Pentax Optio T10

Reviewed May 2006

Characteristics

The Optio T10 is equipped with a 1/2.5-inch CCD with 6.36 million pixels of which 6 million are effective when capturing an image at the maximum size of 2816 x 2112 pixels.

In all capture modes CCD sensitivity can be manually adjusted to 80, 160, 320 or 400 ISO; and an Auto setting allows the camera to adjust the sensitivity as needed according to the quantity of ambient light.

The T10 has a 3X SMC Pentax zoom lens with a focal length range that covers from 6.2 to 18.6 mm, the equivalent in the 35 mm format of a 37.5 to 112.5 mm zoom. The zoom is composed of 6 elements in 5 groups which includes 2 aspheric surfaces to minimize curvilinear distortion. Apertures start at f2.7 when the zoom is at the wide angle end, and f5.2 at the telephoto end, closing down respectively to f4.3 and f8.3.

In addition, a 4X digital zoom is also available when enabled in the menu. The digital zoom crops the centre of the image and interpolates the cropped section to the currently selected image size.

Although under the control of the camera, as are the apertures, the T10 has a shutter speed range that covers from 1/2 000 down to 1/4 second; while when the Night Scene mode is used, shutter speeds can extend to as long as 4 seconds. Furthermore, with any exposure longer than 1 second, the image is processed for noise reduction.

Images can be captured at any of six image sizes:

• 6M: 2816 x 2112 pixels,
• 5M: 2592 x 1944 pixels,
• 4M: 2304 x 1728 pixels,
• 3M: 2048 x 1536 pixels,
• 2M: 1600 x 1200 pixels,
• 640: 640 x 480 pixels.

Worthy of note since, regrettably, it has become unusual nowadays for a compact camera to offer much of a choice for compression, the T10 offers a choice of 3 compression levels:

• Best: applies a compression that has a ratio of approximately 5:1.
• Better: applies a compression that has a ratio of approximately 10:1.
• Good: applies a compression that has a ratio of approximately 14:1.

Pressing the MENU button while the camera is in a capture mode displays a screen with 6 touch-screen buttons: Rec. Mode 1, Rec. Mode 2, Movie, Common, Sound and Setting, each of which opens a menu when selected. The first 4 touch-screen buttons lead to functions that are directly related to image capture, the last two touch-screen buttons lead to menus that relate to the configuration of the camera. (See the Interface and Software section of the review for the contents of these two menus).

The first touch-screen button Rec. Mode 1 offers the following functions:

• Recorded Pixels: serves to choose the image size (see above).
• Quality Level: serves to set the level of compression (see above).
• White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Tungsten, Fluorescent, or Manual which allows setting the white balance under ambient light, using a white surface.

• AF Setting controls the way the auto focus operates:
  • Focusing Area serves to choose the focusing area, either Multiple, or Centre.
  • Focus Limiter: limits the focusing range to a range that starts at 40 cm (16 inches) to infinity instead of the complete range that begins at 15 cm (6 inches).
  • Auxiliary AF Light: decides if the camera will use the AF assist light when it has trouble focusing because there is insufficient ambient light.
• AE Metering serves to select the metering pattern: multi-segment, Centre-weighted or Spot.
• Sensitivity sets the ISO equivalent of the CCD: Auto, 80, 160, 320 or 400 ISO.

The second touch-screen button, Rec. Mode2, leads to the following settings:

• EV Compensation to adjust the exposure, if necessary, over a range of ± 2 EV in 1/3 EV increments.
• Instant Review: decide if an image is displayed on the monitor immediately post capture (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 seconds or Off).
• Sharpness: High, Normal or Low.
• Saturation: High, Normal or Low.
• Contrast: High, Normal or Low.

The third touch-screen button offers settings related to the Movie mode:

• Recorded Pixels serves to choose the movie frame size: 640 x 480 pixels or 320 x 240 pixels.
• Quality Level: selects the compression level applied to the movie (, or) as for the still image modes.
• Frame Rate: offers a choice of either 30 frames per second, or 15 frames per second.

