Pentax Optio T30

Reviewed October 2007

Characteristics

The Optio T30 is equipped with a 1/2.5 inch CCD composed of 7.41 million pixels of which 7.1 million are effective when capturing an image at the highest resolution. Six image sizes are available:

• 7M: 3072 x 2304 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.

A choice of three image compressions settings, represented by stars, is offered for each image size:

• Best
• Better
• Good

CCD sensitivity begins at 64 ISO and can be set manually to 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, or 3200 ISO. An Auto setting that allows the camera to increase sensitivity according to ambient light is also available, and its upper range can be limited to a maximum of 100, 200, or 400 ISO.

The SMC Pentax 3X optical zoom has a focal length of 6.2 to 18.6 mm, the equivalent of a 37.5 to 112.5 mm zoom on a 35 mm camera. The lens is composed of 6 elements in 5 groups and includes two aspherical surfaces to control distortion. The apertures of the diaphragm start at f2.7 at the wide angle end f5.2 at the telephoto end, closing respectively to f4.3 and f8.3.

A 4X digital zoom that is enabled by an option in the capture menu is also available. However, it is a cropping tool that interpolates a section cropped from the centre of the image, causing a loss of image quality that is more or less pronounced depending on the amount of digital zoom used.

The Optio T30 has a shutter speed range that covers from 1/2,000 second to a maximum of 4 seconds, but in most modes the longest exposure time is limited to 1/4 second. Moreover, all exposures longer than 1 second are automatically processed to reduce noise.

While some camera settings are selectable via the Capture Toolbar, most settings are found in the T30's menu, which is displayed when the MENU button is pressed. The same menu is shown whether the camera is set to a capture mode or to the playback mode. The first page of the menu presents 6 options: Rec. Mode 1, Rec. Mode 2, Movie, Common, Sound and Setting. The four first sections contain options related to image capture:

Rec. Mode 1:

• Recorded Pixels: serves to set the image resolution (see above).
• Quality Level: serves to set the compression level (see above).
• White Balance: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Tungsten, Fluorescent or Manual, this last option making it possible to set the white balance for the ambient light.
• AF Settings allows control over the auto focus:
  • Focusing Area provides a choice of Multiple, which uses multiple AF points, or Spot, which only uses the centre AF point.
  • Focus Limiter: narrows the focus range to 40 cm (16 in.) to infinity from the complete AF range of 15 cm (6 in.) to infinity, speeding up auto focusing.
  • Aux. AF Light: decides whether or not the AF Assist lamp automatically comes on when the ambient light is insufficient for the auto focus to operate reliably.
• AE Metering: serves to choose the metering pattern Multi-segment, Centre-weighted or Spot.
• Sensitivity decides the CCD sensitivity: Auto or 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, or 3200 ISO.

Rec. Mode 2:

• EV Compensation: serves to compensate the exposure over a range of ± 2 EV in 1/3 EV increments.
• Auto Bracket: serves to select one of the following: Exposure Bracketing (the default), White Balance (±5 increments), or perform bracketing for Sharpness, Saturation or Contrast.
• Instant Review: decides how long an image is shown on the monitor immediately post capture (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 seconds or Off).

• Sharpness: controls the sharpening applied to the image: softer (-), normal, or sharper (+).
• Saturation: controls the colour saturation, less (-), normal, or more (+).
• Contrast: controls the contrast, less (-), normal, or more (+).

Movie:

• Recorded Pixels: serves to set the frame size to 640 x 480 pixels or 320 x 240 pixels.
• Quality Level: decides the compression level used for movies (, or ) the same as it is for still images.
• Frame Rate: offers a choice of either 30 or 15 frames per second.
• Colour Mode: to select whether the movie is captured in colour, black and white, or Sepia.
• Movie SR: allows the camera to compensate electronically for camera shake.

