Pentax OptioWP specifications

2005-06-11
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Pentax OptioWP front, transparent

Pentax OptioWP >



Table of Contents [hide]

Introduction ∞

Symbol legend ∞

Compared to other cameras in its price range (at the time)

  • ⭐ -- above average / rare
  • ⚠ -- below average

  • ❓ -- unknown. While I have a value, I don't know how this compares to other cameras.

Feature Overview ∞

Comparing the Pentax OptioWP to other cameras of its class:

What you are getting
  • Truely waterproofed, rated at JIS-8. 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. JIS-8 means any condition of water (i.e. complete immersion or jets of water).
  • Good automation for picture settings.
  • A small brushed-metal case.
  • A large LCD screen for a camera of its size, at 2 inches.
  • An excellent inline guide system.

  • Excellent manual control for a largely point-and-shoot camera.

What you are missing

TODO - to be confirmed

  • Poor flash range at only 8.2 feet.
  • Poor pictures at low light.
  • Only 320x200 movies. The 43WR had 640x480 @ 30fps.
  • A poor LCD screen at only 85,000 colours which doesn't look good in bright daylight.
  • Fairly poor picture quality, even for similar compact cameras.

  • No lens cap ⚠ [ 1 ]

Oddities ∞

  • 1280x960 is only available with high speed continuous shooting, and isn't normally selectable.
  • The in-camera editing features are toy features only and not for serious use.

  • The camera is 5MP and yet one reviewer tested it at only 3.14! [ 2 ]

    • Does this mean it's digitally "blowing up" pictures? If so, what's the proper resolution threshold for best-quality pictures?

Manual vs Automatic ∞

Manual control:
  • Focus
  • White balance

  • ISO

    • Higher ISO settings help reduce camera shake in low light, but the image will get noisy.
Automatic-only:

  • F-stop (aperture)

    • However, the Pan and Landscape settings presumably reduce the aperture, and the pet/sports modes may enlarge the aperture.

  • Shutter speed

    • However, pet/sports mode may quicken the shutter speed and night/candle presumably slows it. Fireworks probably quickens it.

Presumably these settings were intentionally removed so that this camera couldn't hope to compete with higher end cameras.

Basic Info ∞

Manufacturer Pentax
Name OptioWP
AKA Pentax Optio WP Waterproof Digital Camera (model 18383)
Release Date 01-06-2005
Type point-and-shoot
MSRP $399 USD

Looking at it ∞

  • Physical

    • 102(W)x51(H)x22(D)mm (excluding protrusions), 135g loaded, 120g without battery or SD card. Brushed aluminum case. The lens is entirely enclosed, and does not protrude from the case even while zooming. No lens cap ⚠

  • Storage Media

    • 10.5MB internal, SD card (TODO - compatibility)

  • Power Source

    • Rechargeable lithium-ion battery (DL-18 - 3.7V 710mAh ❓)
    • ~180 shots with the LCD on and 50% of pictures with the flash (TODO - number of shots to be verified).
    • Playback with the LCD screen ~230min
    • The battery charges with the standard charger in 100 minutes max. The date and time will be returned to default if the camera is left without the battery for a long time.
    • DC-in. (which I don't have a cable for). The recharger switches to the voltage (100-240V) and frequency (50Hz, 60Hz) of the electricity supply.

  • Viewfinder

    • No optical viewfinder. 2 inch low-reflection TFT color LCD screen @ ~85k colours ⚠. [ 3 ]

  • Flash

    • Built-in: auto, off, on, red-eye, soft flash. No external flash link.

  • Flash specs

    • 8.2 feet ⚠ (TODO - correct this)

  • Ruggedness

    • JIS class 8 against water ⭐ [ 4 ] No lens cap ⚠. Water beads and runs freely from the lens when it is clean. JIS class 5 dust protection ⭐.

Using it ∞

  • Zoom

    • 3x optical, 4x digital.

  • Languages

  • Direct Printing

    • Pictbridge: Print Mode: Single image printing, All image printing, DPOF auto print. Print Setting: Paper size, Paper type, Quality, Border Status.

  • Playback Options

    • single, index, slideshow, edit, picture frame.

Usage Notes

  • Turning it on is difficult (small recessed button).
  • Excellent inline guide.

  • Lens has no cap, and can be smudged (and possibly scratched) easily.

    • Pack lens cleaning cloths. Invest in a camera bag.
  • "green mode" allows four very easily-set user-programmed settings.
  • It detects and warns against camera-shake.
  • It detects brightness and darkness/shadow and flashes the regions when you are looking to take a picture.

  • Files can be copied back and forth between the internal memory and SD card.

Inline editing ∞

These features are basically worthless and should be avoided like the plague in preference to manual digital editing.

Cropping is great, pulling a frame from a movie is cool, movie splitting/joining and image rotation are merely amusing and all other functions are destructive to the quality of the picture!

