Point And Shoot Digital Cameras Rock-Bottom Deals On Digital Cameras

Review by T. Haynes for Pentax Optio W90 12.1 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Pistachio Green)
Rating:
Update: Shooting results after 24 hours of use – my initial impressions of the design and feature set are below. But first, a few words about image quality. So far, I’ve taken ~100 photos in different modes and lighting just playing around with the camera and settings. Image quality is not quite as high as I was hoping for. I was hoping for outstanding image quality; this is only good.

Color accuracy appears very good, with the exception of a strong yellow cast in some videos and in night modes. The camera consistently seems to use higher-ISO than I would prefer (or than would be used by similar PnS cameras), and the result is graininess for many of the photos.

Some small amount of graininess is present even in the fastest mode, ISO-80, in broad daylight and at fast shutter speeds. It is disappointing that there is noise present even in perfect conditions. My guess is that this is a reflection of 12.1megapixels being forced out of a tiny 1/2.3″ CCD. This is not unusual, but the cameras I use most often — a variety of 8-10mp Canon PnS cameras — have noticeably less image noise.

The upside is that with 12.1mp and a 5x zoom, most people will seldom really need all those pixels. When printed in small sizes or reduced for the screen, little or none of the noise is apparent.

Another factor contributing to noise is that this camera lacks any actual image stabilization — it has a software-implemented “shake reduction” feature for both the still-frame and video modes, but the “shake reduction” — at least in my limited experience so far — produces blurrier images when it’s on than when it’s off. I think this feature is marketing hype and does not translate to real world improvement on pictures. I have not tested it yet with video, only with still shots.

One of the biggest downsides to this camera is that there is NO WAY to set shutter or aperture priority. Shutter speed is whatever the camera feels like, and there is nothing you can do to change this. I spoke with Pentax tech support to confirm the complete lack of this feature. At this time, they have not released any plans to implement this feature in future software upgrades. But maybe if enough of us e-mail them (pentaxinfo at [...]), they will relent.

The place where the inability to change shutter speed is most frustrating is with the flash on. Usually, turning on a flash sets a PnS camera to a very fast shutter speed (1/500 on most PnS Canons)… with the Pentax W90, the shutter speed with flash enables locks to 1/50 — ten times slower than many other models. This means that even with a flash, you can get some blur in the image.

The camera has a wealth of shooting modes, but it lacks some of the modes that you would expect, like a simple “outdoor” shooting mode or a simple “indoor” or “low-light” shooting mode. There are some neat feature modes like candlelight mode or fireworks mode that are seldom likely to be used, but some of the basic modes are missing.

On the bright side, the camera powers on and is ready to shoot very quickly. I’d estimate it’s barely over 1 second from hitting the power button to being ready to shoot — that’s very fast. Shot lag time with full autofocus appears to be (my guess), about 1/3 of a second, which is also pretty fast and plenty good enough for everyday use. Flash recycle time appears to be 2-3 seconds, which is good as well. Shot-to-shot times (no flash) appears to be ~2 seconds. All of these figures are estimates, but probably close enough to give you some idea of the camera capabilities. The camera feels plenty quick, and comparable or better than most small PnS cameras.

Overall, I’m not 100% decided if I will keep this camera. I’m going to give it two weeks to see how it does in some real-world scenarios. I don’t know yet if the inability to set shutter times, the 1/50 shutter time on flash photos, and the noise and tendency to default to high-ISOs are going to be deal-breakers or not. I really, really like this camera, and initial results are promising, though not conclusive.

ORIGINAL REVIEW — focuses on features and design:

Like many people, I’ve been eagerly awaiting this camera, along with the Olympus Tough 8010 and the Panasonic DMC-TS2. I’ve been trying to hold out for good reviews on each of them to decide which one to get. But alas, very little info is out, and with a trip coming up I finally broke down and bought the Pentax Optio W90, based on the feature set and a conversation with customer service at Pentax to confirm a few details about the camera.

The camera arrived today and I spent about 30 minutes trying out some of the features during lunch. It’s not much content for a review, but I’m sure others are as anxious as I am to learn more about this particular model, so I’m posting what I know. For the record, I’m a bit of a techy with a solid photo background and a lot of experience with digital cameras — everything entry-level point-n-shoot models to professional digital SLR equipment, so I feel fairly competent to share my impressions.

My initial impressions are very favorable. The w90 has a few features that I was hoping for, based on feature sets of previous models, but that I had been unable to verify. First and foremost is a pretty vigorous time-lapse capability.

