Pentax Optio W30 Review
Review Date: June 11th 2007
Author: Mark Goldstein
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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:
ISO 64 (100% Crop) |
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 3200 (100% Crop) |
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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.
Original
(100% Crop)
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Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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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.
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7M
Best (2.57Mb) (100% Crop)
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7M
Better (1.30Mb) (100% Crop)
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7M
Good (0.97Mb) (100% Crop)
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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.
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Example
1 (100% Crop)
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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.
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Macro Shot |
Macro Shot (100% Crop) |
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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.
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No Flash - Wide Angle (38mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (38mm) |
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No Flash - Telephoto (114mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (114mm) |
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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.
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Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash - Red-Eye |
Flash - Red-Eye (100% Crop) |
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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.
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Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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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.
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