Pentax
continues the development of its digital camera line with the Optio 550,
a model equipped with a 5 megapixel CCD and a 5X optical zoom. Optio
430RS — like it, this one can easily slip into a pocket —
but adds a lens that extends impressively from 3 to 4.5 cm (1.17 to 1.75
inch), depending on the focal length of the zoom.
The
top left of the Optio 550 is fitted with a small speaker that provides
surprisingly clear sound. Directly below is the optical viewfinder. The
viewfinder is equipped with a diopter corrector, making it possible to
adjust it to one's eyesight.
Two LED's are positioned to the right of the the finder's exit pupil.
The upper one, green, flashes when the camera is focusing, and becomes
solid green when the Optio 550 is ready to shoot.
The lower one is red and flashes while the flash is charging, becoming
solid when the flash is ready. During the time the camera is saving the
image, both LED flash asynchronously.
The
upper right of the Optio 550 is similar in look and design to other models
from Pentax. The Mode Dial has the 2-stage shutter release at the centre,
and the power switch is to its left.
The Mode Dial of the Optio 550 provides added functions however, offering
no less than 11 positions, which in this case include separate options
for Program, Aperture and Shutter Priority and Manual mode.
Placed
directly below the Mode Dial, and aligned at the top of the camera's back,
is a row of buttons that ends with the zoom control.
All of these provide functions in both the recording and playback modes.
Starting from the left, the first button:
Selects
the flash modes: Auto, Auto Flash with Red-eye Reduction, Forced
On, Forced On with Red Eye Reduction, Forced Off.
Locks
images, preventing their accidental erasure.
The middle button offers multiple functions:
Self-timer: provides a 10 second delay.
Remote:
for use with the optional remote control which has a 3 second
delay (Remote Control Unit F).
Continuous
mode: frame rate varies with the image size and compression,
but the camera keeps capturing images as long as the shutter
release is depressed.
Interval
shooting mode: the start time can be specified, as well as the
interval between each photo.
Multiple exposure mode: allows capturing images one on top of
the other, and then determining their respective importance
and brightness.
In
Playback the button serves as access to the DPOF menu which is used
to set which photos will be printed and how.
The third and last button before the Zoom control serves to select the
type of Focus mode:
Macro mode: allows a focus distance of 15 to 65 cm (5.85 to
25.35 in.).
Landscape
mode: sets focus to infinity.
Manual
Focus mode: displays a distance scale on the LCD screen. The
up and down arrows of the 4-direction controller are used to
select the distance, and the centre of the image shown on the
screen is magnified to assist focusing. Manual focus can be
set from 2 cm
(0.78 in.)
to infinity.
Super
Macro mode: allows an even closer distance to the subject than
the standard Macro mode, 2 to 65 cm (0.78 to 25.35 in.).
Focus
Point selection: allows setting the focus point to any of four
other points peripheral to the centre point.
Serves
to delete one or all images and sounds in the Playback mode. But,
if enabled in the Setup menu of the Optio 550, can also be used
to delete an image before it is saved while it is being shown on
the screen.
Finally,
on the far right side is the zoom control. In playback, the Wide angle
side can be used to display thumbnails []
or, when pressed to the Telephoto side [],
magnify the image currently shown on the screen up to 8X. When an image
is magnified, the 4-direction control can be used to move the image so
all parts can be seen.
The remaining controls for the Optio 550 are on the right side of the
1.5 inch LCD screen, and below.
Starts
the Playback mode. The Playback mode is accessible while the camera
is in the recording mode, or directly when the camera is off, by
pressing the Playback button while powering up the camera.
The 4-direction
control below is used to navigate the camera menus, and to confirm selections
with the OK button at the centre. The control is precise, and selections
are accurately recorded.
In
addition, each of the directional arrows can be assigned a secondary function.
Using the Setup menu, the arrows can be assigned to any of 11 functions
frequently needed. Once set, the functions are activated holding down
the MENU/Fn button below the screen. The MENU/Fc button
also calls up the menu
appropriate to the recording mode, as set by the Mode Dial.
