Pentax Optio S40 too big?

Author's Rating:

Pros: Small, 4Megapixel, Lots of features, 3x Optical Zoom, Very Intuitive interface

Cons: Could be smaller (See Optio S4i), some blurring from small lens

The Bottom Line: 
Excellent camera, but buying this means you want a small camera, and there are smaller with the same features. (S4i-S5i)

Author's Review
The Pentax Optio S40 is beautiful camera made with every detail in mind. It's key selling point though is its minute size. Overall the camera is a great buy. Some final picture quality is lost due to the minute lens, but for anyone who is out to get a nice point and shoot camera this is more than enough. The 4 Megapixel shots you get off of this camera are high enough detail to zoom into the very hairs on someones face. A small noticeable defect that most reviews do not point out, is a blurring in the bottom left hand corner of it's pictures, due to the miniture lens. For many people technology is a complex and dangerous place. Not for this camera, the user interface is easy to understand and use. Beginners will quickly understand their new camera. The camera is very impressive in all aspects, but if you are buying it it should be mostly for the size. But is it truly small enough?


The Camera's small metallic enclosure does beat out many competitors but now falls short of Pentax's newer product, the Optio S4i and Optio S5i. Although the S40 packs identical features as the S4i, including a 3x optical zoom (impressive for a camera of it's size) and a 4 Megapixel CCD, along with movie capture, audio capture, ton's of special features, and a very intuitive interface, the S40 is noticeable size bigger than it's baby sister S4i.