Pentax Optio A10 Review
Review based on a production Pentax Optio A10
The new 'flagship' in Pentax's long-running Optio range was announced at the CES show in January. The basic specification is fairly standard for a camera in this class; 3x optical zoom, 8 megapixels, 15 scene modes (including a high sensitivity / ISO 800 'candlelight' option) and a large 2.5-inch screen, but the Optio A10 does have a couple of tricks up its sleeve, including a CCD-shift image stabilization system, in-camera effects and frames, and the ability to record movies in the highly efficient (and widely used) MPEG-4 DivX format.
- 8.0 million effective pixel 1/1.8" CCD
- New high speed ASIC
- CCD-shift Shake Reduction System
- Seven element 3x smc Pentax zoom lens
- Compact, lightweight body
- 15 shooting modes
- 640 x 480 pixel, 30 fps MPEG-4 movie mode (DivX® certified)
- Tracking AF
- Candlelight mode with ISO 800 sensitivity (4MP max image size)
- Frame composite function can add decorative frames to images
- In-camera corrections and effects for saved images
Pentax Optio A10 Specifications
| Street price | • US: 335 • UK: 230 |
|---|---|
| Body Material | metal |
| Sensor | • 1/1.8" CCD • 8.32 million pixels total • 8.0 million effective pixels |
| Image sizes | • 3264 x 2448 |
| Movie clips | • 640 x 480 • 320 x 240 • 30 fps based on image signal at 20 fps • With sound and anti-shake • MPEG-4 DivX |
| Lens | • 38-114mm equiv |
| Focus | • TTL contrast detection autofocus system with AF spotbeam |
| Shooting mode | 15 modes (Auto Picture, Program, Night Scene, Movie, Voice recording, Landscape, Flower, Portrait, Sport, Surf & Snow, Candlelight, Food, Pet, Text, Frame composite) |
| Sensitivity | • Auto • ISO 50 • ISO 100 • ISO 200 • ISO 400 • ISO 800 (in Candlelight mode) |
| White Balance | • Auto • Daylight • Shade • Tungsten • Fluorescent • Manual |
| Metering | • TTL Multi-segment • Center-weighted • Spot • +/-2 in 1/3 EV steps |
| Image parameters | Sharpness (3 levels) |
| Continuous | Up to 1.1 fps (dpreview testing), limited only by card capacity |
| Flash | • Built-in • Modes: Auto, Red-eye reduction, On/Off • Range: (wide) 0.06 - 5 m (sensitivity Auto), (tele) 0.35 - 2.5 m (sensitivity Auto) |
| Storage | • SD card • 24MB internal memory |
| Viewfinder | No |
| LCD monitor | • 2.5" TFT LCD • 232,000 pixels |
| Connectivity | • USB 2.0 Hi-speed • AV out • DC in |
| Power | • Rechargeable D-LI8 lithium-ion battery • Optional AC adapter |
| In the box* | • Pentax Optio A10 |
| Other features | • PictBridge |
| Weight (inc batt) | 145 g (5.1 oz) |
| Dimensions | 89 x 55 x 23 mm (3.5 x 2.1 x 0.9 in) |
* Supplied accessories may differ in each country or area.
If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital
Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help
you understand some of the terms used).
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Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (typically VGA) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C. |
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This article is Copyright 2006 and may NOT in part or in whole be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author.
