Customer Reviews

Pentax Optio H90 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Matte Black)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read a mediocre review on this camera and I have to strongly disagree with the reviewer. Having had several Canon point and shoots I was looking for a small camera that would take very nice pictures and had high definition video. I also wanted a camera that was very small. Knowing that no small point and shoot could take the place of a DSLR I expected some compromises.
The H90 is a new camera and was introduced only in January 2010. Before buying it I could find no reviews on the internet by any consumer who had actually bought and used the camera. All I could find were press releases that repeated the company description of the camera features.
Since buying this camera I have taken many pictures and videos under various conditions. The clarity and color of the photos I am getting is truly amazing. This includes landscapes, portraits and suprisingly to me macro and super macro shots (which I haven't seen on other compact cameras). I have taken close ups of insects, flowers and other objects that could be in a professional photo journal. The shooting modes and other features are easily and quickly changed by intuitive screen icons. With a 4GB SDHC card there is plenty of memory for pictures and videos. The simple rectangular shape makes it a camera you can slide comfortably into your shirt or coat pocket. The camera housing feels solid. Playback to a TV or computer is very easy. Battery life is good but I suggest you carry a charged spare if you plan on a full day of picture taking.
For a small pocket camera the Optio H90 is an incredible feat of engineering. Pentax has been around a long time but isn't carried in many stores. My roomate in the 70's had a Pentax and swore by it but I hadn't paid much attention to the brand. I was attracted to this particular camera by the number of features for the price. For $180 I feel like I have gotten one of the best deals ever on a camera. I have never owned a Pentax before but this little camera has impressed me to the point that I will make my next DSLR purchase from Pentax. And by the way, the owner's manual is extensive and is only written in English. It is refreshing to have something to hold in your hand to read and that is comprehesnive.
I am putting a few of the photos in the image gallery for all to see. These pictures were taken at a state park while I was really just experimenting with and getting used to the camera. I have not put my best pictures in the gallery because I intend to copyright them. I am amazed when I look at these photos. They rival pictures I have taken with my old Canon SLR using some very expensive lenses.
This is a great little camera and well worth the price.

This is a darn cute camera and it's a great price, however a camera should be more than that... it should take good pictures -- unfortunately, this one does not.

I bought this camera after reading a few online reviews -- to replace an ailing Samsung NV10 which has terrible video quality and a sensor cursed with noise. While not a primary function, sometimes, it's nice to shoot a video now and again. The Pentax does excel here -- the video isn't HD-quality, but it's large enough and the sound quality is decent (whereas the Samsung was neither).

However, in a picture-to-picture comparison, the ailing 10MP Samsung sensor/lens is far better/sharper than the Pentax at 12MP. The Pentax pictures -- at any resolution and in any mode -- seemed to have a strange "soften" filter applied... to the point that they were painful to view full-size. The images just weren't sharp -- inside, outside, anywhere. I'll try to attach images in the "customer's image" area for viewing.

So, long story short... this one's going back to Amazon and I'll be looking at ponying up for a better, more expensive camera... The Pentax has its place, just not in my pocket.

I bought the Pentax Optio H90 to replace my Canon Power Shot S51S. I needed a small, light weight, good quality, point and shoot camera to take on my hiking and backpacking trips that I didn't need to break my piggy bank for. This little camera fits the bill. I read the 4 Amazon reviews and hesitated after reading the 3 star review but decided to buy it based on the 5 star reviews. I'm glad I did! I've used this camera on 15 to 20 day hikes and backpacking trip in the last 2 months and have been very happy with the quality and sharpness of the pictures. I'm especially impressed with the image sharpness...one picture in particular is a close up of an insect taken in Super Macro Focus Mode. I could see every details of it's legs, eyes, attennae, etc when viewing the pic on the camera using the zoom function. Also, I'm happy with the video quality which is a lot better than my Canon. In addition, I tend not to read the how-to-use information that comes with the camera but this Pentax Optio H90 is user friendly...maneuvering around the camera w/o it is a breeze. In summary, for the price, this camera ROCKS!

This is a long review, but I never found one that talked about what I needed to know when I was looking for a camera. So, here's my take on the Optio H90. I originally had a Flip Ultra HD for one of my college classes and was really happy with it, but I generally don't like things that do only one thing and I'm not really into video that much, so it didn't make sense to have the Flip. When out with my friend, we stopped by a local camera store and I noticed this camera had the same specs as the flip, but had a wider angle lens and more zoom for LESS money than what I paid for the flip! I promptly took the flip back to where I bought it from and purchased the Pentax. I couldn't be happier. The still shots are higher quality than a Nikon that I tried (the Nikon was noisier and not as clear) and the video does just as well as the Flip Ultra HD (though the sound suffers slightly). It has done well in various settings such as in a moving car (video and still), low light indoor situations, outdoors in the rain, and outdoors in the sun.

For the video... The video does get noisy when the camera is in a low light setting. I expect this from a low-end HD camera. The higher ISO (sensitivity) generates noise, but allows you to actually see something at least. The Kodak Ki8 for instance doesn't show much of anything in low light, but is crisp. I'd rather have the grain and have something to look at. If you don't want the grain, pay for a better camera. I haven't experimented much with the SR (Shake Reduction), but I do know that it is digitally done (software) so I would rather just go out of my way to stabilize it on my own before using it anyways. Sound quality is fairly good. When recording a friend at a noisy restaurant, I could still understand her while there was lots of background noise which is fairly impressive. In-camera video editing is basic (take a still from the video and seperate clips at x point). External software for editing is necessary.

For the images... This is a "low-end" point and shoot. Don't expect to have professional looking photographs from this. It excels at color. Colors are vivid and accurate. Sharpness is fair, but better than the Nikon S3000 (which was the same price at the store I visited). I have had no problems with it focusing, but I haven't tried taking...say a photo of a friend at a concert (really low light). I hear it may have problems in that little of light being that it doesn't use a focus light. For what I use it for, it's just fine. The zoom is great. Smooth movement and the optical quality isn't affected. Avoid the digital zoom, as it will just pixelize whatever you're shooting. The in-camera editing options for images are really fun to play with and you can get some vintage looking photographs with a few presses of a button. There is also a crop function, a rotate (which is useful), frame composite (places pre-made frames over the image), Red-eye reduction, resize, copy, and voiceover. Pretty good for in-camera. Most cameras don't offer much of anything except perhaps rotate.

Overall, this is a great little point and shoot, particularly for this price point. You get 12.1 megapixels, HD video, and great in-camera editing options. For this price, you're not going to find another camera with that many options. I will have this camera with me all the time as a fun walk-around camera when I don't feel like carrying around my DSLR, Lenses, and flash. It's very small, quick to start up, and good at what it's meant to do. I would recommend getting a case to carry it in to protect the screen, as it is exposed (no hard plastic over it). Other than that, grab and go! What point and shoot is meant to be.

My old camera for 6 years crapped out on me and I was looking for a replacement and ran across this cam. After doing hours of research on the camera and reading countless user reviews I decided to purchase this camera and I am very happy with my purchase. I don't know if I got it a just the right time or what, but it was only 99 which is a heck of a deal in my book. I would advise my friends on the same cam if they needed one in the near future.