Pentax Optio A30

Auto Mode (7.5)
The Pentax Optio A30 is set to Auto mode by default. It can be engaged by selecting the "Auto Pict" Shooting mode from the Capture mode palette found using the down arrow of the four-way control. The Auto mode selects between a Normal Shooting mode, a Night Scene mode, a Landscape mode, or a Portrait mode. The Auto mode locks out a number of camera functions including, but not limited to, EV compensation, white balance, metering, sharpness, saturation, and contrast. Other manual controls and image parameters are still accessible, however.

If these features are still intimidating or confusing, the camera offers a Green mode, which simplifies options even further. The only major shooting settings that can be changed in Green mode are Standard and Macro focus settings, Standard and Self-Timer drive modes, Auto Flash On and Flash Off, and zoom. If fully automatic shooting is needed, the Green mode is the way to go.

Movie Mode (6.25)
The Pentax Optio A30 comes with a Movie mode that is capable simultaneously capturing audio via the monaural microphone on the front of the camera. Unlike the less expensive M30 that positions the microphone away from gripping fingers, however, the A30’s microphone is right where fingers may wrap around the camera.

The Movie mode is entered by selecting the film camera icon in the Capture mode palette. Once entered, video resolution, frame rate, and other manual controls can be altered through the same Record mode menu used in still Shooting modes. The resolution options for this camera are 640 x 480 or 320 x 240, with a maximum 30 fps recording rate. Movie clips are compressed using the DivX MPEG-4 movie compression algorithm. Manual focus can be altered before shooting, but once recording begins the user cannot make further alterations. The camera also includes a dedicated Shake Reduction setting for stabilizing videos during movie capture.

Unfortunately, while video capture options seem well conceived, the camera's performance leaves users longing for a camcorder. To read more about the A30's video quality, refer to the Testing/Performance section of this review.  

Drive/Burst Mode (5.25)
The Pentax Optio A30’s Burst mode is accessed by pressing the up arrow of the four-way control. This opens the Drive mode setting icons listed along the top of the LCD screen, which allow users to select between Standard, Self-Timer, 2-second Self-Timer, Continuous Shooting, 3-second Remote Control, and 0-second Remote Control. The modes are selected by pressing the left and right arrows of the four-way control, followed by the OK/Display button.

Shooting in Continuous mode begins as soon as the shutter button is depressed and ends when the shutter button is released or the camera’s memory is full. When shooting with the Burst mode, the camera will not discharge the flash and focus because exposure and white balance are determined prior to the first frame and will remain locked until the shutter is released.

We found the A30's burst mode to be fairly erratic. Speed varied from about 1.43 frames per second to just over 1 fps in a given burst. Neither of these figures are too impressive; however, the camera did continue its burst for 250 consecutive images. This is admirable, though not quite as strong as cameras that will continue in a burst until the inserted memory card is full. Overall, the A30 won't be known for its speed.   

Playback Mode (8.0)
The Playback mode is entered by pressing the large, well labeled play button directly above the left-half of the four-way control. The Playback mode enables photographers to view images individually or in a variety of multi-up formats, including nine-image or calendar display, entered by pressing the wide-angle zoom control and exited by selecting an image or pressing the telephoto zoom control. In addition to viewing images individually, they can be put in a slide show, with various sound and transition effects. The slide show feature and other menu controls are listed within a mode palette similar to the one for the Shooting modes.

The Playback mode palette is accessed by pressing the down arrow of the four-way control. The functions of the submenu options aren’t exactly obvious, and users will likely need to rely on the text header at the top of the LCD in order to discern what each setting is responsible for. Other options besides slide show are: Resize, Cropping, Image/Sound Copy, Image Rotation, Color Filter, Digital Filter, Brightness Filter, Movie Edit, Red-eye Compensation, Voice Memo, Protect DPOF, Start-up Screen, and Frame Composite. Features rather unique to the Pentax line of cameras include the color filters Black and White + Red, Black and White + Green and Black, and White + Blue. Although interesting for their nostalgic-kitsch value, these three filters didn’t perform as well as the examples shown by Pentax online. Luckily, more important features like red-eye compensation, image rotation, cropping, and resize all worked well.

Custom Image Presets (7.75)
The Scene modes are listed in an onscreen icon-based menu display called "Capture mode palette." It is identical to the Playback mode palette in layout and design, and this consistency should help users learn to navigate the Pentax Optio A30. If the icons are confusing, users can highlight an option and pause momentarily to call up a full text description of each setting’s most appropriate application, a great information shortcut when out in the field without the owner’s manual. The only problem with these text descriptions is the length of time taken by the text to fade-in and fade-out. During these transitions, the user can’t move elsewhere on the screen.

The preset Shooting modes are: Night Scene, Voice Recording, Landscape, Flower, Portrait/Kids, Surf & Snow, Digital SR, Sport, Pet, Text, Food, and Frame Composite. Shooting in either the Digital SR or Frame Composite modes restricts the maximum image resolution. In Digital SR mode the maximum resolution is 5M, while frame composite reduces the resolution to a paltry 3M. While not nearly as loaded with options as cameras by manufacturers like Casio, the settings included should be more than enough for most point-and-shooters.