Pentax Optio A10

Reviewed August 2006

Introduction

The Pentax Optio A10 is a very compact and light camera, offering an 8-megapixel resolution, a 2.5-inch monitor, and a 3X optical zoom that features an image stabilizer.

The top of the camera supports three controls. On the right is the elongated chrome button of the 2-stage Shutter Release, which when pressed to the halfway point meters the exposure and sets the focus.

To the left of the shutter release is the Power Switch. The Power Switch has an LED at its centre that glows green when the camera is On.

Next to it is a small button called the Shake Reduction Preview button that serves to see a preview of the stabilizer’s effect on the image, since the camera shake reduction system only operates at the moment the image is captured.

With the Optio A10, camera shake is reduced using a CCD shift system, and the system must be enabled in the Capture menu. (See the Characteristics section of the review for more information about the contents of the Capture menu.)

As the camera is quite small, the 2.5-inch (6.4 cm) — as measured diagonally — monitor occupies most of the back. The A10 has no optical viewfinder, but with 232,000 pixels, the monitor provides a sharp image. The narrow strip on its right supports the remaining external controls.

A standard rocker zoom control is positioned at the top and, as indicated by the blue icons above it, when the camera is in Playback mode the wide angle side / serves to display an index screen with 9 thumbnails per screen, while the telephoto side / makes it possible to zoom into an image up to 8X.

The next button, , starts the Playback mode and can also be used to turn on the camera, activating it in the playback mode without extending the lens. Pressing the shutter button lightly, or the button once starts the capture mode and extends the lens. Directly above the button, a small LED glows orange when the A10 is accessing the memory.

The next control down is the 4-way controller, composed of 4 arcing buttons with the OK/Display button at the centre of the group. The OK button serves to confirm choices made in the menu, and in addition controls the quantity of information superimposed on the monitor (see further).

Two more buttons complete the external controls of the Optio A10: MENU calls up the single, but multi-part, menu of the camera (see the Characteristics and Interface and Software sections of the review), and a button labelled with that changes the functions assigned to the 4 directions of the 4-way controller (see further).

By default, the each of the directional buttons has a clearly labelled function while the camera is set to a capture mode, and pressing any of the buttons displays the available options on the monitor:

The up arrow controls the Drive mode: Single takes one photo at a time, every time the shutter release is pressed. 10-second Self-timer. 2-second Self-timer. Continuous: allows the A10 to capture images continuously, at a frame rate that varies according to the selected image size and compression. Capture continues while the shutter release is held pressed, until the memory is full. Remote control with a 3-second delay: requires the use of the optional remote control units E or F. Remote as above but without any delay.

Program lets the camera control aperture and shutter speed, leaving all other possible settings up to the user. Night Scene mode allows capturing exposures as long as 4 seconds. Movie mode captures video clips with either a 640 x 480 pixel, or a 320 x 240 pixel frame size at 30 frames per second with sound, at at any one of three compression levels. The length of the recording is only limited by the capacity of the memory. The optical zoom is locked at the first frame, but a digital zoom is available. Exposure, focus and white balance are adjusted as the recording progresses. Voice Recording mode allows recording sound only. In this mode the camera automatically retracts the lens, and the length of the recording is only limited by the available memory space. During recording the AF Assist lamp blinks slowly. Landscape mode maximizes the depth of field, and optimizes blues and greens. Flower mode boosts saturation slightly to help capture vibrant colours when capturing flowers. Portrait mode uses a wide aperture to blur the background, and softens sharpness slightly. Candlelight mode serves to capture natural-looking colours without flash. Surf & Snow mode applies exposure compensation to ensure a proper exposure of very reflective subjects. Sport mode maximizes the shutter speed to capture movement. Pet mode serves to capture images of cats or dogs by selecting the hair colour of the pet. Text mode serves to capture images of printed materials selecting whether the text is light coloured on a dark background, or dark coloured on a white background, or simply black and white. Food mode increases colour saturation slightly to capture images of prepared foods. Frame Composite mode makes it possible to add a frame to an image as it is captured. A separate screen offers a selection of 7 distinct decorative frames that are already in the camera's memory, and these can be replaced for others. The image size is limited to 3M (see the Characteristics section of the review for more information about available images sizes).

As mentioned above, the green button makes it possible to access secondary functions associated to each of the four direction buttons that form the 4-way controller:

• The up arrow serves to turn on or off the image stabilizer.
• The down arrow serves to adjust the exposure compensation over a range of ±2 EV in 1/3 EV increments.
• The left arrow serves to select the image resolution (see the Characteristics section of the review).
• The right arrow serves to choose the compression level (see the Characteristics section of the review).

Using the capture menu, the auxiliary functions assigned to these four buttons can be modified so that they act as shortcuts to menu settings.

As explained earlier, the OK button also controls the information superimposed on the monitor:

• The default setting indicates the flash mode, the memory, the remaining number of photos that can be captured, the battery charge, the AF area, the stabilizer indicator, the date and the time. Moreover, when the shutter release is pressed halfway, the display indicates the aperture and shutter speed.

• Pressing the button once adds the image resolution and quality, white balance setting, metering mode, ISO setting and a histogram.
• Pressing the button once more clears all information off the screen, leaving only the AF area, and adds a composition grid.
• Pressing the button leaves just the image coming from the lens and the AF area brackets.
• A last press of the button turns off the monitor altogether — unusual for a camera that does not have an optical viewfinder.

The system is similar when the A10 is in Playback mode, each press of the OK button changing the information overlaid on the monitor:

• The default display superimposes the shooting mode, the memory in use, the folder name, file name, battery state, date and time of capture.
• Pressing the button once adds the resolution, image quality, white balance, metering pattern used, ISO, histogram, shutter speed and aperture.

• Another press of the button removes all superimposed information.

At first, the Pentax Optio A10 appears a bit complex, and it is necessary to spend some time reading the manual attentively to understand how some of the buttons function. But, once a basic understanding of the controls is reached, the rest of the camera becomes quickly familiar. Worth noting however, overall the camera is comparatively slow to operate, and the shutter lag takes a bit of time to get accustomed to. Otherwise, the sharpness and definition of the monitor is excellent, and the lack of an optical viewfinder is not a problem.