Digital Camera review for Pentax Optio A10

Pentax Optio A10 Digital Camera is the first Pentax compact digital camera equipped with "Shake Reduction system" to help ensure sharper images. Its main features are 8.0 Effective Megapixel, 3X Optical Zoom Lens, 24MB internal memory, Li-ion rechargeable battery and large 2.5" LCD screen. Moreover, Pentax Optio A10 features DivX®, a fully certified encoder device that captures high quality full-screen VGA (640 x 480, 30 fps) video with sound. Thanks to DivX format small file size and high quality imaging, users can save your DivX movie clips in latest portable media players( e.g. MP3 players support DivX movie). Enjoy your family movies on the go. By taking advantage of Divx format, with a 1GB ultra speed SD memory card, Optio a10 can record up to 43 minutes and 11 seconds at 30fps 640X 480 full screen mode. Most of digital cameras can only record 9 minutes 30 seconds at 30fps 640X 480 mode with 1GB Ultra speed SD card.

The main Pentax Optio A10 specifications are;

Type:: Compact-type digital still camera with built-in zoom lens, autofocus, auto exposure, auto flash and Shake Reduction (CCD-shift)

Effective Pixels:: 8.0 megapixels

Image Capture Device:: Type - 1/1.8 inch interline transfer CCD with a primary color filter Total Pixels - 8.32 megapixels Color Depth - 12 bit x 3 colors Recorded Pixels - Still: 8M (3264x2448 pixels), 5M (2592x1944 pixels), 4M(2304x1728 pixels), 3M (2048x1536 pixels), 2M (1600x1200 pixels), 0.7M(1024x768 pixels), 0.3M(640x480 pixels During Candle light mode, the recorded size is fixed to 4M(2304 x 1728). During Frame composition mode, the recoded size is fixed to 3M(2048x1536). Movie: 640x480 pixels, 320x240 pixels

Focus System:: Type - TTL contrast detection autofocus system Autofocus - 5 point AF, Spot AF, Tracking AF, Infinity Landscape, Pan Focus Focusing Range - Auto Focus: Normal - 1.15 ft (0.35m) to Infinity; Macro - 4.7 inches (0.12 m) to 1.64 ft (0.4m); Super Macro - 2.36 inches (0.06m) to 5.91 inches (0.15m) Manual Focus: 4.7 inches (0.12m) to Infinity at 6.2mm

Lens:: Type – smc PENTAX power zoom Focal Length – 7.9mm – 23.7mm 35mm Equivalent – 37.5mm -112.5mm Aperture Range - F2.8 – F5.4 Construction - 7 elements in 5 groups (3 dual-sided aspherical elements) Optical Zoom - 3X Digital Zoom - 4X Combined - 12X

Exposure Control:: Light Metering Method - TTL metering with choice of: Multi-segment, Center-weighted & Spot meter Sensitivity - Auto, or User select ISO 50, 100, 200, 400 (800 during Candle Mode) Exposure Control Method - Program AE Exposure Modes - Auto Picture, Program, Night scene, Movie, Voice record, Landscape, Flower, Portrait, Surf & Snow, Candle Light, Text, Food, Sport, Frame composition, Pet Exposure Compensation - +/-2 EV (1/3 steps) Shutter - Type: Programmed AE electronic lens shutter with CCD electronic shutter; Shutter Speed: Approx. 1/2000 - 4 seconds White Balance - White Balance Control: TTL Auto, Manual Available Settings - Auto, Daylight, Shade, Tungsten Light, Fluorescent Light, Manual Flash - Operation Modes: Auto, Flash-off, Flash-on, Auto + Red-eye reduction, Flash-on + Red-eye reduction, Auto backlight compensation; Effective Range: Approx. 0.20 ft - 16 ft (0.06m – 5m) (7.9mm at Sensitivity Auto), Approx. 1.15 ft – 8.2 ft (0.35m – 2.5m) (23.7mm at Sensitivity Auto)

Shooting Specifications:: Image Stabilization - Still Capture; (CCD Shift) Shake Reduction; Movie Capture; Electronic Anti-shake Digital Filter - Black & White, Sepia, 8 Color, Black & White + Red, Black & White + Green, Black & White+Blue, Soft, Illustration, Special Effect, Slim, Brightness Drive Modes - Single-shot, Continuous (Standard & High-speed), Remote control (0 sec, 3 sec), Self-timer (2 sec, 10 sec) Movie Mode - Shooting Time: From approx. 1 sec. to memory card capacity

Time:: Modes - dd/mm/yy, mm/dd/yy, yy/mm/dd World Time - Display of the time in 71 cities (28 time zones)

