Pentax Optio 330 3MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

by Pentax

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 3.8 x 1.2 x 2.3 inches ; 7.7 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005N80H
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,547 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 30, 2001

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great image quality and many features in a mini package, September 3, 2001

By 

"ertlr" (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pentax Optio 330 3MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

The Pentax is my 3rd digital camera and it is the best in terms of size, features and image quality. I had a Canon Powershot A5 (.9 MPixel) and a Canon Powershot S10 (2.1 MPixels). Both were good cameras in their class but the Pentax Optio 330 has done a significant step forward. I was looking for a smaller Camera which I could take always with me and it should have 3 million pixels resolution and if possibel a 3x optical zoom lens. The Pentax fullfilled this wishlist and the 800 pictures which I have taken so far showed impressively a significantly improved image quality over my previous cameras beyond its obvious resolution advantage. Pro:
- Great color management, sharpness, large contrast - overall - very realistic images
- Large resolution 3 MPixels
- 3x optical Zoom 37-111 mm which produces very good and sharp images
- Rechargable Lithium battery which lasts through the day
- compact battery charger (100-240V)
- wealth of information about exposure data on the LCD display
- Compactflash Memory Type 1 - important when coming from Canon
- auto and manual exposure mode with shutter speed range 15 sec to 1/2000
- many more features
Con:
- LCD display quality does no match up to image quality - not important but annoying and reason for 4 instead of 5 stars! Not good enough to use for the manual focusing mode as it does not allow to judge correctly in focus or out of focus
- no additional 'low power' display with basic information on number of exposures flash mode or makro
- makro mode only in wide postion of zoom - a sacrifice to the small form factor
All in all a great small camera for every day use and well worth the money

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Small size Big Promise Some Sad Compromises, December 20, 2001

By 

MaxB "maxieb" (Pretoria South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pentax Optio 330 3MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I have one of these super little digitals in my pocket - smaller than my wallet, it's truly convenient for scenic shots. Its 3 X optical zoom is almost adequate, and helped by its 2X digital zoom. I agree with virtually all the pro's listed by the very enthusiastic fellow reviewers, but find the con's frustrating. These are (imho):
1. Low light focussing fails very often - the camera has no illuminating mechanism for autofocus - and allows a picture to be taken even if it has failed to find focus. Often it seems to guess - and will focus on distance once, then close, then distance again.... showing its little green "focus-OK" LED none-the-less. The focus-free setting is a partial work-around.
2. There is some barrel distortion on the wide setting - which at the equivalent of 38mm lens on a 35 mm camera - should really not yet occur. It also gets somewhat fuzzy around the edges at this setting. Group pictures focus at the centre - but people at the edges are fuzzy. This could be a depth of field problem, as the camera has only two aperture settings. This may improve significantly in the future as CCD's reduce in size, or Pentax my need to redevelop this 7 element lens with an aspherical lense system.
3. The camera emphasizes white, but I'm trying different saturation settings now.
4. The camera is not usually sold with the remote control - and the one I bought - which officially is the required one for the camera - lacks the remote controlled zoom described in the handbook. Seems there's a difference between intention and implementation at Pentax in this regard.
5. The flash ranges about 2m/6ft - much too short for a group picture in a room - compound this with the faults 1 and 2, and even some 1.3 megapixel cameras do better (less detail hides some of the errors.).
6. The camera has ISO sensitivities of 100 and 200. Many competing cameras have 400 also, which may have helped the flash range.
7. The LCD is rather small - necessarily a compromise of size - but allows one to zoom after the picture is taken - so if you want to check the quality of a picture you have taken - this is OK.
8.I soon bought a second (special) lithium battery, and the short battery life (about 20 pics at maximal quality, full resolution with flash and lcd or 32Mb - half the memory I've installed) is no longer a problem.
Lastly, it would be useful if the camera could be used as a webcam or controlled from a computer.., but cannot, as yet.

Personally, I am a little disappointed at the compromises made by Pentax - I was expecting more when I bought this little device. Its key advantage is small size, its light weight, the zoom, and its friendly and understandable menus that allow one to actually use its tremendous versatility.
The firmware version in my camera is V1.01. I bought the camera in October 2001.
I suggest you try this out with a few of the competing small cameras (and the 430) in different conditions, they all make compromises and this may be the camera you want. Pentax will probably improve this camera rapidly - they are so close to having a true winner.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great digital for "film photographers", November 22, 2001

By 

Dan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pentax Optio 330 3MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I am a photographer that likes to use all of the manual aspects of a camera.. I play with depth of field, and slow shutter speeds, pushing and pulling film etc.

PROS:
This camera has been a real joy because it has the three things that I was looking for:
1) Must be tiny...to fit in a jacket pocket easily for roaming..
2) Must be able to go manual for long exposures (up to 15 seconds)
3) Must do well in low light.

It satisfies all of these criteria very well, and I have been generally very pleased with it. Experimental photos are a dream.

CONS: Batteries go pretty quickly, so you have to have a second to swap. Once you've solved that issue, its a joy all around.