Unless there is serious firepower in the camera, which is nigh impossible, editing pictures with a real computer will always produce better results and with finer control.

Similarly, Color Saturation and Contrast are adjustable but shouldn't ever be used.

  • Digital Filters

    • Black & White, Sepia, red, pink, purple, blue, green, yellow, soft, brightness.

  • Frames

    • Frames around a picture can be added in-camera from either the built-in selections or from the SD card.

  • Movie editing

    • Divide or stitch (join) movies, select frames from a movie to save as a still picture.

  • Image resizing

    • Images can be shrunk (either recorded pixels or quality level), overwriting the original or saving as a new filename.

  • Other

    • Brightness Filter, Trimming (Cropping), Red-eye correction, Image rotation.

TODO - learn if these changes can be saved as a separate file or if they are only modifications to the original.

TODO - filters may only add a filter.. which is cool, and not entirely destructive..

Digital filters and red-eye correction cannot be applied to images taken by another camera.

Basic Technical Overview ∞

  • Pixels

    • 5.19 (5 effective, tested at only 3.14! ⚠ [ 5 ]

  • Image Quality

    • 5M: 2560 x 1920
    • 4M: 2304 x 1728
    • 3M: 2048 x 1536
    • 2M: 1600 x 1200
    • 1024 x 768
    • 640 x 480
    • All @ Good, Better, Best. [ 6 ]

  • Movie Mode ⚠

    • 320 x 240 and 160 x 120 @ ~30 fps or ~15 fps with sound. Movie length limited only by storage capacity. ❓ [ 7 ]

  • File Format - Image

    • JPEG (Exif 2.2), DCF, DPOF, PRINT Image Matching III. Details are saved with the picture (date/time, histogram, ISO, shutter speed, f-stop)

  • File Format - Movie

    • Movie: MOV (QuickTime Motion JPEG)

  • File Format - Sound

    • Sound: WAV (PCM), monaural

TODO - Automatic Modes ∞

Images were taken from within optioWP_web.pdf from the product page.

Shooting Modes (20) ∞

Four are user-programmable with the green button.

[ 8 ]

Pentax_modes_--_Program_20 Program The basic picture-taking mode. You can let the camera set the functions or choose various functions yourself.
Pentax_modes_--_Night_Scene_20 Night Scene Ideal for taking night views. It is best to use a tripod in this mode. Use the flash if including people in your picture.
Pentax_modes_--_Movie_mode_20 Movie Use this mode for taking movies. Sound is recorded at the same time.
Pentax_modes_--_Voice_Recording_20 Voice Recording Use this mode to record sound files. Be careful not to cover the microphone on the top of the camera with your hand.
Pentax_modes_--_Panorama_Assist_20 Panorama Assist For capturing images to make a panorama image. Use the supplied software to join images easily. It is not possible to join panorama images in-camera. [ 9 ]
Pentax_modes_--_Landscape_20 Landscape Use this mode for taking landscape views. The focus encompasses a wide area.
Pentax_modes_--_Flower_20 Flower Use this mode for taking bright, colourful pictures of flowers with soft outlines. [ 10 ]
Pentax_modes_--_Portrait_20 Portrait Use this mode for taking pictures of people. Gives your subject a bright, healthy look. [ 11 ]
Pentax_modes_--_Underwater_20 Underwater Use this mode for taking pictures underwater. Captures the blueness of the sea. [ 12 ]
Pentax_modes_--_Surf_&_Snow_20 Surf & Snow For capturing images with dazzling background, such as beaches or snowy mountains.
Pentax_modes_--_Sport_20 Sport Ideal for taking fast-moving action shots. The camera keeps the moving subject in focus until the shutter release button is pressed. (cool!)
Pentax_modes_--_Synchro_Sound_Record_20 Synchro Sound Record Automatically records the sound 10 seconds before and after the shutter is released. [ 13 ]
Pentax_modes_--_Pet_20 Pet Ideal for taking pictures of pets. The camera keeps the moving pet in focus until the shutter release button is pressed. (cool!) You can select settings according to the colour of your pet's coat. [ 14 ]
Pentax_modes_--_Candlelight_20 Candlelight Ideal for capturing a candlelit atmosphere. The number of recorded pixels is set at 1280x960. [ 15 ]
Pentax_modes_--_Soft_20 Soft For taking pictures with soft, blurred outlines. (i.e. to force the blurring)
Pentax_modes_--_Fireworks_20 Fireworks Use this mode to take spectacular pictures of fireworks. It is best to use a tripod as the shutter speed is fixed at 5 sec. [ 16 ]
Pentax_modes_--_Self-portrait_20 Self-portrait Use this mode to take pictures of yourself or include yourself in pictures. The camera adjusts the focus and colour. [ 17 ]
Pentax_modes_--_Natural_Skin_Tone_20 Natural Skin Tone Adjusts the colour and brightness to reproduce skin tone more beautifully than Portrait mode. [ 18 ]
Pentax_modes_--_Food_20 Food Use this mode for taking pictures of food. The increased saturation gives pictures a bright, vivid finish. [ 19 ]
Pentax_modes_--_Museum_20 Museum For taking pictures in museums and art galleries where flash photography is not permitted. Take care to avoid camera shake. (slow shutter speed)

TODO - Focus Modes (5) ∞

TODO - Flash Modes (6) ∞

TODO - White Balance (5) ∞

Speeds ∞

All of these have been untested/unconfirmed.

