little short. That said, its only died once on me and that was because it started at half battery at the beginning of the day and then I used it a lot from 10 in the morning to midnight. (definately considering buying a second battery though).
Word of warning. I ended up getting mine replaced by a 14 day no questions asked gaurantee from the store I purchased it from...it seemed to have some kind of battery problem. The camera would turn on and then turn off right away. The same thing would sometimes happen with the zoom buttons.
All in all though, very happy with this little thing =)
James @ Apr 15th 2006 8:51PM
The battery life is a put-off for me.
Shad @ Apr 15th 2006 11:04PM
holy hell thats a lot of mega pixels.
http://www.merchrate.com
J @ Apr 15th 2006 11:35PM
#3, the article is correct, it is Digital Camera Review. Digital Photography Review's content is MUCH better.
Toby @ Apr 16th 2006 12:40AM
Hmm, the back of that looks VERY similar to the back of my family's Casio Exilm Z55.
Razib Ahmed @ Apr 16th 2006 10:01AM
8 megapixel is certainly a lot and but I feel that short battery life is the thing that may discourage many people from buying it. What about the memory? How many pictures can you take in one time? How about the quality of video recording and can you record audio too?
Photo @ Apr 16th 2006 12:17PM
After making some pics I'm so impressed with optical image stabilisation! Photos are never blured.
Andrew @ Apr 16th 2006 1:54PM
#9 I don't understand your question about the memory. You need an SD card, number of shots you can get on it depends on its size and the quality of shots you are taking.
As for movies and sound, you can record both. Movies are 640x480 have stabilization and can be recorded until the card is full.
lumpynose @ Apr 16th 2006 2:07PM
The one to wait for is the new Fuji F30. It's due out in May. It looks like it's going to have incredible low light capabilities. The big downside is their stupid media format; xD.
phule @ Apr 16th 2006 10:15PM
Don O'Shea,
You have no idea what you are talking about. Movement from camera shake is so subjective as to be impossible to quantify. Every person has their own level of tolerance when it comes to stability.
I can hand-hold a digital point and shoot down to 1/10th and get sharp photos for 8x10 prints. This is with using a rotating LCD.
Your viewfinder rant ignores the thousands of film cameras that were and are used without pressing the camera against ones face.
Sadly, you, like so many ignorant of digital cameras, assume without actually having the experience. Spend more than 10 minutes without a viewfinder; actually /use/ a camera for a while and you will be a much smarter person in the end.
a knesal @ Apr 17th 2006 2:45AM
When I bought my OPTIO I thought, nice view finder. I shot, 84 pictures at a party last night and never used it, and can't remember the last time I did!
As for battery life, it's not as good as my old ARGUS, but it lasted for the whole night!
moua @ Apr 17th 2006 11:08AM
I wanted to buy it because i liked the mpeg4 VGA 30fps on my broken Optio s5i.
But when then i saw that movies are "Recorded as 30fps based on image signal at 20fps"
http://www.digital.pentax.co.jp/en/compact/optio-a10/spec.html
So, it's only 20fps :(
I just wanted the "old" mpeg4 30fps (i played it well on all computer),
instead of the new DivX certified 20fps.
But the word "DivX" on the package with a little * is probably better than mpeg4 30fps...
*based on image signal at 20fps
coprock @ Apr 17th 2006 12:13PM
Your comments: #2: If you ever used the optical viewfinder on this dimunitive camera or any other small camera, you would realize that they are almost
useless. They are not accurate and you may miss half of your intended picture.
Try an SLR.
deborah cole @ Apr 18th 2006 9:35AM
I need a digital camera for work but I want to double-dip & get something I like for personal use also. Pocket-size is best. I picked this camera just based upon megapixels, zoom, and the stabilization feature. I'm used to SLR 35mm. This is my first digital. The comments here are scaring me. How long is long in battery life for a digital?? If not this digital camera which one in the same price range???? Help!!
DC
a knesal @ Apr 18th 2006 4:43PM
No. 18/deborah
Buy a camera that uses dbl aa's or triple aaa's, and then use lithium (costco,4-dbl aa's, 2-triple aaa's and a charger for $20.00)get a bag that will carry extra batteries and media. once you use a digital camera especially combined with a computer, you will never go back to film. I know pros who have never looked back.
................ al
a knesal @ Apr 18th 2006 5:10PM
amendment to No. 19-
I misstated the type of battery (Lithium). I meant or should have said Ni-MH/Ni-Cd, (nickel metal hydride), probably miss spelled hydride?
.............................AL'
lynn @ Jul 23rd 2006 4:08PM
I purchased one of these and found that the battery life was more than adequate for a full day of holiday snaps and video taking and just popped it on the charger at night. It is a great camera apart from one really annoying problem which is the distortion in recorded sound. I may just be unlucky (or not using it correctly) but I get incredible noise distortion at high volume levels (recording a band playing)whereas the S5n which was recording at the same time had absolutely none. Is anyone else experiencing this problem with the A10 or should I take it back?
Rene @ Nov 3rd 2006 5:58PM
Optio A10 - Warning Fragile Display
I bought the Optio A10 for all its wonderful features, especially because of its small size and the fact that I could slip it into my front pant pocket - WRONG ! Although Pentax touts customers with its quality and warranty BEWARE. I owned this camera for 3 weeks, enjoyed all the features but one. The display cracked while being in my pocket under normally expected pressure. Did Pentax honor their warranty coverage; NO ! It cost me another $120 to find out how fragile the display is and worthless the Pentax warranty is.