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Pentax Optio S7

Reviewed October 2006

Introduction

Introduction
Ergonomics
Characteristics
Image Quality
Interface & Software
Camera Views
Test Photos
Specifications
Our Opinion

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
Ergonomics
Characteristics
Image Quality
Interface & Software
Camera Views
Test Photos
Specifications
Our Opinion





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