DISPLAY serves to control the information overlay of the LCD screen,
or to turn it off to conserve power. The Display button provides a number
of different overlays, including camera settings, a real-time histogram
or a composition grid.
The
Optio 550 provides a number of shooting modes, including some found on
other Pentax cameras:
Manual
Mode: allows selecting apertures with the Up/Down arrows of
the 4-direction controller, and shutter speeds with the Right/Left
arrows. The exposure compensation screen overlay is used to indicate
the exposure and blinks when the selected combination will result
in an over or underexposed image.
Shutter
Priority: shutter speeds are selected with the Up/Down arrows
while the camera selects the corresponding aperture.
Aperture
Priority: apertures are chosen using the Up/Down arrows and
the camera matches the selection with the appropriate shutter speed.
Program
Mode: both shutter speed and aperture are selected by the camera,
but the user retains full control over all other camera settings.
Picture
Mode: primary access to the Scene modes of the Optio 550:
Landscape:
enhances colours slightly to make landscapes more vivid.
Night Scene: provides an extended shutter speed to
allow night photography, the flash remains useable and can
be used to light the foreground of a dark scene while allowing
the background to be captured.
Flower:
records using the macro mode and also enhances the saturation
slightly.
Portrait:
prioritizes a wide aperture to blur the background behind
the subject slightly.
Beach
and Snow: lowers the shutter speed slightly to increase
the brightness of the exposure, compensating for the effect
of the scenes's brightness on the metering.
Autumn
colours: slightly increases the saturation.
Sunset:
warms colours noticeably to preserve the colours of a sunset.
Fireworks:
uses a 4 second shutter speed with the focus set to infinity
and the flash forced off.
Text:
switches to macro mode and increases contrast and sharpness.
Movie
mode: records video clips with a 320 x 240 pixel frame size.
The recording speed can be adjusted from 1X at 15 frames per second,
to 2X, 5X, 10X, 50X or 100X, making the video clip up appear speeded-up
when the movie is played back. Focus and white balance are set at
the first frame while exposure is constantly adjusted. During video
clip recording the optical zoom is locked, but the digital zoom
can be used.
Panorama
mode: records images sequentially so they can be assembled into
panoramic photos later. The direction for the series of images is
selected (moving towards the right, or towards the left), and a
portion of the previous image is shown on the screen to make it
easy to overlap each photo with the previous one, necessary for
the software to create seamless panoramas.
3D
mode: makes it easy to create 3D images by recording the first
image on one half of the frame, and then recording the second with
a slight offset. The combined image can then be viewed as a 3D image
using the glasses supplied with the camera. (See the Characteristics
section of the Pentax
Optio 330GS review for an example of 3D images.)
Digital
Filter mode: records the image with a selectable colour filter
(blue, red, pink, purple, green or yellow), or as a black and white
image, or sepia toned, or as Soft, which applies a slight blurring
effect.
User
mode: allows pre selecting a variety of settings (image size
and quality, white balance, AF mode, metering, ISO, flash mode,
exposure compensation, auto bracketing, zoom position, etc.) and
recalling them simply by selecting the User position on the Mode
Dial.
Sound
Recording mode: turns the Optio 550 into a digital voice recorder.
Recording time depends on the capacity of the memory in use.
Ergonomically, the Pentax Optio 550 is relatively easy to use, and its
external controls are laid out with enough logic and space that they are
easily remembered, and used.
Super
Macro mode: allows an even closer distance to the subject than
the standard Macro mode, 2 to 65 cm (0.78 to 25.35 in.).
Focus
Point selection: allows setting the focus point to any of four
other points peripheral to the centre point.
]
or, when pressed to the Telephoto side [
],
magnify the image currently shown on the screen up to 8X. When an image
is magnified, the 4-direction control can be used to move the image so
all parts can be seen.
