The Pentax Optio E10 is a six megapixel digital camera with a standard three times optical zoom lens. It is a simple point and shoot model. I would say the main attractions of the Optio E10 are its easy of use and low price. Therefore this camera is likely to appeal to anyone who is looking for an entry level digital camera that does not cost too much.
Image Quality
When you buy a digital camera for under £100 it is fair enough not to expect too much. I have to say though that there appears to be two fairly important issues with the Optio E10 and I suspect that one may be leading to the other.
The first problem is that a number of the photos are darker than I would like to see. This is particularly noticeable towards the corners of certain shots. I believe this may be causing the camera to set higher than normal ISO levels. This in turn is leading to fairly high levels of noise appearing in many photos. What is noise? It is not easy to describe, but it reminds me of low levels of static appearing on a television screen. How ever you would like to describe it noise causes a drop in picture quality.
Perhaps not surprisingly these problems are most noticeable in my indoor test shots. These are taken in less than perfect light. It is a shame because it looks like the camera manages to focus quite well considering the conditions. There is also no red eye in the indoor portrait. The pictures are dark though and the overall quality is not great.
Looking at the outdoor photos I would expect to see much higher quality. Although all the outdoor shots are taken in bright conditions noise levels do creep up in certain areas of the photos. Again perhaps not surprisingly this occurs to a greater degree in darker areas of the different scenes. Even so it is enough of a problem to show itself in skies and also where there is slight shade in the outdoor portrait. This is at a level I do not remember ever having seen before.
In other areas the camera appears to be able to focus to an acceptable level without being particularly sharp. Levels of blue are also overdone from time to time. In fact looking at the dedicated test for colour it appears that the Optio E10 also has problems with yellows. These have a greenish tinge to them.
The best shot of all is the macro shot. I am impressed by this photo. For a camera in this price range the result is well above average. It is sharp, clear and also bright.
Finally the test for noise with the camera set to a higher ISO rating produces a predicable result. Even though the maximum ISO rating of the camera is only ISO 200 the picture shows a big loss of quality.
Shutter Lag and Recycling Times
As is typical of many digital cameras at the lower end in terms of price the Optio E10 suffers quite badly from shutter lag. I was able to take a single picture in 1.83 seconds. This is a very slow time. To take five photos took 15.25 seconds. This is a better time, but is still above average.
You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.
Features
The 3x optical zoom lens has a focal length equivalent to 35 - 114mm in 35mm format. The aperture range is f2.8 to f4.8. A 4x digital zoom is also available. Close up photography is catered for by a macro mode. This allows you to focus from 5cms away from the subject.
For composing and reviewing images there is a 2.4" LCD screen. The screen is made up of around 110,000 pixels. I must admit I found the screen to be a bit dark and is not one of the better ones. There is no viewfinder.
The built in flash unit has a maximum range of 3.4m. The flash modes available are Auto, Flash-off, Flash-on and Red-eye reduction.
To help you take photos there are a small number of scene modes. These are Landscape, Night Scene, Portrait and Sport. When you select a scene mode the camera will use the settings it feels are most appropriate for the photo.
A self timer is available. This is for when you would like to appear in the picture. The delay time can be set to either two or ten seconds. Levels of sharpness and saturation can be adjusted and you can opt to take pictures in black and white and sepia. A small copy can be made of a photo after it has been taken. The small copy is suitable for sending by email.
Among the more advanced features are light metering (Center-weighted and Spot), ISO sensitivity (auto, 64, 100, 200) and White Balance (Auto, Manual; Available Settings: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten light, Fluorescent light). Shutter speeds are set automatically by the camera. These work in the range of two seconds to 1/1000.
Movies with a maximum resolution of 320 x 240 pixels can be recorded. These have a maximum frames per second speed of twenty. This means they are not suitable for full screen television playback. Digital zoom is available when a movie is being recorded and sound can be recorded as well.
Pentax supplies all the necessary cables and software to connect the Optio E10 to a television set, computer and PictBridge compatible printer.
Ease of Use
The main strength of this camera is its ease of use. Buttons on the back of the camera control most of the key functions such as zoom, flash and reviewing photos you have already taken. The menu system is quite straightforward and it should not take you long to find your way around.
Cost
You can pick up a Pentax Optio E10 for around £95. This compares to around £105 for a Sony DSC S600, £115 for a Fuji Finepix A600 and £120 for a Nikon Coolpix L2.
There are an increasing number of six megapixel, point and shoot digital cameras around. Although other cameras priced around the £100 mark also struggle in many areas I feel a camera like the Sony DSC S600 offers much better picture quality and therefore values for money than the Optio E10 does.
Style
The Optio E10 is a fairly typical silver digital camera with a rectangular shape. Taking its price into account the build quality of the camera is good. It feels quite solid in the hand too.
It weighs in at 130g and has dimensions of 87 x 60 x 32mm.
Batteries and Memory Card
Power is supplied to the camera by two AA batteries. Pentax estimate you should be able to take around 80 shots with the Optio E10 before the batteries need to be replaced. You should be able to take a substantially higher number of shots if you use good quality rechargeable batteries.
There are 10mb of memory built into the camera. Therefore no memory card is supplied as standard. I was only able to take three photos before the memory card became full. This is not very good as it does not even give you much of a chance to run a quick test on the camera. The camera is compatible with SD cards and I would advise you to pick one up when buying the camera.
Click here to save money on SD cards..
Points I like:
Ease of use
Where it is not so hot:
Noise and general picture quality
Small internal memory
Shutter lag
Summary
In price terms the Pentax Optio E10 is a cheap camera. Despite this I do not feel able to recommend it. When it comes to ease of use you will struggle to find cameras much more straightforward than this one, but it is let down by the quality of photos it takes.
Pentax Optio E10 Front View
Pentax Optio E10 Back View
Pentax Optio E10 Top View
Sample Menus
| Pentax Optio E10 Summary |
| Description: | 6 megapixels with a three times optical zoom lens |
| Ease of Use: | 9 |
| Features: | 6 |
| Colour: | 6 |
| Macro: | 9 |
| Indoors: | 7 |
| Value for Money: | 6 |
| Style: | 7 |
| Movie Mode: | 7 |
| Image Quality: | 5 |
| Build Quality: | 8 |
| Total: | 70 |
| Verdict: | The Pentax Optio E10 is one of the cheapest six megapixel digital cameras you will find. It is very easy to use and the build quality of the camera is also good considering its price. Unfortunately the camera is let down by the all important quality of its pictures. |
| Review Date: | September 2006 |
| Click for: | Specification Sample Images |
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