Pentax Optio60 review
In an extremely belated birthday gesture, I bought Joy a new camera. I'd picked it out a while ago, having spotted it on some gadget blog when it was initially announced this summer. The camera? The Pentax Optio 60.
Now, at first, the specs on this thing sound great, especially for a ~$200 camera (I actually got it for $180 including shipping). It's 6.0 megapixel, 3x optical zoom, runs on AA batteries and takes SD, yet it's still small enough to be fairly pocketable. It even has a little bit of built in memory, so you can take a couple (well, 3, at high quality, 6mp) photos with no memory card in the beast. Add to that the Aperture and Shutter override modes, rare on low-end cameras I've come across so far, and it sounds like a decent little beast.
Unfortunately, as I suspected, you get what you pay for. The camera produces pictures with tons of color shimmer... you need the extra mega pixels so you can throw them away. It also seems to have a lot of trouble focusing in lower-light conditions... even with the half-press option, it takes a half dozen tries or more to get it to take an in-focus picture in the low evening light of our apartment: this is for flash-assisted photos, so I'm not specifically complaining about the normal mistake of assuming you can take a good shot with too little light.
Verdict: You get what you pay for. This camera will probably be fine for outdoor photography, and/or newly starting digital camera users. For anyone with a lesser existing camera that takes good pictures, or an interest in reliability/quality, there's nothing to see here.
Tags: pentaxoptio60
Comments
i got the camera for a gift and i love it,but software is for windows and i have xp home. i had troble with it so i had to take it out. what do i do now
Posted by: ethelwalton | November 16, 2005 09:21 PM
Actually, we haven't used the software yet, either. I'm fairly sure it works just fine with other off-the-shelf Windows software (Photoshop Elements, for instance), though haven't tested it.
An easier way to avoid troubles is to buy a cheap memory card reader (usually $25 or less if you poke around carefully at an electronics store), and just take the memory out of the camera and put it in the card reader to get at the pictures. Then you can drag and drop them from the reader (which will show as a drive in Windows) to your hard drive.
Posted by: bp | November 16, 2005 11:54 PM
Hi, I also bought that cam, 2 weeks ago-- first I got the same Impression as you, poor picture quality, bad focus...etc. But If you play around with the settings a little bit, you can get some real nice shots, especially with a camera-stand. The Battery-life is incedible... i took over 1200 shots! (20% with use of the flash-light.) I think It's a really good cam for outdoor use and snapshots. I took the cam with me to a concert yesterday, and the quality of the shots is amazing... all you need is a lot of light, and to keep your hand still.
@ethelwalton:
If you got Windows XP home edition you don't need any software to get this cam working. simply connect it to the computer, windows starts an import-programm automatically. you can also (as bp said) use 3rd party programs, like Photoshop Elements... etc.
Posted by: Devox | November 24, 2005 06:38 AM
(sorry for bad english, I'm german) ;-)
Posted by: Devox | November 24, 2005 06:40 AM
Hi I bought this camera a week ago in PC world, I dont think tha camera is worth the buy, It consumes an awful lot of battery (10 shots with flash for 2 duracell batteries). I wouldnt recommend it to any one who wants to buy a digital camera how ever cheap.
Posted by: madankumar | January 3, 2006 10:33 AM
To the person who got 1200 pictures, how did you manage it? I'm new to digital cameras and although really pleased with the camera and the quality of pictures I get, two duracel batteries last about 20 minutes/ 10 shots.
Posted by: Quentin Emery | January 5, 2006 03:03 PM
I have one of these as well. And I agree with the battery problem - it uses them too quickly! Has anyone found a way of getting round the problem - I'm using 2000mAh rechargeables... Thanks.
Posted by: Irene | January 8, 2006 07:21 AM
Yes, I found the solution for sort battery lifetime... do not use LCD display when taking your pictures, especially when you move your camera around without taking any photos.
LCD screens consumes a lot of power, and if you have a bigger LCD screen like this one, of course it will empty your batteries pretty fast.
And by the way, it's not just with this model nor just with Pentax... it's the case with every single digital camera with LCD screen.
Posted by: User | January 9, 2006 04:51 AM
The last comment allready said it:
I don't use the LCD display while shooting the photos an I use 2800mAh AA Mignon rechargeables, which you can get really cheap on ebay. also I use a memory card with a very higher data transfer rate. So the saving-progress is quicker and needs less power.
Posted by: Devox | February 7, 2006 05:21 AM
This is a greata camera for $200. I have taken many great photos with it. I do agree with the focus problem, I wish it was more capable of smart focus. There are photos I would like to compose but cannot beccause it refuses to focus.
Battery issue, if you are using regular batteries you aren't going to have any luck. You need nimh or litium. I get about 150-200 photos per charge on my nimh. I, however, rarely use the flash. I do use the LCD as well.
Anyway, I think its a great camera for $200.
Posted by: Sarah | February 16, 2006 04:46 PM
Yes the focus is a problem, get a few blurry photos that I never got with my old cheap 2 megapixl fixed lens digital camera. The pictures are a bit clearer but the colour does not look quiet right. Battery life is expectant but reduced by limitting the use of screen. I did not have to dish up a load of money.
Posted by: joe bean | March 11, 2006 05:50 PM
I have a Pentax Optio 60 pictures are washed out with horizontal lines across? Can it be fixed? where can I send it?
Posted by: Erich Dorfner | May 8, 2008 04:49 PM