Pentax Optio W10 Digital Waterproof Camera Review
Lisa Malyon
Fiddly underwater cases are history - yes - the Pentax Optio W10 is here. Perfect for those holiday snaps, this camera can defend itself against all the elements - sand, sea and erm, surf. It really is awesome, submersible in depths up to 1.5 metres for up to half and hour, you’re guaranteed to get all some amazing underwater shots.
Being a typical point and shoot camera, Pentax have given you get exactly what you would expect and have thrown in a little bit more. The controls are logical and convenient and comfortable to use. Everything you need is located on the back of the camera apart from the power switch, which is on the top. The battery and memory card slot has a cover which shuts tight to defend against the elements but if you don’t want soggy memory cards you will need to double check that it is shut tight before getting it wet. If you want photos of fast fish you can forget it. The W10 is somewhat sluggish to say the least. It’s got a start-up-to-shoot time of 3.5 secs and a 3.6 secs shot-to-shot time after that. In good light the shutter lag is not bad at 0.7 secs but in dim light you’ll notice a terrible 1.6 secs lag. Photo quality - more importantly - is not brilliant. Exposures are mostly accurate but sometimes we witnessed some out of focus photos. Colours are well captured - even difficult ones which was impressive but overall the we were not impressed by what we saw. Overall Opinion For it’s purpose the Pentax Optio W10 Digital Waterproof Camera is awesome and produces photos of average quality. We must not forget that it is an underwater camera and for the price tag it is well worth it’s money. Lisa MalyonEncased in plastic the W10 weighs a meagre 155g but weighs just enough to keep it under control in waves for example. Compact at only 23mm thick it’s really comfortable, easy to hold and perfect size for your pocket. It’s 3x lens disappears completely into the body keeping in line with the slim line design. There is no optical viewfinder which is a shame as although the LCD is large at 2.5in, in some dim lights it’s very difficult to view. There is a LCD brighten feature but it’s about as much use as a chocolate teapot. 
Large Viewing Screen
Less Than Impressive Flash.
We found that the W10 had some really useful features and settings. White balance and internal movie mode were good and the automatic facial recognition focus mode was really useful. There is a selection of scene modes that come in really handy and you’ll love the two awesome underwater settings. What we really liked was the green button that explains all the scene modes and how to use them - saves getting the instruction booklet soggy on the beach we figured!.
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Pros + Nothing is getting in this little beauty - rain wind or shine + Underwater modes are awesome |
Cons - Slightly sluggish but not too much of a problem |
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Overall Rating 
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13/6/2006 at 11:25:16am
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