Softer contours differentiate
the Pentax Optio S7 from its predecessors, but the
look remains familiar, as does the lens with its off-centre
design.
The Optio S7 has only two controls on
the top right side:
the Power Switch, slightly recessed to avoid having
the camera turn on accidentally.
the Shutter Release, a 2-stage release that starts
the autofocus and metering when pressed halfway, and which
locks both when maintained at the halfway point.
The Optio S7's speaker is the only item on the top left side,
the microphone being tucked away behind a small hole on the
front of the camera, below the left side of the lens.
All other external controls
are on the right side of the 2.5-inch LCD monitor composed
of 232,000 pixels, which has a 100% frame coverage,
important since the Optio S7 has no optical viewfinder.
Dominating the upper right side of the camera's back, the
Zoom Control not only serves to adjust the zoom position,
it serves in Playback to view captured images as thumbnails
— an index view — 9 per screen when pressed on
the
side, and zoom into an image under review up to 8X when pressed
on the
side.
The Playback mode button
is positioned below the zoom control, next to the screen.
If held pressed while the camera is powered On, the Playback
mode is accessed directly, avoiding having the lens deploy.
The Four-Way Controller occupies
most of the space on the right side of the monitor. Although
one-piece, the controller can be pressed at any of its four
directions and features an independent button at its centre
labelled OK. The controller serves to navigate the
menus, and go from one image to another in Playback, and the
OK button at the centre serves to confirm selections made
in the menus.
In addition, each of the four directions of the controller
has a function that superimposed a short menu on the monitor
while the camera is set to a capture mode:
The Left direction serves
to select the Flash Mode:
Auto, Forced Off, Forced On, Auto with Red-eye Reduction,
Forced On with Red-eye Reduction, Soft Flash (reduces the
intensity of the flash so it can be used at close range).
The Up direction serves to select the Drive or
Continuous Shooting Mode:
Single takes 1 photo each time the shutter release
is pressed.
Self-timer provides either a 10-second or a 2-second
delay.
Continuous Mode: keeps shooting until the memory card
is filled. The frame rate varies according to the image
size and quality in use.
Remote control: for use with the optional remote
control. Two options are available, a 3-second delay
after the remote is pressed, or none.
The Right direction controls
the Focus Modes:
Autofocus: the default setting has a focus range
of 40 cm (15.7 inches) to infinity.
Macro Mode: allows the camera to focus on a subject
that is between 15 and 50 cm (5.9 and 19.7 inches) from
the front element of the lens.
Pan Focus: uses the hyperfocal of the lens, making
it possible to capture subjects sharply when they are positioned
from 1.3 m (4.3 ft) to infinity when the zoom is set to
the wide angle, and from 5.3 m (17 ft) to infinity when
the zoom is at the telephoto end.
Infinity Mode: sets the lens focus to infinity to
ensure sharp landscapes and to avoid having the autofocus
settle on a closer subject.
Manual Focus: allows setting the focus distance using
the 4-way controller. The mode magnifies the centre portion
of the frame on screen and places a distance scale on the
left side of the screen.
The Down direction, labelled MODE, serves to
select the shooting mode. The shooting modes menu, called
the Mode Palette, appears superimposed on the monitor's
image, and the selection is made using the 4-way controller.
The name of the currently highlighted mode is displayed at
the top of the screen. The first two modes are standard:
Auto Picture mode is a fully automatic point-and-shoot
mode.
Program mode offers the greatest flexibility, providing
control over a number of image capture parameters through
the camera menu (see the Characteristics section
of the review for a listing of the options available in
the menu.)
Night Scene mode offers a maximum exposure time
of 4 seconds, the longest exposure time available with the
Optio S7. This mode leaves control over sensitivity to the
user, along with other parameters available in the Program
mode.
Movie mode makes it possible to capture video at
either one of two frame sizes: 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixels,
and at any one of three compression (image quality) levels
represented by stars (,
,
and
where three stars is the highest image quality. Worth noting,
the Movie mode moves the zoom to the middle zoom position
and only allows a limited zoom range. When the recording
starts, the optical zoom is locked at its starting position.
By default the image is electronically stabilized and prevents
the use of the 4X digital zoom. Digital Stabilization must
be turned off to use the digital zoom. Movies last as long
as there is space on the memory card.
Voice Recording Mode: turns the Optio S7 into a
mono digital voice recorder. The recording lasts as long
as there is memory space, and the monitor can be turned
off while the camera records.
The ten other modes of the Optio S7 are considered to be
Scene modes, offering presets for the camera based on the
subject to be photographed:
• Landscape
• Flower
• Portrait/Kids
• Surf and Snow
• Blur Reduction
• Sports
• Pet
• Text
• Food
• Frame Composite
Of these, two warrant particular
attention:
The Blur Reduction mode automatically increases
sensitivity up to 1600 ISO to maintain a high shutter speed
and prevent camera shake. In this mode, the image size is
automatically set to 4M (2304 x 1728 pixels) and
cannot be changed.
