Pentax Optio T20 7MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

by Pentax

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5 x 3 x 1 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000HDDKSY
• Item model number: 19181
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,981 in Camera & Photo (See Top 100 in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 13, 2006

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Pentax Optio T20 is compact digital camera featuring an extremely slim body. Incorporating the Pentax-developed Sliding Lens System and an impressive 3.0-inch, high-definition LCD monitor, the Optio T20 is the thinnest digital camera in its class. Featuring 7.0 megapixels and a 3x zoom, the latest model in the Pentax T series allows users to select and confirm functions directly on the LCD monitor with just a touch or with a stylus. The 3.0-inch display allows users to easily view and decorate images with drawings, stamps, picture frames, and more. With the 3.0-inch touch-display, the Optio T20 allows users to simply touch, shoot, and enjoy.

Oversize 3.0-inch LCD monitor makes it easy to share
The Optio T20 hosts a large 3.0-inch LCD monitor with 230,000 pixels for exceptional clarity and definition for reviewing images and menu text. With a wide viewing field, the screen remains easy to see when viewed from an angle or straight on. This is helpful when monitoring shots at low or high angles or when displaying images in a group setting. The large LCD is made possible by high-density mounting technology and the Pentax Sliding Lens System. In Pentax's proprietary lens system, the central lens group slides upward from the optical axis and the front and back lens groups slip under them. Housing the lens in two steps in the lens cylinder reduces overall lens thickness, thereby minimizing body depth.

Extremely slim body
With a slim body only 0.77 inches thick (19.5 millimeters), the Optio T20 is the thinnest in this digital camera class.

Touch display makes operations simple and enjoyable
The Optio T20's touch display allows users to select and confirm functions by directly touching the LCD monitor. Easy operation of the screen allows users to access icons from the displayed menu with a simple touch.

Excellent image quality
Upgraded to 7.0 effective megapixel resolution, the Optio T20 delivers images with exceptional definition. The camera boasts an smc Pentax lens for clear, high-contrast images, while the unique lens coating reduces ghosting and other artifacts. The Optio T20's superb image processing technology produces vivid colors and creates smooth tonal expressions at all brightness levels.

My Drawing mode for easy picture design
The Optio T20 comes with the My Drawing mode, which lets users customize their shots. With the enclosed stylus pen, users may create original pictures by writing directly on the image shown on the monitor or adding a stored illustration with the Stamp function. The camera also offers a function for storing favorite photos as original stamps to add to other images.

12 shooting modes cover a wide range of scenes
The Optio T20 features 12 versatile shooting modes such as Portrait, Landscape, Flower, and Night Scene. Just choose the mode matching the subject scene and the camera automatically optimizes the exposure, white balance, and other settings. Selecting the mode is easy with the touch display and the Mode Palette, which displays Pentax mode icons on the LCD monitor.

High-quality movies with a built-in Movie editing function
The Optio T20 smoothly captures movies at 30 frames per second (fps) at sizes up to 640 x 480 pixels, and a movie editing function may save a frame from a recorded movie as a still image.

Additional Optio T20 features:

• Approximately 12MB of internal memory; supports external SD memory cards
• Frame composite mode adds decorative frames to images when shooting or after shooting
• Function (Fn) setting permits you to store frequently used settings and recall them from the panel with a single touch
• 4x digital zoom function
• Convenient image-rotation display for confirmation of shots (rotates images 90, 180, or 270 degrees)
• Includes the ACDSee for Pentax image viewer/image management software
• USB 2.0 (hi-speed) compatible
• PictBridge, DPOF functions, Exif Print, and PRINT Image Matching III compatible

Product Description

Pentax 7.0 MP Digital Camera with 3x optical zoom 3" LCD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nice camera, but needs an optical viewfinder-- Final judgement... Keep looking, January 13, 2007

By 

Baltic Books "Vic" (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pentax Optio T20 7MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

For the price, I could love this camera if it just had an optical viewfinder. If you can get around that I think you could like it too, but in the end it may frustrate you a little too much. There is enough I like to give Pentax 3 stars for trying hard at a small price.

I was in Sedona, AZ last week without my camera. Not good when the scenery is so incredible, so I bought the last display model T20 at a local Costco. The features made it an appealing little compact camera and I liked a previous Pentax Optio S5 we once owned.

