Optio S : That's not a mint in the Altoids tin! A curiously small camera.

Author's Rating:

Pros: Size!, three megapixels, 3X optical zoom, some manual features, WOW factor, more!

Cons: Expensive, images not quite as sharp as high end 3MP camera, control joystick.

The Bottom Line: 
Biggest advantage=tiny size! There is nothing as powerful in as small a package. Proves that the best camera is the one you can carry when you need the shot.

Author's Review
Technically, I only had the Optio S between 1 to 2 weeks depending on when I finally place this review up (I started it 4/21/03). I recently went through a major selloff of many of my digital cameras keeping for my own personal use a Canon S400, S45, and Nikon CoolPix 995 (which I can't seem to be able to part with). The office has the Coolpix 5000 and the other has a Coolpix 4500. My parents have a G3. I've sold off a ton of digital cameras that I bought (many on a whim) like the PowerShot S40, S230, S330, etc. So why in the world do I need the Pentax Optio S then?! Originally, I didn't plan on buying this camera but a friend did and that's how I originally got exposed to this camera and eventually went on to purchase it after getting a whale of a deal on it. Updating this review a bit on 4/25/03 after taking several more shots in landscaping and nighttime shots.

Price

I usually don't list my price for the camera this early in the review but for me... this was a major part of the decision in buying the camera with the tiny size of it. Read my epinion The Art of Buying... Getting your money's worth!. The camera retails for $399. I purchased it off ritzcamera.com for $399 through ebates.com. ebates.com refunded $20 off the price. RitzCamera.com will pricematch against specific retailers. I found the camera at Amazon.com for $379.00. Now I paid for the camera with an American Express Gold Card and used to Best Value Guarantee against a site selling the camera for $315! If all of this works correctly, I will get the Optio S for a rock bottom $275!

Some reactions around the hospital on the camera

This camera really does fit into a regular sized Altoids mint tin! So I took an empty tin and placed the camera in it with a little tissue wrap, I then offered "mints" to close friends and acquaintences in the hospital. Some of the reactions I got included:

"WTF is this? You're telling me this is camera? You've got to be sh@!#*&! me!"

"Where did you find such a cool camera?! I want one!"

"Hey, that smaller than my Canon S230! I hate you man!"

"That camera is soooo cute! Where can I get one?"

"Where are the mints... what the h@#$ is this... I wanted a mint."

Well, can't please everyone... but the Optio S definitely has a WOW factor to it.

My Overall View

The Pentax Optio S is one of the most feature rich 3MP cameras in its size catagory. Although I feel that the overall picture quality of the Optio S doesn't beat out cameras like the Canon S230, Canon A70, Nikon Coolpix 3100 and 3500 cameras. It is very good overall and will not disappoint you. However, there is no other camera that gives you 3MP of picture resolution goodness in such a miniscule sized camera at this time and likely for several months if not a year or two to come. Pentax didn't stop there and added a number of features that aren't in cameras like the S230 and S400 from Canon. The closest competitors to the Optio S are the Canon PowerShot S230 and S400, the Nikon CoolPix SQ, the Minolta Dimage Xi, Minolta Dimage F100 and F300, and a few other models (based on camera size and being 3MP or greater). Yes, the subcompact digital camera market is that wide now! Overall, all the cameras have certain advantages and disadvantages so you should go for one that fits your photographic goals and your needs. The Optio S is ideal for those who want the ulitmate portable digital camera with extra manual features and photo effect modes but compromised with some loss of picture quality and a less robust color reproduction.

The disadvantages of the camera included some sluggishness of the playback mode of the camera, the lack of a starter SD/MMC memory card in the package, the small 5 way pad that controls many of the features, the highly inaccurate optical viewfinder, a weak flash, and most of all the short battery life.

The argument for the Optio S is the decent to good picture quality in a nearly unbelievely small size! There is a good number of manual features and photo effects that you can select as well.

