Pentax UK Press Release

PENTAX EVOLVES THE OPTIO ‘S’ FAMILY WITH THE LAUNCH OF THE OPTIO A10 - Taking the Optio ‘S’ style and creating an all-new flagship standard

Building on the success of established Optio ‘S’ family, Pentax continues to set the standard amongst compact digital cameras with the launch of the Optio A10. Featuring a proprietary Shake Reduction system, the Optio A10 also boasts 8.0 effective megapixels and a 1.8-inch CCD to create the sharpest images yet.

Style-conscious novices and photographic enthusiasts alike will benefit from the superior features that the Optio A10 offers. Despite a tiny size of 88.5 x 54.5 x 23mm (w x h x d), the Optio A10 offers an unrivalled user experience that will produce exceptional picture quality, regardless of the photographer’s level of ability or the environmental conditions.

The Optio A10 combines a stylish, compact design with exceptional features and shooting capabilities. The lens unit has been completely redesigned and an anti-vibration mechanism has been added to absorb camera shake. Weighing a mere 125g, the camera offers superior imaging capabilities without compromising on style.

Major features

High quality images
The Optio A10 has a 1/1.8-inch CCD and 8.32 effective megapixels. With about 1.6 times the light receiving area of preceding conventional compact camera CCDs, this large CCD offers superior tone reproduction, texture delineation and noise reduction.

High-performance smc PENTAX zoom lens
The newly developed smc PENTAX zoom lens is constructed from seven elements in five groups, including three double-sided aspherical lenses. This design corrects effectively for spherical and other aberrations and the original coating cuts out ghosting and flare.

New ASIC (application specific integrated circuit)
The new ASIC supplies the Optio A10 with significantly more image-processing power. The high-speed processing capability means that the Optio A10 attains a higher level of tone reproduction and colour correction based on large amounts of actual photo data.

Shake Reduction system
The newly designed Shake Reduction system is particularly useful in shooting conditions that are sensitive to camera shake, such as telephoto shots or indoor shots without a flash. The mechanism works in the following way:

- two internal sensors detect the amount of camera shake
- a dedicated CPU calculates the necessary correction from the amount of camera shake and the lens’ focusing data
- a proprietary mechanism moves the CCD based on the calculated correction to compensate for the camera shake

Ultra-compact, lightweight body
Despite redesigning the lens unit, enlarging the CCD and adding an anti-vibration mechanism to absorb camera shake, the Optio A10 remains as slim as possible. The Pentax sliding lens system enables the minute specification of 88.5 x 54.5 x 23mm (w x h x d) and weighs a mere 125g.

Classic, stylish design
Exuding a sense of style and sophistication, the design is a functional as it is stylish. The position of each control component has been optimised through operational tests and a holding-assist dimple has been added to the left side of the camera’s topside surface.

Intuitive mode palette
The mode palette, which lists various modes on the LCD monitor, enables the quick navigation through 15 shooting modes and 15 playback modes. Using the translucent-through display, which superimposes mode icons over the LCD monitor image, enables settings to be changed while framing the subject - making the composition of a picture easier than ever.

High-quality movie mode with long recording times
The Optio A10 captures moving pictures at 30 frames per second, using the MPEG-4 format. Camera shake can also be corrected automatically by switching on the movie Shake Reduction feature.

High-definition, easy-to-view LCD monitor
Despite its compact size, the Optio A10 features a 2.5-inch LCD monitor with the clarity of approximately 232,000 pixels. The monitor is easy to see, even in bright locations, due to its backlight and low-reflection design. As a result, it’s easier to navigate menus, select settings and compose shots.

Other features
- precise autofocus with a tracking AF function feature
- candlelight mode enables high-sensitivty shooting at a Standard Output Sensitivity of 800
- approximately 24MB of built-in memory and supported by external SD memory cards
- built-in AF-assist light (can be switched on or off)
- frame composite function that can add decorative frames to images
- pan-focus function for easy snapshots
- convenient image-rotation display for confirmation of vertical shots
- ACDSee for Pentax image viewer / image management software
- FotoNation red-eye compensation function for flash photography
- USB 2.0 (Hi-Speed) compatible
- DPOF functions, Exif Print and PRINT Image Matching III compatible
- PictBridge compatible