Pentax Optio W60 Digital Camera Review

The Pentax Optio W60 is meant to be your foul-weather photographic friend, oblivious to water (whether a splash or a full-on immersion) and freezing cold. You wouldn't know it at a glance, though - the 10-megapixel W60 is as sleekly styled and pocketable as any non-ruggedized compact camera. You do pay a premium price for weatherproofing, though, at $329.95. After running the camera through our complete suite of lab and field testing, we like it for snowboarders and poolside pleasures, but the lack of manual controls and slow shooting performance are concerns. As for ruggedness, we recently reviewed the Olympus contender in the laugh-at-the-elements category, the 1030 SW, which is built tougher (including the ability to function at 33-foot depths, versus 13 feet for the W60), but costs more ($399.99) and is also bulkier. We compare the Pentax W60 head-to-head with the 1030 SW and several other compact models in the following review.