The Frame Composite mode allows adding a frame
(3 choices are built-in) while capturing the image. The
image size is fixed at 3M (2048 x 1536 pixels).
The other part of the 4-way controller is the OK button.
Beyond its use as a way of confirming menu selections, it
also serves to control the information superimposed on the
monitor, be it in the capture modes or the playback mode.
With the Optio S7 set to a capture
mode, the default setting for the information superimposed
on the monitor shows the shooting mode, the flash mode, the
memory in use (internal or card), the number of photos that
can be captured, the current charge for the battery, the time
and date, and the autofocus brackets in the middle of the
frame.
Pressing the OK button once adds additional settings (image
size, quality, white balance, metering mode, ISO), and a real-time
histogram.
Pressing the button again clears
all camera settings off the screen with the exception of the
AF brackets, but overlays a composition grid. Yet another press
of the button removes the grid, leaving only the AF brackets.
A fourth press of the button turns off the monitor, useful when
recording audio. Whatever the display selected, however, the
camera always indicates the shutter speed and aperture selected
when the shutter release is pressed halfway.
Set to the Playback
mode, the camera presents images by default with a minimum
of image data superimposed on the monitor. The upper left
corner indicates that the camera is set to playback mode,
while the top right side of the monitor shows the memory in
use and the file name. Below, the battery charge is indicated,
and the shooting date and time are superimposed on the lower
right.
Pressing the OK button once adds all the shooting data and
a histogram. A third press removes all superimposed information
from the image.
The remaining two external controls
of the Optio S7 are positioned below the 4-way controller.
On the left is the MENU button, and it serves to display
the camera's menu on the monitor. The Optio S7 always displays
the same menu, whether set to capture or playback, but depending
on the mode, not all options are accessible.
The other button, on the right, is simply called the Green
button. By default the Green button calls up the simplest
shooting mode of the Optio S7, also called the Basic
or Green Mode. The Green mode locks out the user from
the camera menu — the Green button must be pressed again
to cancel the Green mode to access the menu — and sets
the image quality to
while locking the image size to 7M (3072 x 2304 pixels).
The way the Green button operates, however, can be re-programmed
in the menu. Instead of starting the Green shooting mode,
it can be set to present a Function menu which consists
of 4 shortcuts to pre-selected camera settings.
Used this way, when the Green button is
pressed it displays a special menu superimposed on the monitor's
image, and any of the functions shown on the monitor can be
selected using the appropriate direction on the 4-way controller.
By default, the Functions available are preset to Image Size,
Image Quality, Sensitivity, or White Balance. However, any
of the four directions can be programmed to access any of
ten functions or none in the menu. (See the Characteristics
section of the review for a list of the functions that can
be assigned.)
The ergonomics of the
Optio S7 are quite remarkable. Although very compact and with
limited external controls, the Optio S7 offers a number of features
and is eminently functional, as long as the Green button is
used to access the Function menu. The function menu is flexible
system, and has the effect of doubling the usefulness of the
4-way controller; so that when most compacts offer 4 functions
to their controller in the capture modes, the Optio S7 can offer
up to 8 immediately accessible camera settings.
Introduction
side, and zoom into an image under review up to 8X when pressed
on the 
side. 
is positioned below the zoom control, next to the screen.
If held pressed while the camera is powered On, the Playback
mode is accessed directly, avoiding having the lens deploy.
Auto, Forced Off, Forced On, Auto with Red-eye Reduction,
Forced On with Red-eye Reduction, Soft Flash (reduces the
intensity of the flash so it can be used at close range).
Self-timer provides either a 10-second or a 2-second
delay.
Continuous Mode: keeps shooting until the memory card
is filled. The frame rate varies according to the image
size and quality in use.
Remote control: for use with the optional remote
control. Two options are available, a 3-second delay
after the remote is pressed, or none.
Autofocus: the default setting has a focus range
of 40 cm (15.7 inches) to infinity.
Macro Mode: allows the camera to focus on a subject
that is between 15 and 50 cm (5.9 and 19.7 inches) from
the front element of the lens.
Pan Focus: uses the hyperfocal of the lens, making
it possible to capture subjects sharply when they are positioned
from 1.3 m (4.3 ft) to infinity when the zoom is set to
the wide angle, and from 5.3 m (17 ft) to infinity when
the zoom is at the telephoto end.
Infinity Mode: sets the lens focus to infinity to
ensure sharp landscapes and to avoid having the autofocus
settle on a closer subject.
Manual Focus: allows setting the focus distance using
the 4-way controller. The mode magnifies the centre portion
of the frame on screen and places a distance scale on the
left side of the screen.
,
,
and 
where three stars is the highest image quality. Worth noting,
the Movie mode moves the zoom to the middle zoom position
and only allows a limited zoom range. When the recording
starts, the optical zoom is locked at its starting position.
By default the image is electronically stabilized and prevents
the use of the 4X digital zoom. Digital Stabilization must
be turned off to use the digital zoom. Movies last as long
as there is space on the memory card.
