Pentax Optio A10 First Impressions Review

Connectivity
Software
Pentax bundles the ACDSee Photo Manager package with the A10, which is a very competent photo manger and basic editing package. Pentax cameras tend to ship with good software.

Jacks, Ports, Plugs
On the right side of the camera is a combination USB port and video out port. With the included cable, this can connect the camera to a TV for viewing pictures. NTSC and PAL support is included. A USB cable is included as well.

Direct Print Options
Support is included for PictBridge printing, which allows the camera to print directly to a compatible printer. This requires changing the USB setting in the main menu and flagging which images are to be printed. It’s a pain if you want to print a lot of images, but it is a quick way to quickly print images without having to fire up the PC, copy the image, etc.

Battery
Power is supplied by a D-LI8 rechargeable lithium-ion battery. This is the same battery that’s used in all recent Pentax point-and-shoot cameras, so you can keep the batteries if you are upgrading from an older camera. The small battery holds about 710 mAh of charge, and Pentax quotes a figure of 150 shots. We weren’t able to test this fully ourselves, but it does seem to be on the short side.

Memory
24MB of memory is built into the camera: enough for a rather minimal 7 images at the highest quality and image size settings. Extra storage is added through the SD card slot on the bottom of the camera.

Other Features
Green button - The green button on the bottom right of the camera’s back is programmable: you can set it to switch between controlling the shake reduction setting, reset the camera to default settings, switch between still and movie mode, or access the function settings.

Shake reduction – Many cameras have electronic image stabilization, where the camera tries to adapt for camera movement within the sensor. Others have optical stabilization, where an element in the lens moves to adjust for small movements. The A10 brings Pentax into the stabilization game, moving the entire sensor when it detects small movements. This seemed to do a very effective job.