Manual Control Options
This camera is not exactly intended for the manual control enthusiast. It’s more aimed at the point-and-shoot user who’s looking for a versatile camera that can be easily used without the burden of manual settings. The mode with the most manual control is Program, which lets users adjust flash mode, ISO, white balance, focus and exposure compensation. While it does lack shutter speed and aperture control, this Pentax model does offer true manual white balance control.

Auto Focus (7.5)
The Pentax OptioWP has five different auto focus settings, which may be accessed and altered by entering the focus sub-menu via the right arrow on the four-way controller. The Pentax OptioWP displays these five options vertically along the right side of the LCD screen. The options include a standard 9 point TTL multiple, and also a spot focus system which focuses between 0.4m and full zoom range. Macro focus mode allows the user to focus between 0.01 and 0.6m when using the lens’ shortest focal length. Infinity focus can be utilized when shooting landscapes or distance shots with significant depth of field. Lastly, the Pan Focus setting is made for the movie mode; this mode will focus the entire image sharply from front to back—and it really works well. In the Green Mode, there is no control over the focus, but the auto focus reacts quickly nonetheless. There is no control over where the camera focuses, but the LCD does show users where it is focusing with little green brackets. All of the focus modes work quickly and effectively.

Manual Focus (4.5)
The manual focus control is actually located within the same vertical sub-menu which displays the auto focus settings. Once engaged, the user can control the focal setting through a sliding scale, which appears on the LCD screen. When engaged, the focal point at the center of the image is enlarged 2x to fill the screen, which helps the user observe focal nuances within the frame. The manual focus is controlled through the up and down arrows on the four-way controller. With the enlarged central frame, it is easy to observe the subject come into focus – and hopefully your subject will fall within that frame. Manual focus modes on compact digital cameras are usually horribly tedious to use and even more painful to see, but the system on the OptioWP is far more effective and intuitive than most.

Metering (4.0)
The Pentax OptioWP uses a fully automatic multi-segment TTL metering system, which is not controllable or alterable by the user. Unfortunately, there is no spot metering or other metering options available to the user beyond the multi-segment matrix. This may compromise images when the desired subject does not fall into the predetermined region – hopefully this will not occur when you’re trying to take a picture of that fish swimming above you, backlit by the bright sunshine overhead.

Exposure (7.0)
The Pentax OptioWP automatically adjusts the exposure using its range of preset and automatic exposure modes (Program, Night Scene, Landscape, Flower, Portrait, Underwater, Surf & Snow, Sport, Pet, Candlelight, and Soft – as well as the Green mode). Users can shape subtitles in the exposure using the compensation function, available from -2.0 to +2.0, moving in the traditional 1/3-stop increments. These adjustments are rendered using the right and left arrows on the four-way controller. The WP’s exposure compensation range is typical of compact digital cameras and will come in handy when the underwater lighting gets too dark for your liking.

White Balance (6.0)
The white balance settings on the Pentax OptioWP are accessed through the menu button on the back of the camera body. Once the menu is accessed and the white balance section selected, the user is able to choose between auto, daylight, shade, tungsten, fluorescent, and manual mode (called Shutter Adjust). If the white balance settings are in constant use, the user may wish to move this option to be accessible through the green button for easy access. The manual white balance is fairly simple to set; just press the shutter release button while in the set menu while holding a piece of “true” white paper in front of the camera and the resulting tones will be calibrated accordingly.

ISO (7.0)
ISO settings, like White Balance controls on the OptioWP, are selectable within the main recording menu. When the ISO sub-menu is opened, the available settings are displayed and the user can select among ISO 50, 100, 200, 400, and automatic sensitivity options. Lower ISO settings will create cleaner images but will not be usable in compromised lighting. When a low ISO setting is selected in limited light, the camera will default to slower shutter speeds to compensate and blurred images will result. With a 50-400 ISO range available, the OptioWP is in congruence with most point-and-shoot digital cameras and will function aptly in most outdoor shooting situations, but may have some difficulty indoors when the flash is not used.

Shutter Speed (0.0)
The speed of the electronic and mechanical shutter on the Pentax OptioWP is not manually controllable. However, the automatic shutter speed range is between 1/2000^th of a second to 4 seconds. This is a comparable range to other automatically oriented digital cameras, although 4 seconds may prove to be too quick to capture a night landscape.

Aperture (0.0)
Like shutter speed, the aperture range on the OptioWP is also out of the user’s control. It is rated between f/3.3 and f/4, a surprisingly minimal range for a digital camera. Sadly, the camera does not display the shutter speed or aperture information on the LCD screen (even some cameras that automatically choose this display it) – this may leave some users lost, while others will be glad to be rid of the meaningless garble that plagued the lower segments of their former LCD screen.