Pros:

1) Ultra Compact Size
2) 3 MegaPixel Camera
3) 3x Optical Zoom
4) Good image capture for size
5) Speaker on camera
6) Able to take short movie files
7) Some manual options
8) 11MB of internal memory
9) Tripod mount in center of camera
10) 7 point AF system

Cons:

1) Short battery life
2) No Secure Digital card or MultiMedia card included with package
3) Four way pad (five way if you include pressing the pad in as an accept/OK button) used for manipulating menus can be hard to use
4) Symbols not intuitive especially if you're used to other cameras
5) Weak Flash
6) Power button may be easily pressed when taking shots
7) Image quality is good but several other 3 MegaPixel camera are much better.

The Curiously Strong Mini-Camera!

The Optio S is a bit more than 3/4 of an inch thick and almost the same height and length as a credit card! The exact dimensions are 3.3 x 2 x 0.8 inches and a weight of 3.5 oz! It smaller than a PDA... it's even smaller than many cell phones! And yes, it really does fit into an Altoids tin. The camera's body is made of aluminum alloy that seems rather sturdy overall. The camera doesn't feel as solid as the Canon PowerShot S230/S400 but I consider this is due to the extremely small size of the Optio S versus the Canon S230/S400 cameras. On top of that, the camera isn't a pushover either. It takes great shots that are the equivalent of those taken by a Nikon CoolPix 995. I still feel that the Canon PowerShot S230 takes better with more neutral color reproduction and sharper details on photos. However, the difference is minor. The Optio S has a number of features as well. It certainly has several more manual settings/photo effects than the PowerShot S230.

As far as usability goes, the controls of the Optio S is easily operated with one or two hands. The front of the camera has the retractable lens, the microphone, the flash, and one end of the optical viewfinder. There is also a red LED on the front of the camera when you record voice memos. The top of the camera has the shutter and the power button although the two buttons are extremely close together. The power button is a bit recessed so it isn't too easy to press while pressing the shutter... but you can occassionally power down the camera while pressing the shutter button. The right side of the camera houses a mini-USB port (USB 1.1 compatible not 2.0 compliant) and the DC adapter port... both behind rubber covers. The bottom of the camera houses the cover for the small Lithium-ion battery and the MMC/SD card slot. The tripod is centered in the middle of the bottom of the camera. The back has a large indentation for a thumb grip. The speaker is also housed there has well as the zoom rocker and the 1.6 inch LCD screen. There are fiver more buttons as well as the 5 way directional circular pad/switch.

The camera needs about 5-6 seconds to power up before use so keep that in mind. Compare to 3-4 seconds on the Canon PowerShot S230 and the about 3 seconds on the Canon PowerShot S400.

Overall, the camera isn't too stylish if it was a bigger camera... but because of the Optio S's size, the camera now looks very stylish even with its utilitarian layout of controls. The camera is also able to maintain a thin profile due to Pentax's sliding lens mechanism that allows the camera to take excellent photos unlike the Minolta Dimage X and Xi cameras (the Xi isn't bad but still doesn't compare to the S230 and Coolpix 3500 in overall quality).

Battery Power

The tiny battery is specific to the Optio S and is supposed to provide up to 160 shots with the LCD on. I averaged around 100 shots with intermittant flash use. The battery should give you enough time to fill a 128MB card at the highest picture resolution and the lowest compression ratio. This is one of the worst battery life I've seen on any camera, but it is expected because of the Optio S's size. The battery at full charge will give you about 160 minutes of playback as per Pentax. I have been told that with the LCD off, the Optio S can take over 300 shots but you'll see later in this review why I keep the LCD on.

The battery is recharged in a separate charger that takes about 90 minutes to fully charge the battery.

Picture Perfect?

