Customer Reviews:
  Waterproof July 14, 2006
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I purchased this camera primarily to take W.W. kayaking. It easily fits in the pocket of my life jacket. The shutter lag common to digital cameras is pretty fast. The LCD screen can be difficult to see in bright sunlight. Picture quality is good but not great.You can't expect too much out of that tiny little lens. With a 1 gig memory disk it will hold hundreds of pics on the highest quality setting.
 Waterproof is cool July 2, 2006
12 out of 15 found this review helpful
The waterproof capability is very nice. I got some good snorkeling pictures while using this camera. And I had it in the water for 90 minutes at a time. Otherwise, the Pentax is average at best. The camera is so thin that the optics aren't that good. I had this camera and my Canon A610 for out-of-water pictures and it was no contest. The Canon has much better exposure and contrast. The Pentax is very cool in that I can take it anywhere and it is feather light but you'll probably want a second camera for taking very high quality pictures. This is more for snapshots and underwater use.
 Great start, dissapointing finish June 30, 2006
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
I was so excited to recieve this camera after obsessively researching it for two weeks. I looked up every review online, went to the stores and tried out the camera and its main competitor the Olympus Stylus 720sw. From what I gathered, the Olympus is overpriced and not as high quality as the Optio. Ive had the camera for two weeks now and it did take some fantastic pictures, great fun in the water and for scenic and portrait shots. Unfortunately today after taking it in the water for only 10 minutes to take some surf shots, it promptly filled up with water and broke. The screen had water trapped behind it and it refused to turn back on. It wasnt even submerged under the water, just floating on top and was in the lock position the whole time. After drying it and opening it up, I see that the water seal has failed and the battery and memory card are soaked. Hopefully I just got unlucky and recieved the bad one in a huge batch. I am very dissapointed as I am heading off on vacation now without a camera. One call was the seller and they were helpful, but cant get me a new camera for a week. I had only the 30 day warrantee that comes with the camera, and luckily I am still covered. But as waterproofing seems to be a relatively new technology I would suggest buying the extended warranty. Who knows if this will happen again. I liked the camera so Im willing to give it one more shot. Ill let you know what happens.
Very good camera choice June 25, 2006
28 out of 29 found this review helpful
The Optio W10 camera will stand out for one feature: the fact that it is waterproof. But that might take away from the point that this is a very good camera without that feature.
This is a refined, 3rd generation of the "W" series. Handling, features, menus, etc. are all handled very well. One very nice feature is that Pentax continues to use the same battery over and over, make it very easy to find.
Without the waterproofing, it would be a solid, 3 star camera. Good photos, but average 3x zoom, average 2.5" LCD, average 6 megapixels, and a tad larger, plastic body. However, the latter is a part of the waterproofing.
The waterproofing gets a well deserved extra star. Not going in the water? Well, you might get caught in the snow or rain; and it's a feature you might use if you had it. The internal sliding zoom feature with built-in filter protects the lens from bumps and drops.
Another terrific optional accessory is the "skin", a rubberized material that stretches over the body, giving it more protection and giving you a better grip. It doesn't get in the way of operating the camera at all.
Excellent Pocket Camera Perfect for Summer/Water Fun June 20, 2006
19 out of 19 found this review helpful
After returning from my whitewater rafting trip in Costa Rica, I was disappointed with the photos I took from the disposable waterproof cameras they sell at the shop. I paid $20 for 27 exposures and then more money for developing and you hope you get the shots and then have to pay more for extra prints or blowups. So I wanted a waterproof camera, did my research, Olympus and Pentax came up, Olympus was rated for deeper depths, but Pentax had a sweeter price (over $100) that is the main reason I bought the camera.
Well I must say the Pentax Optio W10 is fantastic, it really is waterproof, though I have not submerged it for long periods or very deep, since it is only rated for 5 feet, and I probably won't take the chance too often, if you lock the battery seal improperly you can damage the camera. Still getting it wet, dropping it in water and just getting soaked was no problem. The 6MP pictures are beautiful outdoors, and the indoors with flash are very nice. If your subject gets too far from the flash, quality does drop noticeably. The camera also shoots 30fps VGA with sound and looks really nice too, though camera shake is very noticeable and zoom looks choppy, listening to the internal speakers are a joke though, still having an underwater video camera is pretty cool. The camera only has 3X zoom, but comes with a wealth of shooting modes, internal frames and internal memory.
I have a nice 2GB SD card which lets me shoot over 600+ photos on the highest quality. Compact, easy to use, waterproof, and a nice 2.5 LCD screen for viewing, the screen is hard to see in bright daylight but still useable since if you lock the button into focus mode the screen brightens. I gave the camera to a 7 year old girl at a picnic and she shot photos all day, dropped it, got it wet, and it worked perfectly with no scratches or faults.
The best part is that the camera is about the same cost for a similar camera that isn't waterproof. I bought mine from Willoughby's for $230 and got free shipping too.
A great camera for anyone who wants to take it to the beach, rafting, pool, or in the rain. I plan to shoot some underwater footage soon and will report back. Shoot Fast Brothers!
Yours truly,
John Dae Min
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