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| Optio W30 Prices |
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| External Reviews |
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Popular Photography Field Test: Jump Right In w...CNET - Cameras Pentax Optio W30Megapixel.net Pentax Optio W30Trusted Reviews Pentax Optio W30DigitalCameraReview.com Pentax Optio W30 Digital Ca... |
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.
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*Movie (Accessed in Rec Mode Menu)
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Recorded Pixels
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640, 320
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Quality Level
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*** (Best), ** (Better), * (Good)
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Frame Rate
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30fps, 15fps
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Color Mode
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Full Color, B&W, Sepia
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Movie SR
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(check or uncheck)
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Interval Shoot
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Interval, Total time, Start Delay
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Digital Zoom
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(check or uncheck)
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Instant Review
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5 sec, 3 sec, 2 sec, 1 sec, 0.5 sec, Off
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Memory
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Flash Mode, Drive Mode, Focus Mode, Zoom Position, MF Position, White Balance, Sensitivity, EV Compensations, AE Metering, Digital Zoom, Display, File No. (check or uncheck)
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Sharpness
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-, 0, +
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Saturation
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-, 0, +
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Contrast
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-, 0, +
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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.
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Slideshow
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Interval
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30 sec, 20 sec, 10 sec, 5 sec, 3 sec
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Screen Effect
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Wipe, Checker, Fade, Off
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Sound Effect
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(check, uncheck)
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Resize
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Recorded Pixels
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7M, 6M, 5M, 4M, 3M, 2M, 1024, 640, 320
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Quality Level
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** (Better), * (Good)
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Cropping
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(navigate with four-way controller)
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Image/Sound Copy
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camera to SD, SD to camera, Cancel
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Image Rotate
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(navigate with four-way controller)
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Digital Filter
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Black-and-white, Sepia, Pink, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Soft, Fisheye
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Brightness Filter
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-, 0, +
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Movie Edit
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Save as Still Image, Divide Movies, Stitch Movies
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Frame Composite
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Heart, Flower, Wow
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Red-eye Compensation
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Voice Memo
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Protect
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Select Image/Sound, All Images/Sound, Cancel
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Protect, Unprotect
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DPOF
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Single Image, All Images, Cancel
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Copies, Date
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Image Recovery
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Start-up Screen
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(choose wallpaper screen when camera is turned on)
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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.
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Mode
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Night Scene
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Used for night scenes. Use a tripod, etc. to prevent shaking and use a flash for portraits.
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Movie
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For capturing movies. Sound is also recorded.
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Voice Recording
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For recording sound only. Be careful not to cover the microphone with your hands.
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Landscape
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For capturing landscape views. The camera focuses on a wide range.
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Flower
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For capturing brightly colored flower. Reproduces the outline of the flower softly.
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Portrait
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For capturing portraits. The skin tone will be brighter to make the person look healthy.
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Underwater
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For capturing images underwater. The blue color of the ware is reproduced beautifully.
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Underwater Movie
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Use this mode for taking underwater movie. Captures the blueness of the sea.
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Digital SR
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Higher sensitivity reduces blur.
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Surf & Snow
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For capturing images with dazzling backgrounds, such as beaches or snowy mountains.
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Sport
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For subjects in fast motion. Keeps the camera in focus until the shutter is released.
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Pet
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For capturing images of pets in motion. A setting suitable for the pet’s coat can be set.
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Frame Composite
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For capturing image with frame composite. Recorded pixels is fixed to 3M.
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Synchro Sound Record
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Automatically records the sound 10 sec. before and after the shutter is released.
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Kids
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For capturing moving kids. Reproduces healthy and bright skin tone.
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Soft
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Got capturing images with a soft outline.
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Self-portrait
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For capturing an image with yourself included. Focus and color tone are adjusted.
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Fireworks
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For capturing fireworks. Use a tripod, etc. due to a slow shutter speed of 4 sec.
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Food
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For capturing images of food. Saturation will be rather high to make it look appetizing.
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Text
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For taking clear pictures of text in color or B/W, normal or reversed.
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Museum
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For capturing images in places where a flash is prohibited. Try not to let your hands shake.
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Natural Skin Tone
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Adjusts color and brightness to reproduce skin more beautifully than Portrait.
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Report
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For capturing image with fixed 1280x960 pixels for reports.
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| Page 5 of 13 | Control Options | ||