Pentax Optio 230 2MP Digital Camera w/ 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: B000067BI8
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,204 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 27, 2002

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Little Camera, August 24, 2002

By 

Mike (Norwich, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pentax Optio 230 2MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

Compact, Light Weight, Impromtu camera that easily fits into any pocket. Great Color and Contrast Control right out of the box. Delivers amazingly crisp images for a 2.2 megapixel camera. Of course the proof is in the printing. Never, and I can't emphasize this enough, Never attempt to judge image quality using your Desktop PC. Even the sharpest images will look soft and fuzzy on a Monitor. This little camera offers plenty of control for a "Point & Shoot", and the 3D features makes it quite unique. My only complaint is with the rather limited ISO range of the camera. In terms of Price verses Performance though, this one is tough to beat in my opinion.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best 2 MP camera for the money, April 15, 2003

By 

Randy and Chrissy (NWTCanada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pentax Optio 230 2MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

Raves
We love it!!Our compact affordable pentax optio 230 has hit the floor a few times and still works fine without a scratch.We have taken it all over Canada and the USA. The swing out lcd monitor is great for fast self portriats or monitoring tripod shots from in front of the camera.The timer is handy too.The 3x optical zoom is a must considering digital zoom degrades pixel quality.Outdoors it produces good landscapes.Indoors the bright flash is more than enough.Great entry level camera. We plan to get the new optio 550 (5mp/5x zoom) but we will miss the swingout lcd of the 230.

Rants

Its not really fair to complain about the best quality most feature packed 2 MPXL camera on the market. It also has the best price. Of course a 3-5 MPXL will produce better results and features hence the higher price.Heres a few tips we found out on getting the most out of our 2 MPXL optio.

1.use highest resolution settings ("tif" for pro shots)
2.Movie mode is best outdoors in the sun. Indoors requires lots of extra lighting to avoid yellow tinges.
3.Only use optical zoom (not digital).
4.Avoid auto color on the editing software as it tends to produce a corpse like effect.The cameras auto color is better anyway.
5.Be prepared to learn the redeye reduction edit in the software to compensate for the optios powerful flash in dim lighting conditions.Its a very effective tool and can save any shot other than a deer in headlights.

Enjoy your Pentax Optio 230 digital camera

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One small camera with a great ability., July 29, 2003

By 

Laurence A. Jackson (Apopka, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pentax Optio 230 2MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I bought this camera after reviewing several others for pleasure use only. I found that this was all I needed for what I wanted a digitial camera for. The program allowing downloading to a PC works great so long as you have a Pentium 2 or better. After adding a 256mb memory chip I find that I can spend an entire month taking pictures before having to download and sort.