Pentax Optio S

As the old photographer's adage has it: "what's the best camera? It's the one you have with you" - meaning that there's no point in all the DSLR quality in the world if you leave it at home because you don't want to carry the bulk. The Pentax Optio S does not have that problem: it might not have been the very first camera which could reasonably have called itself an ultra-compact, but it was certainly among the earliest to be both a technical and a commercial success. Dating from 2003 as it does, it's naturally showing its age a little now, but it remains a good enough camera that I carry it with me frequently simply because of its size. That ...  Read the complete review

**** Introduction **** Looking back at some of my reviews you might think that I have a lot of camera's, well I do like my gadgets but I work in the photographic industry so it's usually me that gets saddled with the responsibility of buying camera's or at least giving advice to family members. This particular camera is a purchase for my teenage niece and the specification was small, easy to use, very durable, must look good and of course the most important feature as low in price as possible. So after having a look around I decided on the pentax optio s because it satisfied all of the measures above. **** The Camera **** The pentax optio s is not a ...  Read the complete review

I am not an expert by any means but I love this camera. I have put away my old BULKY digital for this LITTLE pentax that I keep in its new case (an Altoids tin! - yes it really is a good case!). I narrowed my choices down to the Optio S, the Casio Elixm E3 and the Canon ES400. I thought the Canon was a great camera that took great pictures but was a bit bulky and [costs] more. Just couldn't see spending that since I would not be printing out 8x10's that often (the 4 megapixel camera is better for these large pictures apparently, although the 3.2 should do just fine for the average person like me. I'm sure a photographer will notice the difference ...  Read the complete review

Have had Optio S for two weeks, taking both indoor and outdoor pics with a variety of settings. Picture quality at best resolution is stunning. Has some problems autofocusing in low light, but it has a manual focus. The Minolta Dimage Xi did not. Loaded with features found on larger digital cameras - see technical specs. Only complaint is the tiny multi-function toggle button. Easy to get wrong function - takes some getting used to. Battery life is about 2 hours with LCD display constantly on. Need spare battery for travel - currently hard to find as of April 2, 2003. If you are looking for a tiny camera, but loaded with features, and excellent picture quality, ...  Read the complete review

I have never used a digital camera before in my life but I decided I needed one to go with internet auctions and for my own general use. I was looking for something pretty basic and something not too expensive so I went and brought a Praktica DCZ 2.2S. For someone who has never used anything like this it's perfect for getting started with, the internal memory was pretty limited only allowing 30 pictures but that is what you would expect with the item I brought. The picture quality is very good, much better if you use a memory card and it comes with it's own software so you can use the camera for all sorts of tasks. It comes with a self ...  Read the complete review