The next touch-screen button, labelled "Common" opens a menu that contains options applicable to all modes and which are retained even after the camera has been turned off:

• Digital Zoom: controls the 4X digital zoom.

• Memory: allows selecting settings that will be recalled when the camera is turned on. Settings that can be recalled are flash mode, drive mode, AF mode, focus mode, zoom position, manual focus position, white balance, AE metering, sensitivity, EV compensation, digital zoom setting, display setting and image file number.

• Fn Setting: serves to assign up to 4 additional functions to the Capture mode Toolbar (Resolution, Quality, Drive, White Balance, AF Mode, AF Limiter, AE Metering, ISO Sensitivity, Exposure Compensation, Sharpness, Saturation or Contrast).

When the camera is set to the Playback mode, the playback menu is reached by the top left on-screen button of the Playback Toolbar that appears when the monitor is touched (see the Ergonomics section of the review for details on the functions that are directly accessible from the Playback Toolbar). The Playback Palette provides the following options:

• Slideshow: serves to select the interval between images (3, 5, 10, 15, 20 or 30 seconds) as well as transition effects (wipe, fade, shrink, or Off) and if a sound is produced each time the image changes.
• Resize: allows reducing the size of an image under review, or changing its compression. An option is provided to either overwrite the original image or save the resized image as a new file.
• Trimming: allows selecting a portion of an image and saving it as a new image using the same compression level as the original.

• Image/Sound Copy: to copy images and sounds from the internal memory to a memory card, or vice versa.
• Special Effects offers a series of options to modify the appearance of an image, which can then be saved as a new image, or by overwriting the original:
  • Colour Filter: serves to convert the image to Black and White, Sepia, or apply red, green, or blue filters, or change its colour tone.
  • Digital Filter: serves to soften sharpness, apply a crayon effect, add a texture or make the image appear broader or thinner.
  • Bright Filter: allows adjusting the brightness of the image.
  • Frame Composite: serves to add a frame to the image.
  • My Drawing: allows drawing on the image, selecting both the colour and thickness of the line, apply stamps, etc.

• Movie Edit (only when a movie is on-screen): serves to extract still images from the movie, saving them at the same resolution as the movie.
• Red-eye Compensation: serves to apply automatic red-eye correction. When the camera is unable to identify red-eye, the stylus can be used to select the area that needs correction.
• Voice Memo: serves to add a voice annotation to an image. The maximum recording time is 60 seconds.
• Protect: makes the image read-only, preventing it from being accidentally deleted.

• DPOF*: serves to select individual images for printing and the number of copies to make of each, or select all images for printing.
• Start-up Screen: makes it possible to select an image captured with the camera and have the T10 display it during start-up.

* When the Optio T10 is connected directly to a PictBridge compatible printer, a menu appears offering options to select paper type and size, make prints with or without borders, select the print quality, and choose whether or not the image's capture parameters will be printed in the margin.

The Pentax Optio T10 is equipped with a 12 MB internal memory and although compatible with SD (Secure Digital) memory cards, is not retailed with a memory card in North America. The memory card slot is located underneath the camera, next to the battery, and both are covered by a solid door. The SD card is ejected by pressing it on its edge.

As a guide, the chart below lists the approximate numbers of images that can be saved using either the internal memory or an optional 1GB memory card:

As noted above, the battery is located in the same compartment as the memory card. The battery, a rechargeable Lithium Ion (D-LI8), which powers the Optio T10 is held in place by a small orange coloured latch that prevents it from sliding out when the cover door is opened to access the SD card.

A charger (D-BC8) is included as part of the kit, and takes approximately 100 minutes to recharge a fully depleted battery.

A multipurpose connection is similarly covered on the the right side of the camera. The function of the jack depends on the cable connected to it, either USB, or Audio/Video Out.

The USB connection is compatible with USB 2.0, and when the T10 is connected to a computer, the Mass Storage protocol is automatically selected, allowing the camera to be recognized by the computer as a mass storage device, and the contents of its internal memory or memory card accessed like a hard disk. While when the T10 is connected to a PictBridge compatible printer a printing menu is automatically displayed, as explained earlier.