Pentax Optio A10

Manual Control Options
There’s no direct way to control shutter speed and aperture: instead, you have to choose a scene mode that is closest to the mode you want to use or influence the settings using the EV compensation function. There is, however, a manual focus mode and control over ISO and white balance settings, as well as sharpness, contrast, and saturation controls.

Focus
Auto Focus
The contrast detection based autofocus system on the A10 is a little sluggish. We found that in moderate to low light, it sometimes took a couple of seconds to focus in on even well lit subjects. The autofocus also got slower at the higher zoom settings. For really low light shooting, there’s an autofocus assist light to the right of the lens, but seeing as how the AF is slow to begin with, we can’t say how much of a help it will be.

Manual Focus
There is manual focus on the A10, but it is clumsy at best. You focus using the up and down buttons on the four-way controller, and it can be a tiresome business, taking around 10 seconds to go from the closest focus point to infinity. While it might be useful occasionally, autofocus is much more useful for general use.

Metering
Three metering modes (multi-segment, which evaluates the entire image; center weighted, which evaluates the center; and spot, which evaluates a very small area) provide enough choice for most lighting situations. In our limited testing for this preview, we found that most scenes seemed to be metered and exposed accurately.

Exposure
Exposure settings on the Optio A10 are automatic, but you do get the option of adding exposure compensation of up to 2 stops either way in 1/3-stop increments. This range is a sine qua non for compacts.

White Balance
The selection of white balance settings is reasonable, with settings for auto, daylight, shade, tungsten, florescent, and manual. The auto setting seemed to work as expected in our limited tests under florescent lights, but we were not able to test it in daylight or other light sources (this will come in our full review to follow). Changing the white balance setting is easily done: it’s right on the main menu, so it’s never more than a couple of button presses away.

ISO
ISO settings from 64 to 400 are available, along with an automatic setting. Noise was a problem with the higher settings, however: we saw above average noise levels in dark colors and shadows.

Shutter Speed
The A10 has shutter speed settings of 1/2000 of a second to 4 seconds. There is, however, no way to set the shutter speed manually. It is done automatically in all modes, which is a bit of a surprise; higher-end compacts frequently have a shutter priority or a manual mode.

Aperture
The aperture range of the A10 is from f/2.8 to f/5.4. This information is not displayed on the screen, though, and there is no way to set it manually, neither through a manual nor aperture priority mode.