Pentax Optio W10

Regular visitors to this site may recall my painful experience reviewing the Pentax Optio WPi waterproof compact back in February this year. My theory was that Pentax’s PR department was trying to kill me by making me wade into freezing water in the middle of winter. At about the same time that I was dicing with death for that review, Pentax was launching the latest weapon in its arsenal of assassination. However this time they’ve miscalculated. They’ve sent me the new Optio W10 to review in spring, so hopefully this time I can retain the use of my extremities.
The W10 is superficially similar to the WPi in both design and specification. It too features a six megapixel CCD and 3x optical zoom non-protruding lens, and is waterproof to a depth of 1.5m for up to 30 minutes. With a high street price of £249.89 it is actually £20 cheaper than the launch price of the WPi, which is probably going to annoy anyone who bought that camera when it came out, especially since you can now buy a WPi in the high street for just £175.

The W10 certainly looks very similar to the WPi at first glance, although if you put the two cameras side-by-side the new model is noticeably larger, being 5mm longer, 4mm taller and 1mm thicker. It’s also 20g heavier, which is a lot on a 155g camera. However the extra space provides room for a bigger non-reflective 2.5” LCD monitor and a redesigned body shape that is much more secure and comfortable to hold, thanks to a large thumb grip that has been added to the back.
The main differences are internal, and they are much more than superficial. The WPi is based on the internal workings of the Optio S6, and although that is a great little camera it isn’t exactly the fastest thing around. For the W10 and its other recent launches including the E10, M10 and 8MP A10, Pentax has thankfully at last updated its electronics and software.

As a result the W10 is noticeably quicker to start up that the WPi, being ready to shoot in about two seconds. Focusing is also a bit quicker, although it is still slower than many other cameras in its class. Like both the original WP and WPi the W10 has no AF illuminator, but its low light focusing is among the best I’ve seen. It also features continuous AF and tracking AF, so it can follow moving subjects more easily, and the 9-point multi AF system seems to be much better at locking on to off-centre subjects than the previous models.
Another new addition is face-recognition AF/AE in Portrait and Natural Skin Tone modes, which can lock onto a human face in a scene, focus on it and adjust exposure accordingly.

Despite its underwater capabilities, the W10 is at heart a point-and-shoot compact, and its range of features reflects this. It has no manual options, but it does offer 25 programmed shooting modes on an easy-to-use menu, three more than its predecessor, however some of them do look like they were added just to fill up space on the menu screen. For example “Report Mode” shoots at an image size of 1280 x 960 pixels, because apparently this is the right size for “reports”. Er, yeah…

There is a portrait mode, but then there is also a Natural Skin Tone mode, which is supposed to produce more beautiful results than the portrait mode. So why have both?

And then there’s the Frame Composite mode, which I have cruelly mocked in other Pentax cameras, and will gladly do so again here. I really can’t understand why anyone would think that adding a frame of badly cut-out roses or a ghastly lace heart shape to their pictures is a good idea, and as for the yellow frame with stars, curtains and a cartoon face saying “Happy!” words fail me. Just don’t even go there. (um… kids might like it.. ed).
However some of the new options are actually both clever and useful. Most modern digital cameras allow the recording of audio captions for still images after they are taken, but the W10 goes one better with Synchro Sound Recording, which records a 20-second audio clip from 10 seconds before to 10 seconds after the shot is taken, so you get the ambient sounds from the pictures scene.

Also new and useful is the vastly improved movie mode, which can now shoot at 640 x 480 pixels and 30 frames per second, with electronic vibration reduction for steadier shots. There is also an underwater movie mode that gives enhanced colour for blue-tinted shots.

Many other options can be applied to still images and movie clips in playback mode, such as cropping, resizing, rotating, red-eye removal and digital filters including a surprisingly good soft focus effect.

The W10’s biggest improvement however is in image quality, where it easily surpasses the slightly disappointing WPi. The W10 has a maximum sensitivity of 800 ISO, but it is at 200 and 400 ISO that the biggest improvement in image quality is noticeable, very useful for the low light levels of underwater photography.

At lower ISO settings the pictures are smooth and sharp, and the improved folded-optics lens provides excellent edge-to-edge detail and almost no distortion even at the widest angle setting. The improved image processing engine is a lot less heavy-handed than that of many similarly-specified cameras, and produces extremely natural colour rendition that are naturally sharp rather than over-sharpened.
Focusing and exposure are both very accurate in nearly all lighting conditions, and the built-in flash has excellent coverage and plenty of power, with a maximum range at wide angle of a healthy 3.6 metres.
All in all, the W10 is a significant improvement over the WPi, making it the best waterproof compact on the market. Of course that’s a very small field currently inhabited only by this camera and its two immediate predecessors, but more than that it is also a very competent pocket compact camera in its own right.

Verdict

The W10 takes the unique abilities of the WP and WPi and improves on them. Better image quality, better movies, better handling and faster overall performance make it indisputably a better camera, while the lower launch price makes it even better value for money. If you’re into skiing, surfing, snorkeling or any other camera-killing lifestyle, but still want a sleek pocket compact then it really is the best option.

Add to: File Insurance Business article Teen Photo Images