Great Little Camera (Pentax Optio 330RS)

Member Name: Defsac

Product:	Pentax Optio 330RS
Date:	06/09/03 (266 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Advanced user features, Can be used as a removable drive, Rugged casing design

Disadvantages: Slightly heavier than other cameras because of it's tough casing. , Relativley slow transfers (USB 1.0)

This camera is one of the best I have ever used.

It is very compact, fits into your pocket easily, and looks very sleek.

The Optio 330RS may not be the best when you look at megapixels, but it's features are plentiful.

The camera can record 30 second blocks of video, 320x240 resolution. The avi's that it produces are remarkably low in size, at around 3mb per 30 seconds.

It's most original feature is the 3D mode. Switching the camera into this mode will give you a screen that lets you take 2 photos. You take these at slightly different angles, but from the same height. These are joined together by the camera and when printed (and looked at through the supplied glasses) the image will appear to jump out at you.

It also has easy to navigate options, setting f-stops and exposure is easy once you chage the camera into manual mode. Changing camera modes is as simple as twisting the ring around the shutter button to the required mode.

Other modes are night shooting mode, and effects mode, where you can distort images and change colours without having to do it on your pc.

The camera casing is very durable, a light metal that makes the camera feel professional and although it adds a little weight onto the camera, it feels very sturdy to use, unlike some of the other digicams I've used that felt like kid's toys. I have dropped this camera, tripped over with it in my hand, and it hasn't failed me yet.

One of the interesting design moves is the viewfinder, as well as the LCD screen there is a traditional viewfinder for capturing images. The entire camera is set up to resemble a high-end 35mm.

Connecting up to the PC is a breeze, the device shows up as a removable drive in My Computer, and you can transfer normal files with it as well. The photos are very good quality, and resolutions of up to 2048 x 1536.

The camera uses compact flash cards as storage, and
comes with 11MB built-in memory. There is a useful counter at the top of the screen which tells you how many photos you can take before the memory fills up. The images, at high quality and max resolution are around 3MB.

Other features include a self-timer, DPOF(Digital Print Order Format, which tells the processing shop which pictures to print and how many copies), Various focus modes, and 8x zoom.

Summary: