Pentax Optio A30
Digital Camera Review
Sep 17, 2007
- By James Murray
2.1
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.
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Picture Quality / Size Options (7.5)
Both the picture quality and size options for the Pentax Optio A30 are listed within the Record menu of the camera. The quality and size settings are listed in separate submenus, and users will find both displays to be easy to understand and navigate. The image size options for this camera are 10M (3648 x 2736), 7M (3072 x 2304), 5M (2592 x 1944), 3M (2048 x 1536), 2M (1600 x 1200), 1024 (1024 x 768), and 640 (640 x 480). There are three quality settings for the Pentax Optio A30, represented as stars in the menu structure. The default setting is two stars, known as “better,” with three stars equaling “best,” or lowest compression ratio. One star means “good,” and is the heaviest compression ratio most suitable for e-mails or Internet use.
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Picture Effects Mode (8.0)
The Pentax Optio A30 has in-camera control of picture settings in the Capture and Playback menu systems. The A30 offers more picture effects than most of its competitors. This area is also a strongpoint of the Canon SD40. The photographer can set the camera’s sharpness, saturation, and contrast prior to capturing images. All three settings are listed in the Record menu and are adjusted using the left and right arrows of the four-way control. In Playback the camera has numerous digital effects that can be applied to captured images. The icon-based menu system provides access to Color, Digital, and Brightness Filters. The Color Filter options for the camera include Black and White, Sepia, eight Color Settings, Black and White with Green, and Black and White with Blue. The Digital Filters for the camera are Soft, Illustration, Special Effect 1, Special Effect 2, and Slim. The Brightness filter adjusts the exposure level of an image from +/-2 EV in 1/3 EV steps.
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