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PENTAX Optio E80 -- The double-A wonder.

Being a frequent traveler, the first thing that caught my attention about the new Pentax Optio E80 is the fact that it is powered by the ubiquitous AA batteries. (Though it should work with normal batteries, it is preferable to use Alkaline, Lithium, Ni-CD or Ni-MH batteries.) It essentially means that I no longer would have to lug around a spare battery, charger and the multi-plug converter. I would just need to turn to any nearby convenience store and buy as many batteries as required! The company claims that the E80 will deliver around 210 shots when alkaline batteries are used and a whopping 600 shots when powered by Lithium batteries.

Another user friendly feature that will appeal to users like me with large hands is that the camera comes with relatively larger control buttons; added with the improved menu flow and UI, it should make things a lot simpler. Weighing around 125 grams with batteries and measuring 10.2cm (width), 5.9cm (height) and 2.5cm (depth), the camera is certainly 'pocket friendly'.

On the imaging front, the camera features a 3x optical zoom lens, with a 10 mega pixel (effective) sensor and a 2.7 inch screen; specs which are quite respectable. The lens is capable of focal lengths from 31.5mm to 94.5mm in 35mm format; which is somewhat of a let down since many point and shoot cameras these days feature a sub 30mm focal length for wide-angle shots. On the movie recording front, the camera is capable of recording high definition clips at 1280 x 720 pixels @ 15 fps.

The Pentax Optio E80 does not come with any optical image stabilization, instead it depends on a digital stabilization mode called 'Digital SR' (SR = Shake reduction) which considers the lighting conditions and adjusts the ISO settings plus shutter speeds to minimize the blurring effects of camera shake and/or subject movement.

The E80 also comes with a maximum three-point auto-focus system, with an 'Auto-Tracking' feature that can maintain a constant focus on a moving object. The Multi-Burst mode allows the camera to shoot up to 16 images within two seconds at 640 x 480 pixels (VGA mode).

Some points about this camera that are worth mentioning specifically are the 'Image recovery' function, which can recover deleted images and save you from those 'oops!' moments. [Needs to be seen whether this feature can recover images clicked with other cameras as well.] The 'Digital panorama' mode can use two or three images to stitch together a panorama.

Other features are more or less industry standard, such as Red-eye reduction, around 21 scene modes (including the auto-program mode, which is called the 'Green mode' by Pentax.), EV compensation, multiple focus modes and face recognition. Interestingly, the camera also has a 'manual focus' mode, for more hands-on photography.

Vini
Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:34:48 +0000

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