Manual Control Options
Manual exposure controls are lacking, a significant shortcoming. No aperture-priority or shutter-priority auto exposure is available, nor can you get full manual exposure control. Manual exposure compensation is available, though, and so is manual focus, a feature frequently missing from compact cameras. There are also settings in the Record Mode menu for sharpness, saturation and contrast, but each only has three values, limiting their usefulness.
Focus
Auto Focus (8.00)
There are three auto focus area settings. Multiple, the default, focuses on a broad area in the center of the screen, while Spot concentrates on a smaller area. Automatic Tracking AF maintains focus on moving objects if you first select them by half-pressing the shutter button, then keep the button pressed.
To speed focus performance, you can set the Focus Limiter function so that the lens only attempts to find focus in the longer range settings when shooting normally, and on the close side when shooting in macro mode. We found it both confusing and of limited value, a potently unpleasant combination.
The system did reasonably well auto focusing in low light conditions. However, the lack of an auto focus assist illuminator did pose a problem when we turned off the lights indoors – the poor camera was literally left in the dark, unable to take a picture.
Manual Focus (5.50)
The manual focus capability provided by the W60 is nothing fancy – no helpful magnified view as a focusing aid, or automatic feedback to indicate when you’ve achieved a sharp image – but being able to manually focus at all was a welcome surprise. Manual focus is selected by pressing the four-way controller right, into the focus mode selection menu. Then pressing the four-way controller buttons up and down adjusts the setting, is a smooth progression from infinity down to 1 centimeter.
ISO (8.75)
ISO settings range from a surprisingly low ISO 50 to ISO 1600 at full resolution, and on to 3200 and 6400 at a reduced 5-megapixel resolution. The odd part of the ISO setting scheme comes in auto mode, which allows users to predetermine the ISO range the camera is allowed to select, in five increments: 50-100, 50-200, 50-400, 50-800 and 50-1600 (50-800 is the default setting). We understand the thinking here, we think. If you’re eager to maintain the best possible image quality, you’d keep the camera from pushing for really high ISOs, which inevitably add unwanted image noise. On the other hand, the camera’s digital brain should be smart enough to select an appropriate ISO setting based on current shooting conditions, without requiring user intervention. The fact that, in our low-light testing, the W60 chose an entirely inappropriate setting of ISO 1600 in a brightly lit room makes us think that Pentax should concentrate on smartening up the auto ISO system instead of asking users to rein in the system’s yearning to mistakenly maximize light sensitivity settings.
White Balance (5.50)
The number of white balance presets is sparse – you get automatic, shade, sunlight, tungsten and one fluorescent setting – but the fact that you can easily establish your own custom white balance setting makes up for some shortcomings on the preset side. Just choose manual white balance, point at a white surface and press the shutter – it’s easy and effectiv
Exposure (3.00)
The lack of any manual exposure controls hurts the W60s score in this area. Exposure compensation does work fine once you get to it, allowing the typical thirteen steps between -2EV and +2EV. The annoyance is having to work through eight button presses to reach this frequently useful capability. Working with the camera over time, we generally kept exposure compensation mapped to the Green Mode button, which put it just two clicks away, though it shouldn’t require advanced settings to get at a basic command.
Automatic exposure bracketing is available, taking three shots (one at the metered reading, one a full EV step below and one a full EV step above) when you press the shutter once. This feature would be much more practical if the interval between shots wasn’t so long, though, or the exposure difference so great.
Metering (7.50)
There are three auto exposure metering modes. Multi-segment divides the image into 256 sections and meters for best overall exposure. Center-weighted also looks at the entire image, but weights the result to favor a proper exposure in the middle. Finally, spot metering looks only at a small area in the center of the screen.
Shutter Speed (4.00)
Shutter speeds for the W60 are quite limited, ranging from 1/1500 of a second to just 1/4 second with normal settings and 4 seconds in night scene mode. Combined with the lack of manual shutter speed control, this limits the camera’s ability to take high-quality photos in low-light situations, even if you carry a tripod.
Aperture (4.50)
The maximum aperture ranges from f/3.5 at the closest setting to f/5.5 at maximum telephoto range. The f/3.5 setting is unimpressive, and undoubtedly tied to the system’s tendency to choose higher light sensitivity settings. Considering the fact that the camera is designed to be used underwater, where light levels are already filtered down, we would hope for a faster lens (though the Olympus 1030 SW, designed to reach even greater depths, offers exactly the same f/3.5 aperture spec). The picture is somewhat brighter, though, on the telephoto side. The Olympus, with s 3.6x telephoto, offers a maximum f/5.1 aperture at its full zoom setting. The Pentax cranks the zoom to a welcome 5x, with nearly the same maximum aperture.
