Pentax Optio P70 Review

The Pentax Optio P70 is a 12 megapixel digital camera with a 4x optical zoom lens. It is small enough to slip into most pockets. With plenty of competition around the big question is why would you buy the Optio P70 instead of one of the many other pocket digital cameras?
Most of these smaller compacts tend to have a similar set of features. One feature that I do not see all that often is manual focusing. This is included with the Optio P70 along with pan focusing. Ideally manual focusing would be controlled through twisting a focusing ring on the end of a lens barrel. This is the method used with Digital SLR cameras and is the easiest and quickest method to use. With a smaller camera like this one some compromises need to be made and manual focusing is controlled by pushing buttons on the back of the camera. If you are an experienced photographer this may not be ideal, but it is better than the feature not being there at all. Pan focusing comes in useful for tracking moving subjects.
More gimmick like features include a smile shutter and blink detection. If you turn on smile shutter the Optio P70 will automatically fire off a shot if it detects someone is smiling. With blink detection a warning message is given if the camera detects someone in the picture blinked.
After a photo has been taken there are some extra features that become available. These include being able to apply one of 11 colour filters, being able to soften the focus and being able to adjust the brightness of the shot. In addition you can record short voice memos to help you remember any important information about the shot. If you have taken a portrait shot using flash then red eye compensation can be applied to try and remove it.
Pentax has also included a High Definition movie mode. In my view this does not replace the need for a camcorder. After all you cannot zoom in and out while recording, but it can come in useful if you would like to shoot a short movie clip, but a camcorder is not readily available.
One area where I was left a little disappointed was with the macro mode. You are only able to focus from 10cm away from the subject. Most similar cameras allow you to focus from around 5cm. This is certainly a drawback if you are interested in taking close up shots with the Optio P70. This is a shame as the picture quality produced in macro mode is actually quite good.
A couple of points about the lens are that it is a wide angle lens and you can also increase the amount of zoom when shooting at lower resolutions. A wide angle lens helps you to squeeze greater width into a shot, so this can make sweeping landscapes even more dramatic or help you to squeeze more people into a group shot. I like the fact more zoom is available at lower resolutions. The way digital cameras have been marketed since their introduction tends to suggest the more megapixels you use the better the picture quality will be. This is not necessarily the case, so you should not worry about shooting at lower resolutions. A further advantage is that each image will eat up less space on a memory card.
In terms of pricing Pentax appear to have placed the Optio P70 somewhere between two stools. So it is a fair bit cheaper than expensive models like the Canon IXUS 100 IS, but still cost more than cheaper options like the Panasonic Lumix DMC FS6. Based on picture quality I feel Pentax has set the price a little on the high side.
Andy writes and reviews digital cameras for Cameras.co.uk. See his test shots and ratings for the Pentax Optio P70
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