There’s the small-scale time lapse that will really make getting yourself in photos easy… you can set a timer and then have the camera take anywhere from 2 to 11 pictures at any interval you want. Amazing feature. For instance, you could do sets of 11 pictures at a time 2-3 seconds apart, after a 20 second lag to get set up… easy way to get just the right expression… this will be amazing (and much safer) for group shots when hiking… no mountaingoat jumps from rock-to-rock needed to get in the picture, and no need to go press the button again to try a second (or 3rd or 4th or 5th or 11th) picture. I think this is going to be immensely useful for travel.

The other version of time lapse I didn’t really play with much, but it appeared you could set the camera to turn on and take a picture every minute or 5 minutes or hour or whatever… cool if you wanted to set it to capture a plant opening or sun coming across a garden or something like that.

Also has an alarm function which could be useful for travel. Have the camera wake you up instead of having to leave a cell phone turned on. Didn’t try this either, but it seemed like a good idea.

Menus throughout are very clearly labeled and easy to navigate. Buttons feel good and are well placed — especially for a ruggedized camera. The camera itself feels smaller and less intrusive than I expected based on the pictures. The zoom feels good and the 28mm-140mm range is generous and is pretty much a best of all possible worlds for everyday usage. It will be much, much, much easier to hold the camera at arms-length and get a good self-portrait thanks to the wider angle. I know that may sound silly, but I’ve got a lot of pictures with only half my face filling 1/3 of the frame when trying to hold a camera at arm’s length.

Other functions include the ability to lock the full-auto shooting mode to a certain ISO range to prevent images from getting too grainy (this may sound overly simple, but is a rare option on digicams). And you don’t have to lock it to a specific ISO, but to a range, 80-400 for instance… great little detail.

It’s also got a well-implemented feature for stitching together panoramic photos in camera, and a mode for taking uber, uber, uber closeups of objects (distance of less than 1cm). The camera has three white LEDs surrounding the lens that provide lighting and help eliminate camera-shadow on uber-closeups. Not necessarily super useful, but could be cool for uber-closeups of flowers, plants, etc…

Also a mode that is optimized for taking pictures of text (like museum signs) which is something I do often to help my memory, and I think I will appreciate. The whole camera just seems very well thought out, and I’m impressed by the options… menus are clear, easy to read, and for the most part they clearly explain what each mode is best for — no more having to guess at tiny little symbols.

I have no idea at this point what the image quality looks like from the actual pictures; it’s too hard to tell from the tiny screen… but so far I’m impressed by the overall design.

The one semi-negative is that the tripod mount is way off-center (see pictures in the 360* view on the Pentax site)… I suspect this will make it harder to level pictures easily with small flexible tripods like the Gorillapod (my default for travel). However, the huge plus for the tripod mount is that it is made of metal, which is a very rare feature on digicams… and a metal tripod mount is much more important to me than whether or not the mount is centered. Much better longetivity and helps keep with the overall rugged design of the camera.

It appears this camera is better thought out than any other model I’m aware of for taking pictures anywhere of anything and getting the shot you want — with you in it. If picture quality is anywhere near design quality for this camera, I am going to be very, very pleased.

I wish I could answer questions I know people are asking: what is the shot lag like? what is the shot-to-shot time like? What is the flash recharge time like? How is quality underwater? At what ISO do the pictures get too noisy? etc… I’m sorry I can’t help yet with any of those questions — hopefully a full review will be coming soon for the camera. But for now, hopefully this helps fill in a few gaps for people who are on the fence.

Review by Dace A. Campbell for Pentax Optio W90 12.1 MP Waterproof Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Pistachio Green)
Rating:
I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS CAMERA OR PENTAX’S CUSTOMER SERVICE.

I used this camera with impressive results both in and out of the water on my family beach vacation to Puerto Rico. Then, just after I got comfortable with the device and its particular interface, the camera lens fogged up after about 30 minutes of use in 6″ of water! Shortly after that, the camera shut down, and refused to turn back on. After the exterior dried out, I opened the battery/disk hatch to find a couple drops of water inside! So much for waterproof.

Unfortunately, it happened to me just days before the “snorkeling” part of our family vacation, so I was without a camera that I bought specifically for that purpose! But what’s is MOST UPSETTING is that when I called Pentax to discuss repair/return procedures, they were arrogant, condescending, and refused to assist me while on vacation and away from my purchase/warranty information back home. They would not even consider sending me a “lender unit” because — according to them — Puerto Rico isn’t part of the US! Ridiculous! Now I am back home and they want 4 weeks to repair a camera that I’ve used just a few days. Buyer beware!

I have since purchased an Olympus Stylus Tough waterproof camera and highly recommend it.