Pentax Optio M20

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Optio M20 Prices

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External Reviews
Cameras.co.uk Pentax Optio M20 Review

The Pentax Optio M20 does not come with a viewfinder. This decision allows for Pentax to condense their camera size without compromising the LCD size or control interface. Additionally, the inevitable optical viewfinders found on smaller budget cameras are generally both undersized and inaccurate. The one major benefit of an optical viewfinder is the power-saving potential when running low on batteries. An optical viewfinder doesn’t require the battery power necessary to run an LCD screen and enables users to continue shooting for an extended period. The easiest way to make up for this is to carry a couple sets of extra AA batteries which is advisable anyway since there’s nothing worse than being caught out in the middle of nowhere with dead batteries and a beautiful shot.

 

The 2.5-inch TFT backlit LCD screen of the Pentax Optio M20 has a total pixel count of 115,000 pixels. This LCD adjusts brightness automatically to changes in situational lighting through the ambient light sensor located on the top of the camera body. The LCD screen performed well in strongly lit situations like full daylight where many monitors would have become washed out. In lower lighting, however, the monitor struggled a bit. The LCD screen fills the left two-thirds of the camera's back face and is large enough to accommodate the on-screen graphics that indicate shooting mode, focus, and other information without feeling cluttered. Pentax has also included control over monitor content. Users can select between the bare minimum of info - which only displays the corner of a centrally positioned framing device - all the way to a full information screen that includes image size, quality, white balance, settings, battery life, memory card, ISO and a live histogram display. The histogram is certainly a welcome surprise, and it should help ensure users will attain a proper exposure. 

 

Overall, the LCD screen has a moderately wide view and is good even in strong lighting. However, it only offers half the resolution of many 230,000 pixel monitors included on Optio M20's direct competitors. 

The horizontal rectangular flash of the Pentax Optio M20 is a component that leaves much to be desired in terms of performance, design, and physical placement on the camera body. Before getting to these problems let’s cover the control options that are available. The left arrow of the four-way control doubles as the flash button when not in menu or review mode. This is a fact that can be confirmed by noting the flash insignia printed on this control. The M20's flash settings are displayed on the LCD screen once this button is pressed. It will provide users with the following settings when entered into the program mode: flash auto, flash off, flash on, flash mode auto + red-eye, flash on + red-eye and soft flash. The soft flash is a great option for shooting close-range portraits or club candid shots of friends since the overall flash is reigned in slightly.

 

The flash range for the Pentax Optio M20 is 0.5-4 meters in wide while it becomes truncated in telephoto to 0.6-2 meters. Placing the flash just above the lens axis will minimize the amount of horizontal shadow casting that often plagues point-and-shoot cameras. The problem with the placement of this flash is the proximity to the right edge of the camera body.  When shooting two-handed, it was almost impossible not to have one or even two fingers wrap slightly around the front face and over the flash. Often during the course of testing, nearly half the resulting image would be cast in darkness while the other half of the image would be lit with the full flash.  While a readjustment of hand position will alleviate this shortcoming, there are many occasions where fleeting shots could be compromised because of the design. 

 

Zoom Lens (6.0)

The Pentax Optio M20 has a telescoping lens barrel that extends slightly from the right side of the camera body when activated. When powered down, the 3x optical zoom lens is protected by an automatic lens cover. The fully extended lens barrel is composed of two sections. The Pentax zoom lens has focal lengths of 6.3-18.9mm; this range is equivalent to 38-114mm in 35mm format. The aperture for this lens is f/3.1 to f/5.9 and is composed of six elements in five groups. A maximum aperture of f/3.1 is underwhelming when compared to most other cameras on the market, and when considering the widest angle measures a mere 38mm. Photographers may find both their framing and exposure options to be limited. 

 

The actual zoom levels are controlled through a zoom button on the back of the camera body in the upper right corner. The zoom button is split into two parts (although it is a single mechanism) that allows users to press the right side for telephoto adjustment and the left for wide-angle adjustment. When the zoom button is pressed, a zoom level indicator appears horizontally along the bottom of the LCD monitor. This bar is easy to see and is able to show both optical and digital zoom together, or it can be set to only display and control optical zoom when digital zoom is disengaged in the shooting menu.

 

The control is large enough for competent adjustments to be made and - while overly sensitive - it is able to produce up to nine stops of zoom when paying careful attention and making minute adjustments. Adjusting the zoom levels in normal shooting will produce far fewer stops due in large part to the overly fast movement through the zoom range. There is no way to slow down the shifts in zoom levels and oftentimes making the appropriate adjustment required a couple of extra nudges and bumps. The other setback for this control is when the widest wide-angle setting is reached the camera oscillates wildly before settling on the appropriate depth. This will temporarily render the camera useless, and it will delay and lengthen shooting time.