Pentax Optio W30

Auto Mode (7.25)
The Pentax W30 really has three automatic-type modes that range from fully automatic to semi-automatic. The Pentax W30 has a full Auto Mode that automates all the settings - for most point-and-shooters, it is likely the most-used function of a camera.

The Program Auto Mode allows the user to select certain functions while automating others. In Program, users can select functions on-the-spot such as flash and recorded pixels, but the camera automatically selects the shutter speed and aperture for an even exposure.

The camera also offers a separate automatic mode, the Green Mode; users can assign up to four functions to the button. The Green Mode includes a full range of options, including recorded pixels, white balance, and focus type, while allowing users to make changes to the flash and focus settings.

Movie Mode (6.75)
Taking video with the Pentax W30 requires a few steps. Most point-and-shoots dedicate a position on the dial or button to the movie mode, the Pentax W30 does not. The W30’s Movie Mode is accessed through the main Record Menu. The Movie Mode offers plenty of customizable settings. Users can capture at a standard 640x480 or 320x240 resolution in either 30fps or 15fps, making the movie mode suitable for either television or the Web. The camera’s zoom and shake reduction features work in movie mode.

The Pentax W30’s movie mode has a host of options compared to other point-and-shoots in its category. In addition to an Underwater Movie mode, users can record videos in full color, black-and-white, or sepia. Users can focus video manually or automatically and have the option to take timed movies.The Pentax W30 does record sound, but the location of the microphone on the top of the camera limits its abilities.

The Movie menu is accessed under the Record menu, meaning that users might have to push the four-way controller a few times before actually reaching the Movie menu to change movie size or frame rate.

In all, the W30 has a competitive set of video capture options; however, the video quality is substandard. To read more of the W30's video performance results, refer to the Testing/Performance section of the review.

Drive / Burst Mode (5.5)
Users can access the burst mode through a dedicated button on the four-way controller. There are four settings: Drive Mode Standard, Drive Mode Self Timer, Continuous (standard and high speed), and Drive Mode Interval Shoot. Like the rest of the camera’s functions, the burst mode gives the user lots of choices to customize how they want to take a series of photos. The Drive Mode Self-Timer can be set for a standard 2 or 10 seconds.

For Continuous Shooting, an image is immediately saved to the memory before capturing the next, meaning that the higher the quality setting (image quality and megapixel), the longer the interval between each frame. For High Speed Continuous Shooting, otherwise known as the burst mode, the camera pre-selects a reduced resolution. The High Speed Continuous Shooting records 3-megapixel images. Unfortunately, flash is not available during continuous shooting so the burst mode is recommended for outdoors or brightly-lit indoor settings.

The Pentax W30’s Interval Shoot mode can be set to take images at intervals between 10 seconds and 99 minutes. The W30 can take up to 1,000 images in this mode and the start time can be delayed for up to 24 hours.

Our timing tests concluded that the W30 captures successive images at 1.43 frames per second. This is quite slow, even by point-and-shoot standards and will be problematic for users attempting to capture action sequences underwater.  However, it is still faster than the Olympus 770SW's 1.1 frames per second burst rate.

Playback Mode (8.0)
The W30’s playback mode options are plentiful. Users can scroll though images using the four-way controller and view them individually, or in a 9-thumbnail or calendar format.

When users press the OK button, the histogram and EXIF data - such as aperture and ISO setting - are displayed for each image. The playback mode allows for 8x magnification, which is enough zoom to check for closed eyes, although the limited screen resolution limits its use as a measure of focus.

Users can edit their photos on the W30 without the use of a computer, as many point-and-shoots now offer built-in editing functions. As with the rest of the W30’s functions, users can customize how they review their photos with options such as timed slideshows, cropping, image rotate, color changes, and red-eye correction.

Slideshow	Interval	30 sec, 20 sec, 10 sec, 5 sec, 3 sec
	Screen Effect	Wipe, Checker, Fade, Off
	Sound Effect	(check, uncheck)
Resize	Recorded Pixels	7M, 6M, 5M, 4M, 3M, 2M, 1024, 640, 320
	Quality Level	** (Better), * (Good)
Cropping	(navigate with four-way controller)
Image/Sound Copy	camera to SD, SD to camera, Cancel
Image Rotate	(navigate with four-way controller)
Digital Filter	Black-and-white, Sepia, Pink, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Soft, Fisheye
Brightness Filter	-, 0, +
Movie Edit	Save as Still Image, Divide Movies, Stitch Movies
Frame Composite	Heart, Flower, Wow
Red-eye Compensation
Voice Memo
Protect	Select Image/Sound, All Images/Sound, Cancel	Protect, Unprotect
DPOF	Single Image, All Images, Cancel	Copies, Date
Image Recovery
Start-up Screen	(choose wallpaper screen when camera is turned on)

Custom Image Presets (8.0)
The Pentax W30 offers a variety of custom image presets. The camera has the basic scene modes - Portrait, Landscape, and Sport - and also a few options unavailable on most competing point-and-shoots, such as the Food preset and Underwater Movie mode.

The automatic presets are accessed by pressing the Mode button on the four-way controller. Each scene mode is marked by a graphic icon. When a user selects a particular scene icon, the camera displays a brief text description.

A user can even change the Pet shooting mode to match their type of animal and its fur color, with options for either a Dog or Cat and white, gray, or black fur. We don’t come across this feature very often. While interesting, the extra Pet mode options do not seem all that necessary – unless you take a lot of pet photos.

Mode
Night Scene	Used for night scenes. Use a tripod, etc. to prevent shaking and use a flash for portraits.
Movie	For capturing movies. Sound is also recorded.
Voice Recording	For recording sound only. Be careful not to cover the microphone with your hands.
Landscape	For capturing landscape views. The camera focuses on a wide range.
Flower	For capturing brightly colored flower. Reproduces the outline of the flower softly.
Portrait	For capturing portraits. The skin tone will be brighter to make the person look healthy.
Underwater	For capturing images underwater. The blue color of the ware is reproduced beautifully.
Underwater Movie	Use this mode for taking underwater movie. Captures the blueness of the sea.
Digital SR	Higher sensitivity reduces blur.
Surf & Snow	For capturing images with dazzling backgrounds, such as beaches or snowy mountains.
Sport	For subjects in fast motion. Keeps the camera in focus until the shutter is released.
Pet	For capturing images of pets in motion. A setting suitable for the pet’s coat can be set.
Frame Composite	For capturing image with frame composite. Recorded pixels is fixed to 3M.
Synchro Sound Record	Automatically records the sound 10 sec. before and after the shutter is released.
Kids	For capturing moving kids. Reproduces healthy and bright skin tone.
Soft	Got capturing images with a soft outline.
Self-portrait	For capturing an image with yourself included. Focus and color tone are adjusted.
Fireworks	For capturing fireworks. Use a tripod, etc. due to a slow shutter speed of 4 sec.
Food	For capturing images of food. Saturation will be rather high to make it look appetizing.
Text	For taking clear pictures of text in color or B/W, normal or reversed.
Museum	For capturing images in places where a flash is prohibited. Try not to let your hands shake.
Natural Skin Tone	Adjusts color and brightness to reproduce skin more beautifully than Portrait.
Report	For capturing image with fixed 1280x960 pixels for reports.