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Although making the most powerful digital camera in the world brings plenty of prestige, Pentax is aware that more modest models are in demand.
Plenty of people new to digital photography are looking for 2.1 megapixel cameras for around £300, cameras much like the Pentax Optio 230.
Weighing in at 230g, the Optio 230 is well styled and offers plenty of features. It has a 3x optical zoom lens which is plenty for a compact camera. Images can be viewed through the manual viewfinder or the screen on the back of the camera.
The sharp display combined with an auto-light correcting feature mean that the display is clear in all light conditions but Pentax's attempts at introducing an interesting idea for the screen fall at the first hurdle.
The display is attached to the camera by a hinge which allows it to rotate from left to right and is designed to allow you to take a self portrait.
We feel it would have been more useful to have it hinged to allow movement up and down for taking pictures over crowds, for example.
The Optio has three quality settings, the best being a resolution of 1,600 x 1,200. On the lowest setting of 320 x 320 the supplied 16Mb storage card can hold about 130 images, while the highest gives you only two.
Anyone looking to capture video can do so at a low resolution but gadget lovers will find the 3D image option a lot more exciting. The camera offers the ability to compile 3D images from still photos, viewing the final result in the special image viewer shipped with the product. We found the whole thing a touch confusing but it's still quite an interesting novelty.
This is a great little camera that takes great pictures. Our biggest gripe is the gimmicky viewfinder but, if that is the worst thing we can find to say, it's evidently not a bad piece of kit.
It's light, compact and offers plenty of options for the newcomer or casual digital photographer.
Price: £300 (inc. VAT)
Contact: Pentax 01753 792792
www.pentax.co.uk
Also consider:
Toshiba PDR-M25
An excellent value digital camera.
See also:
Pentax has upped the ante on entry-level digital cameras with the new Optio 330GS. 13 Dec 2002
Simple to use, compact and yet powerful. Captures great pictures, too. 19 Jul 2002
Toshiba thought this digital camera would be cheap, easy to use and give good results. It doesn't quite make it. 07 Dec 2001All Digital Cameras
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