Pentax Optio W30 Review
Review Date: June 11th 2007
Author: Mark Goldstein
Leave
a comment about this Review
Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 7 megapixel Best
mode, which gives an average image size of around 2Mb.
Noise
There are 7 ISO settings available
on the Pentax Optio W30 which you can select at any time
if the camera is in the normal shooting mode.
There is no discernible noise at the slowest settings
of ISO 64 and 100, as you would expect, but noise is unfortunately
already starting to appear at ISO 200. There is obvious noise
at
ISO 400, and by ISO 800 it
is very obvious indeed, together with blurring of detail.
The ISO 1600 and 3200 settings are virtually unusable,
looking good on the
spec sheet, but terrible in reality. Here are some 100% crops
which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
Sharpening
Here are two 100% Crops which have
been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand
image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the
camera images are just a little soft at the default sharpening
setting. Alternatively you can change the in-camera sharpening
level if you don't like the default look.
File Quality
The Pentax Optio W30 has 3 different image quality settings available, with Best
being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops
which show the quality of the various options, with the file
size shown in brackets.
Chromatic Aberrations
The Pentax Optio W30 dealt extremely well with chromatic
aberrations during the review. Very limited purple fringing
was mainly present around the edges of objects in high-contrast
situations, as shown
in the example below.
Macro
The Pentax Optio W30 offers a Macro setting
that allows you to focus on a subject that is just 1cm away
from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first
image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this
case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
Flash
The flash settings on the Pentax Optio W30
are Auto, Flash On, Flash Off, Auto + Red-Eye, Flash On
+ Red-Eye and Soft Flash. These shots of a white coloured
wall were
taken
at
a distance
of
1.5m.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Auto
Flash - Telephoto (114mm) |
|
|
 |
| |
|
And here are some self-portrait shots.
As you can see, both the Flash On setting and the Red-Eye
option caused a small amount of red-eye.
|
|
Flash
On (100% Crop) |
|
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
Flash
- Red-Eye (100% Crop) |
|
|
 |
| |
|
Night Shot
The Pentax Optio W30's maximum shutter
speed is 4 seconds, which is not great news if you're seriously
interested in night photography. The shot below was taken
using a shutter speed of 1/5th second, aperture of f/3.4
at ISO 200. I've included a 100% Crop of the image to show
what the quality is like.
|
|
Night
Shot (100% Crop) |
|
|
 |
| |
|
Overall Image Quality
The Pentax Optio W30's image quality is only average. The camera's
main drawback is noisy images, with the
relatively slow speed of ISO 200
showing some noise and blurring of detail. The noise gets
progressively worse as you go from ISO 400 to ISO 800 and
finally to the completely unusable 1600 and 3200 settings.
On a brighter note, the Pentax Optio W30 handled chromatic
aberrations extremely well
with very limited
purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations.
The 7 megapixel images were just a little soft straight out
of the camera at the default sharpen setting, and
either
require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe
Photoshop, or you could increase the in-camera sharpening
level. The night photograph was OK, although the maximum shutter
speed of 4 seconds does limit what you can achieve after
dark. Macro performance is a stand-out highlight, allowing
you
to focus
as close
as
1cm away from the subject, although there is a lot of
shadowing at such a close distance. The built-in flash worked
well indoors, with limited red-eye and good overall exposure.
Overall, something of a mixed performance by the Pentax Optio
W30.
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Pentax Optio W30 have been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.
Compare Prices
Support PhotographyBLOG: Buy the Pentax Optio W30 from
one of our affiliate retailers:
|
RSS
Feeds