The Optio S can take photos at 4 resolutions (640x480, 1024x768, 1600x1200, and 2048x1536 i.e. 3.2 MegaPixels) at three levels of compression (Good, Better, and Best). There is no RAW format. Pictures are rather clear with good to mediocre color reproduction depending on lighting conditions... although it tends towards being dark/saturated. Image quality in daylight and bright light conditions were competitive against the Canon PowerShot S230 but as the lighting conditions changed so did the image quality. The overall image quality pales against the Canon PowerShot S230 but the Optio S does do certain features better than the S230. Most notably is the Red-eye reduction flash modes. The Canon S230 had numerous problems in red-eye reduction. The Optio S rarely has a problem (performs similarly to the Canon S400 red-eye reduction system). However, recording of shots after pressing the shutter button is slower than the Canon PowerShot S230 and S400... usually taking a full second. Flash performance on the Optio S is weak... which was expected for a camera of this size. Like the S230 and S400, low light and nighttime shots are not the strong point of this camera.

Prints up to 4X6 were stunning. 5X7 prints were good to excellent. However, 8x10 printouts were inconsistent from shot to shot. At times, some parts of the images had blurring that I didn't notice from the S230 shots. Other times the image quality was acceptable although not stunning. Yes, I even used a tripod to make sure the camera was steady. Color reproduction is decent overall but I preferred the performance from Canon and Nikon cameras in this respect.

Delay from pressing the shutter button to the camera taking the shot was approximately a second or two. The only time this may be a problem is during red-eye reduction mode. However, this can also be due to the odd way the Optio S executes the red-eye reduction mode (compare to the Canon PowerShot S230 and S400). The Optio S performs a full flash once then waits a second then another full flash while taking the shot. Most people will think that the picture was taken and move when the second flash fires.

Note that the Optio S takes a bit of time to write/record photos into the memory card. However, this is only an issue once the internal memory is full or you are switching to playback mode after snapping a photo.

The LCD is one of the most accurate LCDs I've seen on a digital camera. This is very close to 98-100% of the recorded photo. The optical viewfinder is the exact opposite story. You see about 80% of the captured image through the optical viewfinder. Note that I didn't do any type of technical/mathmatical hocus pocus to get those numbers. :)

The Optio S has a continuous shot mode as well.

Movies! Well, kinda

The Optio S is limited to 30 second clips at 320x240 resolution only with sound at 12 frames per second. It's a nice extra but I wouldn't rely on it all that much. Fast action movies do not come out well at all... even worse than that on the Canon S230 and S400. The image quality is more than acceptable (but still below the quality set by cameras like the Canon S230) but the frame rate and length of the video really hamper any effective and meaningful use of this feature. Audio on the movie is good however. Just a minor hiss on playback on the camera but voices and background sounds were picked up well.

Manual modes and Photo effects?

All of this is controlled through the 5 way directional pad. You can choose from seven picture modes like landscaping, flower, portrait, surf&snow, self-portrait, sunset, and autumn color. You also get a macro focus mode, exposure compensation mode, white balance controls, ISO settings from 50, 100, or 200, AE metering (multi-segment, center-weighted, or spot), saturation control, and contrast control. There is even a 3D photo effect mode that allows you to use the special 3D glasses and stand to shoot 3D photos! Photo effects include slim and wide distortion, sepia, B&W, and various color filters. You also have Macro and Super Macro modes on the camera. Stitch shots are a breeze with this camera. You also have a variety of timer, infrared remote, and continuous shot modes to pick from.

Controls and Display

The only two main drawbacks are the poor positioning of the power and shutter button and the difficult to use 5 way mulit-controled. As I said before, it was sometimes easy to press the power button when pressing the shutter button. The recessed 5 way switch (4 directions and can be pressed in) is a bit hard to manipulate due to its small size (diameter of a pencil eraser head!) and was one of my least favorite aspects of this camera. This 5 way pad was easiest manipulated if you have small fingers or long fingernails. Most of the features are accessed by the 5 way switch although I would read the manual to understand what each graphic means (many features... well almost all the features are not labeled by text but by a picture... things like landscape mode and movie mode are easy enough to discern but other symbols can be a bit vague especially if you're used to other digital camera brands). If you have trouble with manipulating the switch then you're going to hate this camera... since you're not going to be able to access 4/5 of the camera's features and photo effects.

