August 31, 2005 – Pentax today announced the newest addition to their Optio line of digital point-and-shoots, releasing the 6 megapixel Optio S6 (spec sheet). The camera features a 2.5- inch LCD screen and a 3x optical zoom. The Optio S6 is expected to be available in October at an estimated street price of $349.95.
Relying on a 1/2.5-inch CCD sensor, the aluminum bodied Optio S6 is able to produce 6 effective megapixels of resolution and capture images with a shutter lag of only 0.01 seconds, according to specs provided by Pentax. The camera’s smc Pentax 3x optical zoom lens offers a 35mm equivalent focal range of 38-114mm with a maximum aperture of f/2.7 at the widest focus, closing to f/5.2 in telephoto shooting.
The Optio S6 features a 5-point auto focus system that can continuously focus and track moving objects. The camera offers an ISO range of 80-400, with manual or automatic selection, and an available shutter speed range of 1/2000 of a second to 4 seconds. The Optio S6 also offers auto-bracketing for white balance, saturation, sharpness, and contrast, in addition to traditional exposure adjustments.
While there is no viewfinder, the camera boasts a 232,000 pixel, 2.5-inch LCD screen. In addition to the 13 preset shooting modes, the Optio S6 offers 640 x 480 MPEG-4 video capture at 30 frames per second, with audio recording. Users can also utilize the audio capture mode to record separate WAV files or apply audio notes to pre-recorded still images in playback mode.
The slim Optio S6 measures 3.4 x 2.1 x 0.7 inches and weighs 4.2 ounces when fitted with its lithium-ion battery and SD memory card.
