Pentax Optio A30

The 10-megapixel Pentax Optio A30’s blend of manual control options and automatic modes give digital photography beginners room to experiment and grow into the medium. Announced earlier this year, the A30 contains a telescoping 3x optical zoom lens, 2.5-inch LCD screen with 232,000 pixels, Face Recognition technology, and sensor-shift image stabilization. The camera’s manual controls are extensive and include focus, white balance, ISO, exposure compensation, shutter, and aperture control. The A30 has an initial MSRP of $349.95, but can be found online for about $100 less.

Front (7.5)
The front of the Pentax Optio A30 looks like most point-and-shoots. The most prominent feature on the front of the Optio A30 is the 3x optical SMC Pentax lens on the right. The telescoping lens has an automatic lens cover that opens and closes when the camera is powered on or off. The lens barrel sits flush with the rest of the camera body when fully retracted. A silver ring surrounds the 3x optical lens of the Optio A30, providing a highlight to the matte-black camera body. The in-camera flash for the Optio A30 is positioned above and slightly to the left of the camera’s lens, far away from users’ fingers. A small, discreetly-placed remote control receiver is positioned toward the upper left corner of the body. The microphone and auxiliary AF light/self-timer lamp is in the upper right corner of the camera body. With a location like this on such a small-bodied camera, the potential is there for users to accidentally cover both components with their left fingers.

Back (8.0)
The back of the Pentax Optio A30 has a stripped-down design. The 2.5-inch, 232,000-pixel LCD monitor takes up two-thirds of the camera’s back face. With such a small camera frame and large LCD, there’s no room for an optical viewfinder. In the upper right corner of the camera body’s back is the zoom toggle control - a small, silver horizontal bar with two raised sides for the telephoto and wide-angle zoom. When in Playback mode, these controls engage both playback zoom and multi-up viewing displays.

Beneath the zoom control’s right side is a small grid of raised dots, which provide the only gripping surface on the body of the Pentax Optio A30. To the left of the grip surface is the Playback mode button. With this single functional external button the user can quickly flip back and forth between Playback and Shooting modes without having to enter a menu structure or spin a mode dial. Above the left corner of the large playback button is an access information light. Beneath the playback button near the bottom of the camera is a four-way control with an OK button in the center.

The four-way control is used to navigate the menu structure, as well as scroll through images in the Playback mode. When in Shooting mode, the up arrow accesses the self-timer settings; the right arrow the Focus modes; the down arrow the mode “palette,” enabling the user to shift between program, preset shooting, and other modes; and the left arrow the flash settings. Beneath the four-way control is a small, lozenge-shaped menu button. To the right of the menu button is the Green mode/delete button.

Left Side (7.75)
The in-camera monaural speaker is located at the bottom of the left side and is the only feature of note on the left side.

Right Side (7.75)
The right side of the Pentax Optio A30 has a port cover that blends into the camera’s design. It is attached to the camera body with two very strong rubber strips. The raised silver plastic makes opening the door a bit of a hassle, but once open it can be moved out of the way to easily access the DC input and PC/AV terminals. The lengthy cover tethers can be annoying when attempting to snap the cover back into the body of the camera quickly. Above the port cover is an eyelet for the included wrist-strap.

Top (7.25)
The top of the Pentax Optio A30 features three controls. The power button is located next to a sizeable rectangular shutter button on the far right side of the camera’s top. A green LED light surrounds the power button, indicating when the camera is powered on. A shake reduction preview button is located on the left side of the camera’s top, meant to be quickly reached for some reason. 

Bottom (5.0)
A tripod socket is positioned directly in the middle of the Pentax Optio A30’s bottom side, which will obstruct access to the battery and memory card slots. When not obstructed by a tripod, the port cover is easily accessible and flips open by pressing the cover slightly while sliding it to the right. The cover and hinge are well built and should stand up to some mishandling.