The other buttons on the camera include the zoom rocker, menu button, display button, playback button, flash mode/delete button, and the macro/landscape/MF/protect photo button.

Once you learn what the pictures/graphics mean and learn the best way to manipulate the 5 way pad, the camera is easy enough to operate.

The display has three settings... basic, advanced (with all active settings displayed and a histogram), and off. However, note that the display is the sole source of information on what the camera settings are. On top of that, the LCD display is much more accurate than the optical viewfinder. Unfortunately, the battery life is rather short with the LCD on. The display is fairly easy to read in the sunlight and seems to have an anti-glare coating. Menus and setting information are easy to read.

By the way, you can enter display/playback mode without the camera extending the lens. Hold the playback button while you turn on the Optio S (thanks to tychay for this information).

Voice Memos and Playback

One of the nicer features of this camera is the ease of adding a voice memo to any picture. You press the 5 way pad and you can record a short 30 second voice message that plays back clearly on the camera's built in speaker (with a minor hiss). The voice memo is kept separate from the picture file and can be deleted without harm to the photo. You can also record voice memos without the picture by holding the power button for greater than 5 seconds. However, the camera will extend and retract the lens when you getting into the pure voice recorder mode. (Thanks to epinions member tychay for the heads up).

Playback mode is controlled mostly through the 5 way pad with the use of the erase button and the protect photo button above the pad. You can magnify photos up to 4x their size although the camera strains a second or two before executing the magnification (A delay that I didn't experience with the Canon S230 or S400). This makes playback mode feel a bit sluggish compared to some of the other digital cameras I own, owned, or played with but I can live with it. Picture displays were clear and showed good color reproduction. Moving from one photo to another didn't show any significant delays.

Extra features

The Optio S had two other notable features. The World Time mode and the Alarm mode. These two features coupled with the voice memo could make the Optio S substitute for a basic PDA. The World Time allows you to set from any of 62 major cities in 28 different time zones and set daylight savings time as well! The alarm is loud enough to wake most people. You're allowed to have up to three alarm settings with a photo displayed when the alarm goes off. Nifty features that add to the Optio S usefulness.

What's in the package

The Optio S comes with the tiny camera, a lithium-ion battery pack, the battery charger, a CD-ROM with software, a long camera strap (which is better to hang the camera from your neck instead of being short enough to be a wrist strap), a plastic 3D viewer for photos taken in 3D mode on the Optio S, a mini-USB-to-USB cable, mini-USB-to-A/V cable, and the manual. I think I listed everything in the package. Yes, there is no Secure Digital card or MultiMedia card and there is no case included in the package.

What accessories should you buy

Well, first off... you have to buy a MEMORY CARD. I think the SD cards write faster than the MMC cards but double check at one of the photography web sites on memory card write speeds. My favorite sites include:

www.dpreview.com
www.imaging-resource.com
www.steves-digicams.com

I purchased a Lexar 256MB Secure Digital (SD) card for $68 before a $20 mail-in rebate. I'm still waiting for it to be delivered as I write this review. I used a SanDisk 64MB SD card for this review that I used in my Pocket PC PDAs.

I would also consider buying another battery. These are a bit steep and hard to find (as is the camera). The average cost of a new battery is $39.99.

I would also buy a box of Altoids mints... a 1.76 oz tin. Eat the mints, clean the tin, and you have a neat little hard case for the Optio S! You can add a little foam or cotton to pad the camera too.

I would also recommend a memory card reader to help save battery power. If you don't want to get the memory card reader, then get an AC power adapter for transferring the JPEG picture files to your computer.

Other reviews

Read my review on the Canon PowerShot S400

read my review on the Canon PowerShot S230

You can check my profile page for other digital camera reviews like the Canon S45 and also check out epinions resident digital camera guru Howard Creech