Here's what impressed me during its 3 day test drive.

The large 3" LCD display was simply great in normal light. It had big bright vivid color reproduction onscreen. At the red rocks of Sedona I thought it also did a great job with colors in my photos as well.

It's video function was also great for a small camera. Shooting VGA (640-480) makes a big difference compared to the 320x240 of many current and most older digital cameras. Sound reproduction was very good and I could use the zoom function while shooting my video clips as well (my old Canon wouldn't allow that).

Speed between shots, flash quality & depth, and battery life were only average. However for a lower priced camera they were acceptable.

The jury was still out on touch screen functions, but I think I prefer standard menu functions operated by a button or wheel. The main issue there is you have to take your attention off of your photo to go through a series of touch screens for nearly everything, including making flash adjustments. It just seemed a little more cumbersome to me.

Using a touch screen accentuated the fact that this camera (and many similar models today) do not include an optical viewfinder. The fact is if you are shooting in daylight, sun in particular, you'll have a hard to impossible time seeing the touch screen, let alone easily composing a picture. Several friends tried it and each one made a comments to the effect of "I hope it comes out alright, because I can't see what it looks like...". If you are going to use this as your only camera, I strongly recommend that you choose one with an optical viewfinder for that exact reason.

I mentioned this was a display model. Because of that I'm going to extend a little benefit of doubt on a couple of issues.

First the battery cover on my camera was more loose than other cameras I've owned or tried out. In fact I ended up using a rubber band to make sure it stayed closed. I was a little paranoid that I'd lose a battery if the compartment opened.

Also, at first the lens of this camera jammed in the extended position. I had to physically push the lens back into the camera when powering down a couple of times--that made me nervous. After a minute it was fine, but I was afraid that it would become a problem again down the road.

Finally, my camera froze up several times-- after all it is basically a mini-computer. I had to power down, power back on many times over a 3 day period in order for the camera to work.

Again, those last problems might be due to the fact that many people may have manhandled the display model over a few months. It provided a good lesson though, that when it comes to digital cameras, its best to stay away from display models.

Okay. Having said all that, this may be a decent choice for you at its price. But make sure you have a good return policy before buying (Costco's is best, Amazon is pretty good) and try it out for a day or two to decide for yourself.

Oh-- a small detail. This camera doesn't come with a memory card. The thing is, at 7.0 megapixels most cards provided (usually 16-32MB) are virtually useless when each photo at full resolution creates a 3.5MB file size-- you'll be buying a 1-2GB SD card anyway.

The final word. I want to like this camera, but I think in the end, I'd be more frustrated than happy simply due to the fact of that missing optical viewfinder. So, here's a reluctant thumbs down on the Pentax T20.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Touch Screen Camera in it's Class, May 12, 2007

By 

Hsu Yang Chang "SuperNova" (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pentax Optio T20 7MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

I own the Pentax T20 and the Sony N1. Compare the two, and there is no doubt that the Optio T20 is much more superior. The T20 wins on several things: Price, Picture Quality, Ease of Use, and the overall feel/look of the camera.

As mentioned by previous reviewers, the large (3'') LCD screen is awesome. The touch screen feature is a nice gimmick (Although sometimes I wish there were more buttons for navigating through the menus). The picture quality is superb. Basically, this is everything you'd ask for in a point-and-shoot camera, and then some. The movie mode works great; you can zoom in/out in movie mode. The sleek chassis gives the camera a nice feel. Battery life is excellent (However, I did buy extra higher capacity batteries).

I've dropped this camera once or twice, and it's held up thus far...

If you're looking for a point-and-shoot camera with touch screen, then your search is complete. This is the camera for you!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Serious design flaw, January 8, 2007

By 

Bucky F - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pentax Optio T20 7MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom (Electronics)

This camera has a serious design flaw. Do not buy this camera if you are planning to use it outdoors in sun light, because you cannot see anything in the view finder. If you have the sun behind you, the sun light makes the view finder appear like a mirror, so instead of looking at the object, you are looking at an image of yourself. If you are facing the sun, the viewfinder appears black. This is with winter sun, cannot imagine what it will be in the summer.