If you are looking for a very compact and lightweight digital camera then the Pentax Optio S7 could fit the bill. It weighs 100g without the battery and memory card. This makes it one of the lightest digital cameras on the market. Cameras less than 20mm wide are also few and far between and the Optio S7 just sneaks in under that size.
I would say the other key attraction is ease of use. The camera has a special green mode. If you use this it cuts down the options to an absolute minimum making it very hard for anyone to become confused by the camera.
The camera comes with a rechargeable battery and a charger. Pentax suggests you should be able to take something like 180 photos between charges. Other companies are now claiming that their cameras can take up to 460 shots in between charges, so perhaps the Optio S7 is on the low side in this area. Even so this is a big improvement on earlier models.
As is the current trend memory is built into the camera itself. Therefore a memory card is not supplied in the box. This camera has 23mb of storage built in. That is enough to get you started, but you will soon run out of memory. The camera is compatible with SD and also the SDHC memory cards. The SDHC cards are high capacity memory cards.
Headline features are seven megapixels and a three times optical zoom lens. At the time of writing that is about standard for a pocket sized digital camera. On the back is a 2.5" LCD screen. There is no viewfinder available.
In fact this camera is typical in many ways of the current batch of cameras. It is though one of the cheapest slimline cameras available. At its low price I can see many people considering the Optio S7 if they are looking for a truly compact camera and do not want to spend a fortune.
This is also one of the few digital cameras where a remote control can be used. This needs to be bought separately.
One area where the camera has more features than many other models is for editing photos already taken. The editing tools include being able to add colour effects to a photo, removing red eye, adjusting brightness levels and adding a short voice memo to the photo. Voice memos can be useful for adding a short burst of commentary to help you to recall where and when the photo was taken and what was happening at the time.
The Optio S7 can also be used purely as a voice recorder.
So there you have it. This is a very small and compact camera. It is also one of the cheapest you are likely to find for this style and design.