Image Storage:: Storage Media - Approx 24MB built-in memory, SD memory card removable File Formats - Still: JPEG (Exif 2.2), DCF (Design rule for Camera File system), DPOF (Digital Print Order Format), PRINT Image Matching III Movie: AVI (MPEG-4 DivX®) approx. 30fps with sound and anti-shake Sound: WAV (PCM format), Monaural, Recordable time depends on the remaining capacity of the memory card Quality Levels - Best, Better, Good

LCD/Viewfinder:: Optical Viewfinder - None; LCD Monitor – 2.5 inch, TFT color LCD- with Histogram Display LCD Coverage – Approx. 100% LCD Resolution - Approx. 232,000 pixels

Playback Specifications:: Playback Modes File - Single, Index- Nine image Magnification - 8X Mode Pallet - Slide show, Resize, Image Trimming (crop), Rotate, Color Filters, Digital Filters, Brightness Filter, Movie Edit, Red Eye Correction, Voice Memo, Protect, DPOF, Startup Screen, Frame Composition Movie Edit – Save a s still image, Divide, Extract Erase and Image Protect Modes - Single, All

PictBridge:: One image printing, All image printing, DPOF auto print with Paper size, Paper type, Print quality and Border status selection

Language:: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Swedish, Dutch, Portuguese, Thai

Interfaces:: Type - AV output terminal, USB terminal, DC input terminal Video Output - Compatible with NTSC and PAL formats (monaural sound)

Power Supply:: Rechargeable Lithium-ion D-LI8 battery (allows approximately 150 shots*); AC adaptor kit (optional) * According to CIPA testing (with LCD monitor on and flash used for 50% of the shots)

Physical Specifications:: Operating Temperatures - 32 degrees to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees to 40 degrees Celsius) Camera Casing - Aluminum alloy Dimensions (W x H x D) - 3.5 x 2.1 x 0.9 inches (88.5 x 54.5 x 23mm) Weight – 4.4 oz. (125g) without battery and SD memory card, 5.1 oz. (145g) loaded and ready

Computer System Requirements:: USB Driver installment is required for Windows 98/98 SE, Mac OS 9.2 Mac Requirements - OS: Mac OS 9.2 or later, Standard equipped USB port PC Requirements - OS: Windows 98,98 SE, 2000, Me, XP Home edition / Professional, Standard equipped USB port

What's in the Box:

Optio A10, USB Cable I-USB17 (39233), AV Cable I-AVC7(B) (39553), Strap O-ST20 (39195), Lithium-ion Battery DL-18 (39121), Battery Charging Stand D-BC42 (39318), AC Plug Cord D-CO2U (39477), Software S-SW42 (CD-ROM)

Test Results:

Automatic mode Day shot testing (Outdoor):

Testing setting: Automatic mode, auto white balance, flash off, 8M 3 stars (super fine) quality and tripod is not used.

By using Pentax Optio A10 preset "Snow and surf mode", we can see the sands on the river side will not go too bright or over expose. The time taking these 2 photos are right at 12:00 AM at noon with lots of sunshine. The day shot photos taken by Optio A10 are still nice and smooth.

(Photos have been resized to 500X375 pixels)

Auto focus	3X optical Zoom in

Automatic mode day shot testing (Indoor):

Testing setting: Automatic mode, auto white balance, auto flash on superfine quality and tripod is not used.

The photo below is generated by Pentax Optio A10 Program AE mode with auto flash under low light situation. Teddy today seems not in good mood to take pictures, but we still need to give an idea to our website visitors what does the indoor photo taken by Pentax A10 look like. Your photo does look good actually. Well, I will try ladybird next time, OK?

(Photos have been resized to 500X 375 pixels)

Macro testing:

Testing setting: Macro mode, auto white balance, flash off, 8M pixel 3 stars (super fine) quality and tripod is not used.

From the bellowing pictures, we can know Pentax Optio A10 can get clear and detail macro photos up to 4-5cm close up the the subject. Thanks to Pentax Optio A10 8M pixels super CCD sensor, we can still see the details of this photo after cropping and keeping same picture size (500X375 pixels). Moreover, by taking advantage of the anti-shake function, I can still get clear photo even the flower is moving slightly due to wind blow.

(Photos have been resized to 500X375 pixels)

approx. 4-5cm close up	Cropping

Night shot testing (Outdoor):

Testing setting: preset Night shot mode, auto white balance, flash off, superfine quality and tripod is used.

Just like the other Pentax, it is very easy to get a good night shot by Pentax Optio a10 digital camera. All you need is to put optio a10 on a steady tripod, then point and shoot.

 (Photos have been resized to 500X375 pixels)

Auto focus

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