Customer Reviews

Pentax Optio W30 7.1 MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

All the reviews & manufacturer hype the water/dust-proofness of this camera, which is fine, because it does a great job, is easy to use, and is fairly sturdy. However, we used to have a Canon SD400, but we wanted a waterproof camera. This W30 is a good camera, but I think we were spoiled with the picture/lens-quality of the Canon.

Good: Water/Dust proof with not much fuss. It just works! Easy to use. Compatible with new SDHC cards (my current card is 8GB!!!). But 16GB and 32GB are on the way. This allows a HUGE number of photos and video to be recorded on ONE CARD. Just make sure to keep spare batteries. One battery will 'roughly' last about 1 hour of video and a 100-200 photos (some with/without flash).

There are no external moving parts (such as lens extension)to get trapped with dust/water, since the lens 'extension' is internal.

The menu/capture-speed is good, but not 'quite' as fast as Canon's Digic II cameras (like SD400, or later).

USB connection is a standard USB mass-storage device, so it should work on Windows, Mac, or Linux with no problems (thank goodness).

Also, this camera seems to be pretty durable/tough. I dropped it several times on CEMENT/concrete, and it got a few cosmetic scratches on the case, but all operations and the lens were fine. But I might put a plastic screen protector on the 2.5" screen to prevent scratches. Another recommendation is to get a silicon skin for pool/underwater use (to prevent case scratches from the pool/rocks), or a neoprene case to keep the lens intact while traveling (since there is NO LENS COVER).

Bad: Video uses Quicktime-MOV files, which is good (potentially), but it's a bit grainy, and the compression is not great. But I can fit a 'rough estimate' of maybe 2-3+ hours of video on an 8GB card.

Ugly: Lots of grain/noise in low-light or even some normal daylight photos. You can workaround this by manually changing the ISO speed to 64, 100, or 200 to reduce noise, but then you may get some blurry shots (due to camera/object motion).

OVERALL: If you don't need a waterproof camera, get a Canon SD-series (they're EXCELLENT). But if you need/want something more 'safe', get this camera. It's easily the best water/dust-proof camera on the market.

While initially impressed with the camera, my enthusiasm waned when I took it snorkeling. 20 minutes later the camera was rendered inoperable as water had entered the battery compartment. I contacted Amazon who - to their credit - sent me a replacement camera immediately at no charge. Sadly the camera suffered the same fate as the first - except this time water found its way into the screen within the first minute of submersion. I again contacted Amazon who informed that
"As it seems that the problem with this item is more widespread than
we originally thought, we are not able to send another replacement.
We will gladly refund you in full for the return of this item.
please return the set." Fair enough. I then placed an order for the SeaLife ECOshot SL321

So, excellent customer service from Amazon, dissapointing product from Pentax.

I bought the W20 early this year for a month we spent in Hawaii. It was a great camera. Long story short, I lost it in the ocean. I just picked up a W30 while on business in Hong Kong. It is much faster than the w20. I haven't taken it underwater yet but the image stabilization works well and did I mention it powers up amazingly fast. Great product.

UPDATE: (I wanted to make this one-star, but the edit function won't allow me to change the rating...)

My experience with this camera took a 180 degree turn when it leaked (while submerged about 2 feet for 20 minutes) in saltwater and failed. Bummer, since it was on day 2 of my vacation, but Pentax would surely make good on it with a new unit (it was only 4 months old at the time).

My real reason for the one-star was Pentax's HORRIBLE customer service. Six weeks of waiting and a number of calls to relatively useless support people about when to expect the camera would be returned, and I finally got the camera back in its box from Pentax. Great. Put the battery in and nothing. So I called back to support, and when I did, they simply said "Oh, we found water damage in the camera so we didn't repair it. It would have cost more to repair than the camera was worth". They insisted that I had 'misused' the camera (on my word, it was 2 feet of water for 20 minutes...) an effectively told me to piss off.

My beef with Pentax is threefold: (1) the camera didn't live up to its specs (not even close!), (2) they advertise aggressively for action sport usage (see full page ads with famous surfer Kelly Slater holding his W30), and (3) a total lack of any sense of customer service. They didn't even have the courtesy to include a note in the return box explaining that it wasn't fixed and why.

I replaced it with an Olympus, and will never buy another Pentax product in my lifetime!

INITIAL REVIEW:

After reading the reviews of the W30 and the Olympus SW770, I decided to go Pentax for the better picture quality, taking somewhat of a chance that the waterproofing would work reasonably well.

So far, so good! I use the camera mainly for surfing (tuck it inside of my wetsuit) and was worried about the waterproof-ness given the sometimes rough crashing waves and dunkings that mother ocean gives. I've taken it out 3 times now, and no problems yet. The LCD screen is hard to see when it gets wet (and nearly impossible underwater) but the pics are always much clearer in real life than they seem on the LCD.

