Overview
The Pentax X90 offers plenty of lens power with 26x zoom. The lens also offers wide angle capabilities giving the camera the flexibility to cover more or less any photo opportunity. As is typical of this type of camera it also has a set of manual exposure controls allowing you to fine tune your photos.
The design of the camera is based around a smaller Digital SLR.
Why Buy The Pentax X90
The big attraction is the length of lens. In addition this type of camera with its range of manual controls can offer the ideal mix of features if you are looking to learn the basics of photography.
Main Features
Megapixels:
Zoom:
LCD Screen:
Dimensions:
Weight:
12
26x
2.7 inches
84.5 x 111 x 110mm
428g
Macro:
HD Movies:
Manual Controls:
Batteries:
Memory Cards:
1cm
Yes
Yes
Lithium-ion Rechargeable
SD/SDHC/Eye?Fi cards
Features
As mentioned above the key feature is the 26x optical zoom lens. The lens has a focal length equivalent to 26 - 676mm in 35mm format. This gives it wide angle capabilities. So there is flexibility for wide angle shots as well as the more obvious distant subjects. Image stabilisation has been built into the sensor.
This type of camera is almost always equipped with a set of manual exposure controls. In this case Pentax has equipped the X90 with fully manual exposure as well as aperture priority and shutter priority. You also have access to standard fine tuning options such as white balance and ISO level.
In addition to the 2.7 inch LCD screen there is an electronic viewfinder. This has dioptre correction to change the focusing of the viewfinder to suit your own eyesight.
Close up work is catered for by a macro mode that can focus from 1cm away from the subject. For high speed work there is a burst mode that can fire off up to 11 frames per second if you reduce the resolution to 5 megapixels.
A variety of aspect ratios are available. These are 4:3, 3:2, 16:9 and 1:1 for square photos. More gimmicky features include a smile shutter. This allows the X90 to automatically take a picture if it detects someone is smiling. Blink detection gives you a warning if someone blinks in a photo.
There is a High Definition movie mode and the X90 is compatible with Eye-Fi memory cards. These offer Wi-Fi connectivity to a computer.
Handling
When it comes to handling the X90 handles in a very similar way to the majority of digital cameras with long zoom lenses. The camera body looks similar to a small Digital SLR camera. This gives you a good sized grip to grab hold of on the front of the camera. On the back of the camera is a small raised rubber area where you can rest your thumb.
On the back of the camera is a viewfinder. This does not sit flush to the body and overhangs the LCD screen. Built into the viewfinder unit is a dioptre correction wheel. This allows you to adjust viewfinder focusing to suit your own eyesight.
Situated on the top of the camera are buttons to turn the camera on and off, control exposure compensation and the shutter button. Zooming in and out is controlled by a ring that wraps around the shutter button. Also on top of the camera is the main control dial for selecting the shooting mode.
The flash unit pops up away from the lens. This can help to reduce problems with red eye in portrait shots. The button to make the flash pop up is sited next to the flash unit.
There are a number of different buttons on the back of the camera. Either side of the viewfinder are buttons to toggle between the viewfinder and LCD screen and one to change the information displayed on the LCD screen. To the right of the LCD screen are buttons to place the X90 into face detection mode and one to review photos. Next are four buttons in a circle. These are for setting the self timer, placing the camera into macro mode, selecting the shooting mode and choosing the flash setting. In the centre of these buttons sits one to confirm your choice of setting.
At the bottom are two further buttons. The first is to access the menu. The second is to place the X90 into green mode. When in green mode menu options are reduced to a minimum. This helps with ease of use.
In addition to the buttons there is a selection wheel to speed up the task of choosing settings.
There are 22 main menu options and 19 setup options.
Image Quality - See Sample Images Below
Outdoor Scenic Shot 1
As long as you keep print sizes to a sensible level this type of picture should look good. Focusing is sharp across the picture and I like the way the contrasting colours are handled. The downside of the picture is that the X90 struggles to show detail in the lightest areas of the shots.
Outdoor Scenic Shot 2
This shot lacks a bit of quality. Cameras with larger lens units like this one should have an advantage when it comes to quality. That does not seem to be the case here. I have tested many smaller cameras that are able to show higher levels of sharpness, lower noise levels and more detail in the lighter areas of this shot. Although the boats are distant in this scene some of them look a little like white blobs. Better quality cameras show a lot more detail and definition.
Outdoor Scenic Shot 3
The X90 finds zooming in far easier. This shot is so much sharper than the wide angle shot. Compared with other super zoom digital cameras there is a lot of purple fringing. This means that you will either need to stick to smaller print sizes so that it doesn't show or clean up any fringing with a package such as Photoshop. I like the way the camera has balanced the lighter and darker colours in this photo.
Outdoor Building
With the lens safely away from any extremes picture quality is fine. The X90 is able to lock focus on to the building a produce a sharp shot. There is also only minimal loss of focus as you move towards the edges of the shot.
Outdoor Portrait
The outdoor portrait is the best portrait effort by the X90. I like the colours in the shot and the overall look of the photo is a good one. Again with the lens safely away from any extremes the camera has no problem focusing.
Indoor Portrait With Flash
Sharpness is good, but lighting is uneven. There is plenty of power available from the flash unit, but there are areas of this photo that are dark and lacking in detail. The skin tones are very bright indeed. This gives them a somewhat over the top look.
Indoor Portrait Without Flash
This shot is disappointing. Lighting conditions for the shot are really not that bad and the vast majority of cameras produce a far better effort than this. The X90 simply cannot control noise levels and this ruins the picture.
Macro
In terms of sharpness the X90 does well. I have often thought that using a physically larger lens for close up work leads to better results than those routinely achieved by smaller compacts. If you look at the pencils on the outside of the row you will notice they start to curve round. Therefore you may need to take care when selecting your macro subjects or be prepared to process your close up shots in Photoshop.
Colours
There is plenty of depth to the colours produced by the X90. They don't overpower though. The outdoor scenes have a pleasant mix of blue skies together with greens and browns of the foliage.
Noise
Noise does seem to present more of a problem to this camera than a lot of others. As with any camera you are likely to see the best results in daylight, but the difference in quality with shots taken in lowlight is very pronounced with the X90.
Picture Quality Summary
As with other Pentax digital cameras I found picture quality to be a bit hit and miss. The difference between picture quality in natural daylight and lowlight is more marked than with the majority of digital cameras.
Shutter Lag Times
Single Shot
Five Shots
Single Shot With Flash
Five Shots With Flash
Turn on Time
0.43 seconds
12.39 seconds
1.75 seconds
23.08 seconds
2.78 seconds
Ease of Use
As with any camera offering a range of manual exposure controls it will take time to get acquainted with everything on offer. Compared to other advanced digital cameras the X90 is probably a little easier to use than most.
Points I Like
Long Lens - General Features
Where it Could Improve
Picture Quality - Noise in Lowlight - Loss of Detail in Light Objects - Shutter Lag with Flash
Verdict
The Pentax X90 is up against some very strong competition in this category. It offers plenty of features to get your teeth into, but picture quality struggles in comparison to other super zoom models that have really got their act together.
Where to Buy - Pentax X90
Test Shots
Product Shots
Front View
Back View
Top View
Sample Menus
The camera used in this review of the Pentax X90
was kindly provided by UK Digital Cameras
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Related Pages
Pentax X90 Review Pentax X90 Specification Pentax X90 Sample Images
Review Date
November 2010
