Pentax Optio WP Review
Product overview
- Launch price:
- £230
- Launch date:
- 1st December 2006
- PhotoRadar rating:
- User rating:
Technical Specification
- Accessories: Carrying strap, USB cable, A/V cable
- Battery Type: Lithium-Ion Rechargable
- Camera Type: Compact
- Colour: Silver
- Connectivity: 9V DC In;Composite Video/Audio Output;USB
- Dimensions: 102 x 51x 22
- Display Size: 2
- Display Technology: TFT LCD
- Effective Pixels: 5
- Exposure bracketing: 2
- Exposure Modes: Candlelight;Flower;Food;Landscape;Night Scene;Panorama;Portrait;Self-Portrait;Snow;Sport;Surf;Underwater
- Features: Audio recording, direct print, RGB primary colour filter, auto power save, date/time stamp, DPOF support, digital image rotation, PRINT Image Matching, water resistant, PictBridge support, histogram display, resizing an image
- Flash: Yes
- Flash Modes: Auto;Fill-in;Off;Red-Eye Reduction
- Focusing Modes: Manual
- Image Formats: AV;JPEG
- Image Sensor Resolution: 85
- Image Sensor Type: 1/2.5inch CCD
- ISO Settings: 100;200;400;50;ISO Auto
- LCD Display?: Yes
- Lens Type: Aspherical Lens
- Manufacturer's Description: Snorkel, ski, or attend a stunning wedding, and you'll never stop snapping with the OptioWP. This digital delivers both on land and in the sea with a faster .6 second start up, a quick .05 second shutter release, movie mode and a generous 2.0 inch monitor. A beautiful, petite JIS Class 8 waterproof-rated exterior promises you'll capture images proudly just under the water's surface or in the most formal settings. Finally, your wait is over for petite, durable, go everywhere digital.
- Max Aperture: 3.3
- Memory Types: Internal;SD
- Min Aperture: 4
- Movie Mode: Yes
- Software Provided: Drivers & Utilities, ACD Systems ACDsee
- Waterproof: Yes
- Weatherproofing: Yes
- Weight (kg): 0.1
- White Balance: Auto;Custom;Daylight;Fluorescent;Presets;Shade;Tungsten
- MPN: 18383
- Price (GBP): 230
PhotoRadar review
Fancy some underwater antics? Then take the plunge
The build quality of the Optio WP is more crucial than normal because it's designed to be used underwater.
Pentax says that you can take the camera down to a depth of 1.5m, which means the deep end of the pool isn't off limits, and you can apparently stay submerged for periods of up to 30 minutes. Because of this, the Optio WP is exceptionally well built, with a stylish two-tone grey and silver finish and large two-inch LCD.
A fairly conventional 3x optical zoom lens focuses onto the 5.1Mp sensor, and offers a zoom range of 38-114mm and a maximum image size of 2,560 x 1,960 pixels. There are nine-point automatic, wide area and spot autofocus options, but only a single, multisegment metering mode. The lack of anything but a Programme shooting mode will be a letdown for serious photographers, but at least this is backed up by 19 scene modes for tricky lighting.
The Optio WP has 10Mb of memory built in. Further capacity is available by use of SD cards, which fit into the same watertight compartment that's used for the rechargeable battery pack and USB connector. It's not the most convenient layout but Pentax obviously had to cover all the connection holes for watertightness.
There's nothing wrong with the sharpness of the lens throughout its entire zoom range. Likewise, metering proved to be very accurate throughout our tests, even in tricky conditions. The real problem area seems to be noise, with skies and smooth surfaces looking quite grainy in our tests.
Posted by Matthew Richards on Wednesday, 15th July 2009 at 03:58pm GMT.
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