Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
really good all round camera, 24 April 2007
Brilliant little camera, pictures are fab, not quite got the hang of night mode yet, but the zoom is really good, as are videos at night - brilliant for concerts. Functions are self explanatory and easy to use and find your way around.
However, you do need a case with this camera as there is no cap to protect the lens, which would be my only criticism on design. I bought the recommended leather one on amazon, but it's a tight squeeze and looks a bit cheap -and at 17.99 it wasn't that cheap! So I'd probably recommend one of the neoprene ones from pentax direct. It's very scary the first time you put it in water, but it is completely waterproof and works well underwater. For me it was between this and an olympus, as I was after waterproof 7megapixels and really high light sensitvty settings ISO for photos at night. But I went for pentax on reputation and as i also have an old pentax manual SLR. I'm pretty confident it was the right choice. Pentax seem to be way ahead with waterproofing, high ISO settings and new features like the face recognition, which is really good for getting the right focus, and not just a gimic.
Only problem is . . . if you buy from amazon it's sent from germany and comes with german instructions/warranty, very frustrating, especially as I struggled with the charger at first. Even more frustrating that as it's such a new model, replacement instructions in english are not yet available on the pentax website. So go for new and used I reckon.
Doesn't come with a memory card, and has limited memory on the camera - about 6photos on high quality 7mp. I picked up a 2mb SD card from the currys website, which holds something like 600piccys, not bad for £9.99!
It's a really good camera, the pictures here don't do it justice, it's really sleek and a lot of people comment on how nice it looks.
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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant all-rounder, 22 May 2008
I've just bought my third Optio WP. My original (5MP and good to 1.5m) got trashed following a very annoying shallow water mistake - opening the camera underwater is not a good thing to do.
The second (7MP and good for 3m) is still going strong despite being squashed between me and a very slippery rock as I fell unceremoniously into the sea. It's got some very deep scratches, but other than that is fine. It's been taken underwater on more than a hundred occasions and still remains watertight. It's definitely been taken deeper than 3m - albeit briefly - and has stayed in the water for stretches of over an hour.
The underwater mode for stills and vids are excellent producing nicely coloured pictures that are very representative of the real view. If you allow the autofocus to take effect, the majority of pictures are nice and sharp - it also seems to identify the item on which you want to focus very well which means you see what you want to see rather than having a nice, sharp background with totally out of focus subject - really annoying when you've spent the day looking for a particular fish/creature.
Simple things, like being able to take a picture of your chosen holiday location while standing in the sea looking back at the shore, and being able to take pictures in the swimming pool, make this a must-have for holidays - just get ready for helpful people shouting at you to tell you you've got you camera attached to your wrist - it looks like a very small digital camera and people don't expect it to be waterproof - they just think you're about to make an expensive mistake.
Out of the water, it's taken over as my number one camera. I always have a Sony DSC (my natural state is Sony devotee) of some description in my bag and have relied on it as my first choice, but the Optio has changed that. With an excellent choice of modes that all seem to produce very good results (read that bit of the manual-you'll get better photos and be pleased you did) and a truly excellent macro setting, the Optio is now my first choice. I take lots of pictures (more than 50-100 per week) and the Optio seems to give great results across the widest range of conditions and selection of subjects. I take lots of close-up pictures of engineering biased subjects for work, and bugs and plants for fun, and the macro mode is breath-taking. I even use it to read things that are too small for my natural eyesight (and I'm short-sighted) - one quick macro picture then zoom in on the image - tiny becomes clearly visible. I suppose it's what you get from Carl Zeiss optics. Anyway, I'm impressed.
There are also modes for self-portraits, pets, timer, low light and anything else you might expect (except panorama assist - on the first Optio WP, but absent on this one - why? it was really useful), but also a time-lapse mode that lets you automatically take a series of pictures that are then played as a video - please do check the manual - if you don't you'll miss out on a shed load of functionality that will really improve your photos and allow you to do lots of very nerdy stuff (if you want to.)
It's quick to start up and the "shutter" (I suppose it's now capture) response time is good - not so long that you notice it or miss your perfect picture. Pop out the SD card and cram it into your laptop or PC and you have immediate access to your photos - really convenient and very reliable. The cable that lets you connect your camera to any TV is also neat and means you can review the day's pics while everyone is still there to enjoy them (remember the spare battery!)
Equip it with a 1 or 2Gb SD memory card, invest in a spare battery (not that the life is short, it's just that you'll end up using the camera a lot) and buy a carry case for a GameBoy Micro (it fits the WP perfectly and is pocket money priced rather than camera accessory expensive) and you've got the perfect set up.
And why Optio WP number three? I can't bear the thought that this one might die (as a result of operator error - not again!) and having a nice new fresh one in the cupboard means that I can carry on using this one without worrying. Hopefully, when number three goes the way of all good things, Pentax will have added another compact, waterproof, digital camera to their range and it will be next-generation-better, but until that fateful day I'm more than happy with my W30.
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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic waterproof camera, 5 Jul 2007
I bought this camera primarily to take photos whilst snorkelling and in rockpools. On my first trip out I knew I had bought a fantastic bit of kit! Yes there are limitations, but at this price the quality is amazing given the waterproof capabilities, especially videos underwater. I use my Canon 350D SLR for quality "dry weather" shots, and the Pentax W30 for underwater/rainyday shots, plus as a "take anywhere" camera as it's very small. I'd definitely recommend this camera.
As mentioned in other reviews, you'll need to buy a case to protect the lens, and I picked a nice one up from Jessops for a tenner.
One comment in response to one of the other reviews on this page, I bought this camera from Amazon in June07 and it DID come with full English instructions so it looks like they've changed suppliers (mine came direct from Amazon in 2 days). However if you end up with instructions in another language, the US Pentax website now has the full English PDF for free download.
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