Hands-on with Pentax's new Optio lineup

There doesn't seem to be a lot of excitement when Pentax releases new cameras in its Optio range -- do you people only love them for their DSLRs? -- but nonetheless, we gave them the same hands-on treatment that everyone else gets. Below you'll find the new S12, E50, and M50 in all their seemingly-unpopular glory, despite the fact that they seemed like fairly stylish, solidly-built products to us. Still with us? Great, we've got a lot of multi-colored point-and-shoot action in store for you.

Gallery: Hands-on with Pentax's new Optio lineup

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[sTEVEN @ Jan 31st 2008 4:20PM]

i am not still with you

[KC @ Jan 31st 2008 7:50PM]

What's with all the blurry photos? Can't you borrow a (better) camera from Pentax to take those photos?

[McFly @ Jan 31st 2008 8:19PM]

They look no worse than any other camera I've seen. It just suffers from bad presentation. Just a bunch of people standing around a clutered desk, the camera has touch smudges on it and everyone fotographed at groin level... i think any camera will look bad in those conditions

[Giddygoon @ Feb 1st 2008 9:47AM]

Are the Optio cameras not good? From the specs, the M50 was a camera I was considering when it was released. Should I stay away?

[courtenay27 @ Feb 1st 2008 10:01AM]

I've had my Optio A30 for about a year and love it. CCD shift optical image stabilization, 640x480 30fps DivX video recording, very little shutter lag, an actual manual exposure mode and quite pocketable. It's been a nearly perfect compliment to my DS. My girlfriend's W20 is pretty good too.
Give me a compact about the same size as my A30 or smaller that is waterproof, has optical IS, better quality DivX video and greater than 3x optical zoom and that would be my next camera.

[Papercutninja @ Feb 1st 2008 10:27AM]

My mom and sister both have Optios. They're fine for pointing and shooting. Well built and fit in an Altoids tin. Not everyone needs a DSLR. Honestly? Most people that OWN DSLRs don't need them. You don't need that kind of capability to take pictures of your dumb dog for your Flickr account.