Compared to... Samsung NV10

Below you will find a studio comparison between the Pentax Optio A20 and the Samsung NV10 at ISO 400.

Studio scene comparison (@ ISO 400)  

• Pentax Optio A20 : Manual mode, ISO 400, Default Image Parameters,
  Manual white balance.
  
  
• Samsung NV10: Manual mode, ISO 400, Default Image Parameters,
  Manual white balance, +0.7 EV compensation.
  

• Lighting: Daylight simulation, >98% CRI

Pentax Optio A20	Samsung NV10
ISO 400, 1/500 sec, F3.8	ISO 400, 1/800 sec, F3.8
2,868 KB JPEG	4,231 KB JPEG

ISO 400 is noisy, there's no doubt about that, but this is what you get with 10 million pixels crammed onto such a tiny sensor. Where Samsung has chosen to go the 'smooth away the noise - and the detail' route, Pentax has stuck with a much less aggressive noise reduction system, which preserves a lot more detail but does leave the output looking grainy. This is either a good thing or not depending on how much control you like over your noise reduction. For me, it's a plus point. Note that in our 'real world' testing the noise - and visibility of noise reduction artefacts - increased dramatically in low light or with long exposures.