Pentax Optio M40 Digital Camera Review

by Karen M. Cheung
Published on October 12, 2007

Navigation
Intro	Testing/Performance
Components	Design / Layout
Modes	Control Options
Image Parameters	Connectivity / Extras
Overall Impressions	Conclusion
Sample Photos	Photo Gallery
Specs / Ratings

Auto Mode (7.0)
Most beginners will leave their cameras set to automatic, which does all the “thinking” for the user. Auto Picture mode, accessed through the main mode button still offers users control of flash, focus, and burst, among other settings.

The flash tends to overpower subjects in Auto Picture mode. Users should keep that in mind and set the Auto Picture flash setting to “Soft” or “Off.” Aside from this, Auto Picture mode is effective in capturing most situations ranging from indoors to outdoors.

Green mode is the more automatic of the M40’s two Auto modes. Users can assign flash (on or off), four focus settings, and either a standard drive or Self-Timer mode to be recalled when the Green mode button is pressed. Green mode has a convenient, easy-to-access dedicated button

Movie Mode (5.0)
The Optio M40 records Motion JPEGs at VGA 640 x 480-pixel resolution and QVGA 320 x 240-pixel resolution. Both are standard options most cameras now offer. Users can change the frame rate to either 30 frames per second (fps) or 15 fps, as well compression in three quality levels.

There’s good news and bad news for the Movie mode. The good news is that audio (monaural in WAV format) does not pick up the distracting noise from the zoom lens. The bad news is that’s because users can’t engage zoom while in Movie mode. Users must set the zoom before hitting the shutter button, making it difficult to fully record moving subjects such as kids or pets.

Like the zoom functions, users also have to set focus before hitting the shutter to record movies. When set to automatic focus, the camera has trouble focusing on subjects close to the camera – the Macro focus mode should be used, instead. Users can pick from the full set of Focus modes before hitting “record,” but they should keep in mind that their selection will be used for the entirety of the movie clip.

During movie capture, users can choose between color, black-and-white, and sepia-toned videos. Like still capture, there is no optical image stabilization. Instead, the Movie mode utilizes a digital shake reduction system that can be turned on or off.

The video’s zoom and flash restrictions will ultimately be a letdown for budding videographers.

Drive / Burst Mode (3.0)
The Pentax Optio M40 has three so-called “drive” modes. There is really only one continuous shooting setting. It is listed alongside Self-Timer and One-Shot shooting, accessed through a dedicated button on the four-way controller.

The Standard mode, otherwise known as one-shot shooting, takes roughly half a second from the time the user hits the shutter to the first shot. The Continuous mode shoots consecutively, with about 1 second between each shot. This is really slow. Some of its competitors shoot at a rate of 2 fps.

Playback Mode (7.75)
For users who want to make changes to their pictures without the use of a computer, the Pentax M40 offers a good amount of post-capture, built-in editing options. The slide show feature has options to change transition effects and duration times. Users can also trim photos and resize files in-camera. Changes can be made to the image’s brightness, and subjects with red-eye can be corrected. Users can also add audio clips to photos and set a particular photo as the start-up screen, much like a computer desktop wallpaper.

The Pentax M40 also includes Digital Filters that colorize photos post-capture.

For easy viewing, the camera includes the traditional nine-thumbnail view and calendar view that allows users to jump through large volumes of images via the zoom toggle button. The Playback mode offers a good amount of control that most point-and-shooters will be familiar with for on-the-spot review.

Most point-and-shoots have a two-step process – first, click the Playback, then hit the menu button. The Pentax M40, however, requires users to press the playback button and then, strangely, the mode button. This deviation isn’t the norm, but it’s not too hard to get used to.

Slideshow	For continuously playing back images. Screen or Sound effects can be set.	Interval (30, 20, 10, 5, 3 sec), Screen Effect (Wipe, Checker, Fade, Off), Sound Effect
Resize	For changing Recorded Pixels and Quality Level to make the file size smaller.	Recorded Pixels (320, 640, 1024, 2M, 3M, 4M, 5M, 6M, 7M, 8M), Quality Level (*, **)
Cropping	For cropping images to the size you like. Saved as a new image.	(Highlighted area trimmed via four-way controller and OK)
Image / Sound Copy	For copying images and sounds between the built-in memory and SD memory card.	Internal memory -> SD, SD -> Internal memory
Image Rotation	For rotating capture images. Useful when viewing vertical images on a TV.	(Select 1 of 4 previewed rotated images) Menu, OK
Digital Filter	For modifying images with a Color filter or Soft filter.	B&W, Sepia, Red, Purple, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Selective Red Green or Blue, Soft
Brightness Filter	For modifying the brightness of the images.	-, 0, +
Frame Composite	For merging a frame onto an image. Select to overwrite or save it as a new file.	(Select 1 of 3) Heart-shaped, Flowers, Bubble
Red-Eye Compensation	For compensating red-eye. May not work on the image.
Voice Memo	For attaching sound to images. Sounds can be records until the memory card is full.	(Record audio)
Protect	Protects images and sounds from accidental deletion. Images can be deleted by formatting.	Single image / sound, All Images / Sounds, Cancel
DPOF	For setting the print settings of images. Useful when printing at a printing service.	Single Image, All Images, Cancel
Start-up Screen	For setting a captured image as the Start-up Screen.	(Select current playback image as wallpaper background)

Custom Image Presets (8.0)
The Pentax M40 has a variety of custom image presets, otherwise known as Scene modes. Accessed through the dedicated mode button, the 15 Pentax Scene modes are conveniently laid out as graphic icons in a Capture Mode Palette. When users select a particular scene, a helpful explanation details the function.

The Pentax M40’s Scene modes cover the essentials, such as Landscape and Sport, while expanding on traditional functions. For instance, users can select from two Portrait modes that enables face recognition to autofocus and auto expose people’s faces. The Natural Skin Tone mode apparently captures “skin tone more beautifully” than the other Portrait function, but we couldn’t see a distinguishable difference between the two modes.

Most digital cameras offer one Pet scene mode; the Pentax M40 has six. The Pet mode has options to match animal type (dog or cat) and fur color (dark, grey, or light).

In addition to the Shooting modes, the Optio M40 offers a Frame Composite mode that frames images with borders in the shape of a heart, flowers, or text bubble.

Scene Modes
Auto Picture	Automatically select the best capture mode.
Program	The basic mode for capturing images. Various functions can also be set with this 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 flowers. Reproduces the outline of the flower softly.
Portrait	For capturing portraits. The skin tone will be brighter to make the person look healthy.
Surf & Snow	For capturing images with dazzling backgrounds, such as beaches or snow mountains.
Sport	For subjects in fast motion. Keeps the camera in focus until the shutter is released.
Digital SR	Higher sensitivity reduces blur.
Kids	For capturing moving kids. Reproduces healthy and bright skin tone.
Pet	For capturing images of pets in motion. A setting suitable for the pet’s coat can be set.
Food	For capturing images of food. Saturation will be rather high to make it look appetizing.
Frame Composite	For capturing image with frame composite. Recorded pixels are fixed to 3M.