Pentax Optio E60 Digital Camera Review

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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Available in black or silver, the Optio E60 is Pentax's latest incremental update in the low-priced E line. The body is available in matte black or silver, with a chromed right side and strip along the top. The rear of the camera is extremely simple, with large clearly labeled buttons, and a small 2.4" LCD screen. On the whole the camera felt flimsy and exceedingly light, and did not feel like it would survive heavy use.


Front
The front of the E60 has a straightforward design. The lens takes up the right half of the body, with a silver ring around the base. Eleven o'clock from the lens is the flash and auto focus assist lamp. Written across the left of the camera's front are the manufacturer, model name and number of megapixels. The right edge of the body has a distinctive convex curve.

 

The lens is the dominant feature of the front

Back
Two thirds of the rear of the camera is taken up by the LCD screen, which measures 2.4" diagonally, with 112,000-pixel resolution. This is far lower than most other point-and-shoots on the market, the vast majority of which are at least 230,000 pixels. The remainder of the rear is devoted to the control system and a small LED indicating that the camera is on. The latter is very close to the upper right corner of the LCD screen, and to its right are the zoom controls. Beneath these are two buttons and the raised bumps of the thumb rest. The two buttons are Play on the left and Face Detection on the right. The former switches the camera into playback mode, the latter toggles face detection, which can detect up to 10 individuals at a time. The four-way pad is used to control most menu browsing, and handles double duty in shooting mode, where Up changes drive mode; Left alters flash; Down displays the capture mode palette (scene modes) and Right adjusts the focus mode. Once again, the left side of the E60's projects outward in a gentle curve.

 


The LCD is small and unimpressive, but the buttons are large and clear

Sides
The slightly projecting left side is almost entirely bare except for the speaker approximately half way up the body. The chromed right side is of slightly more interest, with the strap lug midway down, and the DC power coupler cable cover right near the bottom. The coupler is an optional DC input shaped like two AA batteries that can slide into the battery slot, with the power cord snaking out the small cover.

The left side is mostly bare


The right side of the E60 is chromed

Top
The top of the camera features a distinctive chromed plastic strip that acts as highly reflective visual accent. Unfortunately, it also acts as a magnet for smudges, especially seeing as your fingers will be resting there almost constantly. The power button is placed centrally along the top of the camera, and the shutter control button is on the far right, both of which are chrome too. The far right of the camera isn't square, but rather curves inward towards the front, and has a small chrome projection.



The chrome stripe on the roof of the E60 attracts thumb prints

Bottom
The bottom of the E60 is mostly nondescript, but has one or two features of note. The USB port is placed underneath the camera slightly recessed from the left end,  a very unusual and relatively inconvenient spot, with no protective cover to keep dirt and grime out of the connector.The tripod mount is lens centered, and the right half of the E60's bottom is taken up by the battery and memory card cover. The cover is a standard spring-loaded affair, and feels fragile, like much of the rest of the camera. Beneath this cover are the ports for SD/SDHC cards for memory, and the battery slot. The E60 takes two AA batteries, which is convenient for powering up without carrying around a charger while traveling.


The bottom is minimal

 
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