I have 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). Last week on a trip to the local electronics mega-store I came across the newly released 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.
Pros:
- Size: I have comfortably carried it around continuously for five days. 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 from what I can tell, is very strong. 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: 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 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.
Comments
Dico - April 28, 2003 3:41 pm
I thought less of the Camera. I bought it for the same reason -- size. However it's performance was less then spectacular. I found many of the pictures blurry and dark. Some of the colours (not all) seemed washed out. Compared to my Canon Elph s110, the picture quality wasn't as consistant. I'm not a photographic expert, but I believe that it's small focal length affects the image quality. You really have to hold this camera steady to get a good pic out of it. I promptly returned mine and was more then happy to go back to my small (not tiny) Elph. At the end of the day I can print 8x10 pics without any loss of image quality... and when am I ever gonna need that 16x20 photo?
Dan James - April 28, 2003 3:45 pm
I guess I just have steadier hands than you Dico :-) I didn't think the performance was spectacular either, just good. I've seen much better quality out of larger cameras - but the size is worth it for me. I'm no photographic expert either though.
Stephen DesRoches - April 28, 2003 4:34 pm
Excuse me if I don't know what I'm talking about but is there a shutter speed setting on the camera? My camera has a setting for this and the longer the lens is opened the more chance of getting a blurry image.
Dan James - April 28, 2003 4:43 pm
"Programmed AE electronic lens shutter with CCD electronic shutter. Shutter speed: approx. 1/2000 sec. to 1 sec."
Yep.
Alan - April 28, 2003 5:17 pm
Anything under 1/125th should not be the cause of blur.
Melda - April 29, 2003 12:16 am
Congrats on the camera Danya!
Do I see another gallery on the horizon?
Peter Tanner - September 2, 2003 6:22 pm
I found the picture quality to be more than adequate especially when considering the portability of the little camera. One thing that struck me was the peculiar taste of the metal case. I would almost say that the case tastes nearly identical to the foil balloon created by a Jiffy Pop Popcorn pan. Very strange coincidence indeed!
Jay - October 19, 2003 11:23 am
Is anyone familiar with the new Pentax Optio S4 ? The same size as the Optio S. Does anyone know if it is better or not, besides the increase in the pixels. And if it is better, why? Thanks! J.
wwalsh - July 17, 2006 10:46 pm
I bought the optio s60 in March 2006, 4 months ago. Since the first day, I had problems w/the S60. As a matter of fact, I haven't been able to get one picture from the camera? The worst part is I sent the s60 back to Pentax to be fixed, they mailed it back to me after about 5 weeks, informing me they fixed my brand new camera, free of charge! I immediately tried taking pictures and found it didn't work. I called and they asked me to mail it back. Than after 4 more weeks, they sent me a bill for $149, saying I broke the camera? I'm not sure how you break a camera that already doesn't work? I expected Customer Service to help remedy the problem but when I spoke w/there Rep, he was robotical and unable to make any decisions. He lacked listening skills, didn't answer my questions, and wasn't customer service oriented. In the most diplomatic way, I asked him to connect me to his supervisor, he did, his name is Greg Woo, but
Greg had no authority or ability to comprehend that I purchased a camera that never worked. I asked him diplomatically if he would please connect me to his supervisor, Phil Kerswill, Manager of Customer Service, but Greg said he never speaks to the customers so he refused? So I called back and left Phil Kerswill a nice short message explaining the problem and asked him to please call me or have the necessary person contact me, just in case he was unable to figure out that this is what you do when you're unable to take care of a problem. Should I be surprised that Phil or anyone else hasn't called back? It's only been 7 days, maybe someone will call?
I've been a director of operations for 10 years and this type of behavior is grounds for termination. I also understand there are a lot of problem customers in the world of customer service which is why I've learned it's best to be polite and rational when dealing w/Customer Service.
I write because clearly Pentax corporation has some problems. Some of there camera's are probably good, the Optio S4 was one that I used for about 3 years w/little problems. But the bigger problems are in there customer service dept, when they hire incompetent people like Phil Kerswill to be a Customer Service Manager, BUT he doesn't speak to any customers?
I will share this experience w/my friends, colleagues, and family and encourage them to buy a product from a company that is more responsible.
cheers,
Bill Walsh