I bought this camera for a holiday in the Caribbean. After using it for 20 minutes in shallow water, it failed. I returned it to Pentax who (eventually) claimed the warranty was void because it had sand on the battery cover which has compromised the waterproofing. This is nonsense. How it could have worked under water with sand on the battery cover was beyond the Pentax technicians ability to explain. Also, the possibility that any sand on the battery cover had lodged there after the camera failed was also too much for the Pentax customer service (an oxymoron if ever there was one) to explain.

So, lousy camera and even worse customer service.

PREFACE/BACKGROUND:
I previous owned an early predecessor to this camera (the WR33). I * LOVED * it. It took wonderful pictures - quickly. I was very happy with it even though it was sort of
homely and had a tiny LCD. After a few years, the WR33 stopped working. I decide to get another newer water resistant Pentax that would be similar.

NOW (2007) - THE W30

I bought the W30 a few months ago.

Pros:
* Big high quality LCD view screen.
* Very sleek styling, slim camera, pocketable

Cons:
* WAY long shutter lag
* Noisier than all get out considering it's 7.1 MP. My older 3.1 MP Pentax took better pix than this with better color.

(I'm not picking on Pentax per se as I have noticed this trend in reviews of other camera brands. Somehow in the megapixel arms-race for prosumer cameras image quality has taken a hit.)

* No optical viewfinder. Which doesn't seem like a big deal with that gorgeous large LCD. However...I was at the beach in august and found that I couldn't see a blasted thing through the LCD. It was all washed out in the bright light. I found myself craving any kind of other point of reference, even a spartan optical viewfinder. (NOTE: This was an 80 degree day at the Oregon coast in late summer, not the mojave desert..).

* Overall processing lag due to too many modes/slow auto-focus.
This camera has SO many modes and seems hell bent on wasting a lot of precious time thinking / processing / delaying taking the actual damn picture! ahhaha. I'm NOT kidding. All digitals have this to some degree especially below $400 mark but GEEZ. My primary mission is to get a photograph within max 1 second of pressing on the shutter.

My solution? You'll laugh. The only way I can seem to get quick response is to: 1. Put it on basic program mode with manual "Pan Focus" and I'm always manually setting flash to full on or soft as needed. THEN I get an OK response. Sheesh! Also...the color and picture quality is "OK" - it ought to be great. Subjective opinion: I have the sense from reading the other reviews that for an everyday camera, the Canon's are doing a better job for color rendition in this price range. For a water resistant camera, you might look at the other company that deals in this market niche: Olympus. Only complaint about Olympus is they use a more non-standard memory (XD card) but that's not a total dealbreaker.

In closing: Good pictures can be taken with this camera, but I have to "coax" them out of it. I shouldn't have to do this and I certainly didn't before.

Hope this helps. P.S. I have fantasized about writing Pentax to have them start making the WR33/43 again or to find the design team for that model and have them do their next one. I can't picture that the same design team produced this fussy mediocre picture quality camera.

Great product, particularly if you're looking for a digicam with optical zoom and no protruding lens. I used it on vacation and was happy with the picture and movie quality, battery life, reliability, and auto-focus. I did find that other people unfamiliar with the camera had a hard time taking pictures for me, but then later I learned the camera has a special mode for just that situation :)

Features I particularly like are the time-lapse and two different delay timers, plus the fact that each of the two dozen different modes has an on-screen description which pops up so you don't just have to guess by the icon what the mode does, like on so many other cameras.

Waterproof is a real plus, as is SDHC (Supports 2GB/4GB/etc SD cards)

It takes a little while to get used to the lack of an optical viewfinder, but other than the reduced battery life from having to use the LCD all the time, I don't miss it.

We bought this camera a few months ago, prior to a recent Carribean vacation. It's definitely slower and noisier than I expected, but it has some decent features, so we could live with the camera's limitations. HOWEVER, the camera leaked badly the third time we took it snorkeling. It started with water noticeable behind the LCD, and by the time I got the camera cleaned up, it was a goner. Completely dead. Please understand, we're exceedingly careful with our cameras. We actually have an underwater housing for a Canon Powershot that we've used dozens of times. I peruse the manual every time I use it, and always use the product in accordance with the instructions and recommendations. Same with the Pentax Optio. I read the manual three times before using it. In other words: Not my fault. The camera was defective. So now I'm off to attempt an exchange - for a different camera.

My recommendation if you want an underwater camera - buy a good Canon or other make and shell out the big bucks for an underwater housing. If you use a housing carefully, and clean it properly before and after each use, it'll serve you well.

I just got the camera 5 days ago and have used it on 2 different water occasions. Water gets behind the protection around the LCD screen so that you can't see what you are taking pictures of and view the pictures already taken. My camera has been out of the water for 12 hours now and water is still "behind" the screen. I don't know if mine is defective. I'm going to contact Pentax.

The images taken by this camera were great.
I have no complaint about that.
But I had it done 1 time only under the water, not
even deep, taken from right beneath the surface of the water
for 10 minutes. There is water shown
right behind the LCD lense.

How do I get rid of it?