Auto Mode (7.0)
The Optio S5z offers two general automatic modes: Green Mode and Program. In Green Mode, the camera locks the user out of all controls except the zoom and the shutter release. Apparently, that means all shooting controls, including file size and quality. Photos taken in green mode during testing were all taken at the full 5 megapixel resolution and the intermediate compression setting, no matter what settings were saved on the camera.

The less automatic auto mode is “P” or Program, in which the Optio S5z sets the aperture and shutter speed, but does not override settings for ISO, white balance, focus or flash. All those settings can be set to automatic via menu controls, so it's still possible to use the camera fully automatically in Program – in fact, the camera defaults to that setting.

Custom Image Presets (5.0)
The Optio S5z offers 10 picture modes. This is quite limited compared to other snapshot-oriented cameras. Without a manual setting, users will be forced to rely on preset options to shape the image.

The included modes are: Landscape, Flower, Portrait, Self-Portrait, Sunset, Food, Pet, Text, Sports, and Surf & Snow. Pentax doesn't specify how the modes change the camera settings. Instead, the manual is pretty vague about the settings; it says that the Landscape mode allows you to capture the “natural colors” of a landscape, while the Flower mode produces “brightly colored” images. The portrait mode emphasizes a “spacial effect,” which seems to mean that the aperture is kept wide to minimize depth of field. Sunset reproduces “beautiful colors,” and “Food” produces “appetizing” pictures. The manual is more specific about “Pet,” which allows the user to adjust for pets with light, medium or dark fur. (You can also choose between cat and dog icons, but they have no influence on the pictures you take.) “Sports” biases the exposure toward a fast, action-stopping shutter speed, and “Surf & Snow” compensates for very bright backgrounds. Pentax treats the “Night Scene” differently from the other modes. Night Scene enables exposures as long as 4 seconds, so a tripod or other support is necessary.

EV compensation, saturation, contrast, white balance and sharpness are adjustable while the camera is set to a picture mode.

Drive / Burst Mode (3.0)
The Optio S5z has a burst mode, but don't expect miracles. About one frame every two seconds is the best speed I could get at full resolution, though at VGA resolution, the camera snapped away a bit faster than one frame per second. Either way, the camera will continue at that rate until the SD card is full.

Playback Mode (8.0)
The Optio S5z's Playback is straightforward. Press the Playback button, and the most recent image appears on screen. The left and right buttons on the four-way controller will scroll through recorded images. Pressing the zoom control in the telephoto direction magnifies the image up to 8x, which is a bit short of many similarly styled cameras which offer 10x and 12x magnification. When the image is magnified, the four-way controller buttons scroll the view around the image.

Pressing the zoom control on the Optio S5z to the wide angle setting brings up a thumbnail view of sorts, showing nine images at a time. In that view, the four-way controller buttons scroll through all the thumbnails on the SD card. Interestingly, you scroll left, not up, to get to the first image on the camera.

If there are movies on the SD card, the first frame shows up in either thumbnail or regular view. The camera can play back movies and pause them during playback. When a movie is paused, you can magnify the paused frame with the zoom control. Movies can be trimmed and split into pieces using in-camera editing tools.

Still images can be edited in the Optio S5z. They can be rotated, cropped and resized. There is also an option to adjust brightness and to colorize images or make them black-and-white.

The Optio S5z offers a slide show function. Images on the SD card or in the built-in memory can be shown at 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, or 30-second intervals. Movies in memory are also shown, and they are not cut off, even if they're longer than the interval. The slide show continues until someone presses any button on the camera, or until the battery is drained. The Optio S5z offers an analog video out port, and includes the cable, so users can show slide shows on television sets. The camera can produce PAL and NTSC signals, the two major standards for television.

Movie Mode (7.5)
The Optio S5z records AVI-format video at a 640 x 480 resolution and 30 frames per second, which are close to the specs for home video, but still don’t reproduce the quality most home video makers expect.

The Optio S5z adds a fun twist by offering a time-lapse video capture feature. The final clips will run at 2 times, 5 times, 10 times or 20 times as fast as normal, for views of flowers blooming, candles burning down, traffic zipping, and so on. Rent “Koyaanisqatsi” for ideas. Time-lapse does not record sound. 

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