Common serves to select settings that will be memorized, even after the camera has been turned off:

• Digital Zoom: controls the 4X digital zoom.
• Memory: allows selecting the settings that will be recalled after the camera has been turned Off. Settings that can be recalled are: flash mode, drive mode, focus mode, zoom position, MF position, white balance, AE metering, sensitivity, EV compensation, digital zoom, display, file number.
• Fn Setting: this option makes it possible to add a second row of four options to the capture toolbar (resolution, quality, drive, white balance, AF mode, AF limit, AE metering, sensitivity, exposure compensation, sharpness, saturation or contrast).

The last two sections of the menu serve to control the sounds produced by the camera while it is operated, and select basic configuration options. Their content is detailed in the Interface and Software section of the review.

As noted in the Ergonomics section of the review, when set to the Playback mode, the playback related options — the playback menu — available with the Optio T30 are accessed through the first icon of the Playback Toolbar:

• Slide show: allows selecting the on-screen time of images in the show (3, 5, 10, 20 or 30 seconds), the transition effect (wipe, fade, shrink or none) and if there is a sound effect played at the transition.
• Resize: allows sizing down an image to make its file size smaller or changing its compression. The image can then be saved by overwriting the original or saved as a new image.
• Cropping: allows saving a part of an image magnified on screen as a new image. If the selected image size is larger than the cropped image, it is interpolated to the selected size.

• Image/Sound Copy: serves to copy files from the internal memory to a memory card or vice versa.
• Special Effect offers a selection of tools to alter or edit images, making it possible to save the changed image as a new image:
  • Colour Filter: allows changing an image to black and white, or sepia, or even alter its colour tone through the use of red, green or blue colour filters.
  • Digital Filter: serves to soften sharpness, or create a crayon effect, or add a texture or make the subject look broader or slender.
  • Fish-eye Filter: makes the image look as though it was captured using a fish-eye lens.
  • Bright Filter: serves to change the brightness of the image.
  • Frame Composite: serves to add a frame to the image.
  • My Drawing: allows drawing atop the image using the stylus, selecting the colour and thickness of the line, or add a stamp using clipart, or create a stamp from a section of the image, or cut out an irregular part of the image, or delete part of the image using an eraser.
• Movie Edit (only shown when a movie is under review):
  • Save as Still Image: serves to extract still images from a movie at the same resolution as the movie.
  • Divide Movies: serves to cut a movie into two parts.
  • Stitch Movies: serves to stitch two parts of a movie or two movies into one.
• Red-eye Compensation: allows the camera to automatically correct the red-eye effect. Should the camera not be able to locate the area to be corrected, the correction can be done using the stylus.
• Voice Memo: serves to add a voice annotation to an image. The annotation can be as long as 60 seconds.
• Protect: to prevent the accidental erasure of an image.
• DPOF: serves to select images that will be printed on a DPOF or PictBridge compatible printer. The number of copies to make, whether the date is superimposed on the image, can be selected. (Note that a PictBridge menu is displayed when the T30 is connected directly to a PictBridge compatible printer, allowing the selection of the print sizes, etc.)
• Image Recovery: allows the recovery of an image (or images) that has been accidentally deleted.
• Start-up Screen: allows selecting an image from those in memory that can appear on the monitor when the T30 is powered on.

The Pentax Optio T30 has a 17.9 MB internal memory and is also equipped with a memory card slot that is compatible with SD (Secure Digital) and SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) cards. In North America the camera is retailed without a memory card. The card is inserted into a slot that is next to the battery compartment, underneath the camera, and covered by a solid door.

The chart below lists approximate capacities for the internal memory and for an optional 2 GB memory card:

The two external connections of the T30 are positioned on the right side of the camera, covered by small silvered doors that open independently on either side of the wrist strap post.

The upper connection is either the USB port (compatible USB 2.0) or the A/V (Audio/Video) Out (PAL or NTSC), depending on which cable is used.

The lower connection is to power the Optio T30 using the optional (K-AC63) AC-DC adapter, which makes it possible to run the camera using household current.

As noted earlier, the Pentax Optio T30 is powered by a rechargeable Lithium Ion (D-LI63) battery that is located next to the memory card, underneath the camera. The battery is retained in place using a small latch, preventing it from sliding out when the memory card is accessed.

A battery charger is included in the camera kit (D-BC63), and approximately two hours are required to fully recharge the battery.