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May 8, 2009

Pentax Optio P70 review

Product Code: 17684

The 12-megapixel Pentax Optio P70 point-and-shoot camera is easy to use and takes decent snaps.

The Pentax Optio P70 squeezes in several neat features, including HD video capture, but achieving the low price did necessitate making a few compromises.

The silvery aluminum body of the Pentax Optio P70 we reviewed appears a little cheap, but the white and red models are quite attractive - and alluringly slim.

Despite being only 0.8in thick, the Pentax Optio P70 carries a 4X zoom lens with a 27.5mm wide-angle extreme that's great for shooting expansive panoramas. Unfortunately, the camera's shake reduction mode uses software to compensate for shaky hands, rather than shifting the lens or sensor mechanically.

Like many other recent point-and-shoot cameras, the Pentax Optio P70 recognises faces in portraits and uses them to set the focus and exposure automatically.

In addition, the Pentax Optio P70 has a Smile Capture mode that releases the shutter only when your subjects smile and that warns you with a beep if anyone blinks.

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When we accidentally left this mode turned on, we found that the camera shot pictures sluggishly and stored images slowly; but it was much faster once we learned to use the dedicated Smile Capture button correctly. The other controls are sensibly uncomplicated and line up to the right of the standard 2.7in LCD display.

You can customise the Green Button to handle your favorite extra function, such as exposure compensation or focus area setting.

Most cameras priced in the Pentax Optio P70's category let you shoot standard-definition video that works fine for short sequences of friends and family, but looks a bit silly with black bars down the sides on your wide-screen TV.

The Pentax Optio P70 captures high-def video that looks much better, but still lags in quality behind what you'd get from a pricier camera. It records at 720p resolution at just 15 frames per second, and you can't zoom while shooting video.

The Pentax Optio P70 also lacks an HDMI port for connecting directly to your HDTV, so you'll need a TV with either an SD Card slot or a link to your PC, to play your movies easily.

The camera has an HD mode for shooting 16:9 aspect ratio still photos, too. This may be good for displaying slideshows on your HDTV or digital photo frame, but the 2.1-megapixels images it captures won't look so great for printing or editing.

The Pentax Optio P70 offers a unique Vertical Snap mode that lets you take one-handed portraits as if you were using a camera phone. Once you've enabled this mode, you turn on the camera by holding down the ok button at the center of the four-way controller. Then you press the ok button with your thumb to shoot, and you click the controller's up and down buttons to zoom.

We had to flip through the included 256-page printed manual (a pleasant and rare find these days) to get started, but we found the mode easy to use. Ultimately, though, we'd rather see phones become more like cameras than vice versa.

In our informal testing, we took some nice shots of a friend's newborn baby, various sights around town, and a party at a local tiki bar. Our most optimistic low-light and macro shots came out poorly (either under- or overexposed), but for general take-anywhere use, the Pentax Optio P70 did a good job. It earned an image quality score of Fair from our Test Centre judges, thanks to performing consistently in every test.

Macworld.com

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Independent customer reviews from

Pentax Optio P70 scored:
9.3 out of 10 100% real reviews

The 2 most helpful reviews based on 16 reviews:

13 Jul 2009 Deborah, Lancashire

10

Good Points

An excellent camera for the point and shoot photographer. The menus are really easy to use and this has given me the confidence to use different settings instead of sticking with the automatic setting. The clarity of the photos is excellent as would be expected from Pentax. The size of the camera is a real bonus.

Bad Points

Camera didn't come with a case.

08 Aug 2009 Linda, Cleveland

10

Good Points

good viewing screen. Very easy to use - point and press!! Camera is small and light so it is now is with me all of the time.

Bad Points

Can't think of any

See more Pentax Optio P70 reviews on Reevoo.com

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