Pentax Optio E60
Digital Camera Review
Sep 22, 2008
- By Tim Barribeau
The Optio E60 is Pentax's new ultra-low-budget point-and-shoot. It's a very, compact 10-megapixel camera with only the barest of features and settings, its appeal resting instead on extreme affordability. This low price manifests itself not just in the minimal features and controls, but in an overall feeling of cheapness. It's very light, has only a 2.4 inch LCD screen, and feels like it will fall apart under a stiff breeze. On the plus side, it has competent face detection, uses easy-to-find AA batteries, is lightweight for travel and won't cause exquisite agony if lost or damaged. The Optio E60 is priced at $140.
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LCD Screen
The LCD screen WAS hit hard by the cost cutting measures that brought the E60 in at such a low price. A small, low-resolution LCD was used, only 2.4" diagonal, and 112,000 pixels. This is, quite frankly, sub-par, and lower than almost any other camera on the market.

The LCD screen is small and low-resolution
Flash
The flash is small, close to the lens, and not very powerful. The nearness to the lens has potential to cause frequent problems with red-eye. The flash options available are flash auto, off, on, red-eye auto, red eye on.

The flash is small and anemic.
Lens
The lens E60 has 3x optical zoom, and offers an aperture range of f/2.9 to f/5.2 with a focal range of 5.7mm to 17.1mm. This is a fairly standard spec for an inexpensive camera.
The lens is competent, if unexciting
Connections
The E60's only output is a micro-USB port that can connect to either a printer, computer or a television for video output. The port is not protected in any manner, and so there's a good chance something will foul the connection.
An uncovered port is just asking for trouble
Battery
The Pentax E60 accepts AA batteries as a power source. Cheap and ubiquitous in even the most far-flung corner of the earth, this feature makes the camera ideal for travel. There is also an optional DC adapter, shaped like two AAs, which allows you to plug the camera directly into the wall. When using standard AA alkaline batteries, the E60 is rated for 200 images.
Memory
The E60 takes both SD and SDHC cards, which allows up to 32GB of storage.

The memory card slot is very near the battery