Some speeds may depend a little on the storage medium, although processing time would be fixed.. the camera does have to process the pictures before writing them. It could be possible that the card's speed isn't much of a bottleneck at all compared to the processing time.

  • Snapshot, 2.55s ⚠

    • From off to taking a picture

  • Startup, (slow)

    • From off to on
    • Seems a bit slow.

  • Shutter-to-shot, 0.46s ⚠

    • When already on, pressing the button to take a picture.

  • Shot-to-shot (Continuous Shooting)

    • Multiple pictures in a row, writing to the card.
    • The recorded pixels and quality can be adjusted. Focus, exposure and white balance are locked with the first image. No flash is available in this mode.
    • 1280 x 960 = 7 in 2.1s (1/0.3s), with an 11s cooldown ❓
    • 2560 x 1920 = 1.5s ❓
      -- TODO - 7 in 1.5s (1/xs), with an x cooldown

  • TODO - Automation

    • Autofocus and other settings.
    • Focus can be shortened by setting the focus limiter on, to limit the focus to far distances from normal range during normal shooting and to close distances during macro shooting.
    • The autofocus area can be adjusted, and this may also influence autofocus speed.

Technical Specs ∞

  • ISO Sensitivity

    • Auto, Fixed (50/100/200/400:Standard Output Sensitivity)

  • Shutter

    • Programmed AE electronic lens shutter with CCD electronic shutter.

  • Shutter Speed

    • ~1/2000-4s
    • TODO - list all speeds -- is this configurable?

  • Self Timer

    • 2 or 10 seconds. (2 seconds is good for taking pictures with a tripod in situations where camera shake is disruptive, such as night scenes. 10 seconds is for running into the scene to also be photographed.)

  • Drive Modes

    • One shot, Self-timer, Continuous, Photo frame shooting.
    • (Tracking auto-focus starts working when you select Sports or Pet mode)

  • Modes

    • green, program, picture, movie, voice recording, sync sound recording

  • Lens

    • PENTAX power zoom 6.3-18.9mm (equivalent to 38-114mm in 35mm format)
      -- TODO - list more info)
    • 11 elements in 9 groups (three aspherical elements) ❓
    • No lens cap ⚠

  • Sensor Type

    • 1/2.5 inch interline transfer CCD

  • Aspect Ratio

    • 4:3, 3:2 (same as 35mm)

  • Color Filter System

    • RGB

  • IR Cut Low Pass Filter

    • no

  • F-stop

    • 3.3⚠-4.0❓

  • Auto Focus Type

    • TTL contrast detection

  • AF Assist Illuminator

    • no

  • Metering Modes

    • TTL meetering: choice of multi-segment metering.

  • Shutter Type

    • electronic shutter

  • Exposure Compensation

    • +2 to -2EV in 1/3EV stop steps

  • Flash Effective Range ⚠

    • ~0.13-2.5m (6.3mm at Sensitivity Auto).
    • ~0.5-2m (18.9mm at Sensitivity Auto)

  • Sync Contact (external flash)

    • no ⚠

  • Time

    • World Time: Display the time in 70 cities (28 time zones).
    • Alarm Clock: Displays the clock with alarm.
    • Clock Mode: Display time (10 seconds) by pressing OK button during power OFF.

  • Video Output

    • yes
      -- TODO - go into detail

  • Software

    • CD ROM software
      -- TODO - list

Last updated 2022-09-10 at 19:39:46

    Footnotes


  1. No lens cap makes this camera vulnerable to dirt and scratches! Therefore a camera case and lens cleaning cloths are necessary! (The OptioWP Case #50387 exists but was never tried)
    Yes, Pentax intentionally designed a camera which is meant to be toted about freely, but would be damaged during regular use. Way to go guys! [ ↩ ]
  2. was www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Pentax-OptioWP-Digital-Camera-Review-.htm but not archived [ ↩ ]
  3. The LCD may turn black in high temperatures, or be slow in cold temperatures, which is normal. [ ↩ ]
  4. Waterproof to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes. It is recommended that the "waterproof packing" (i.e. the seals) are replaced once a year. Service centers can do this for a fee. [ ↩ ]
  5. was www.digitalcamerainfo.com/content/Pentax-OptioWP-Digital-Camera-Review-.htm but not archived [ ↩ ]
  6. TODO - I'm not sure what this means. [ ↩ ]
  7. TODO - check if sound is recordable at 320x240 [ ↩ ]
  8. TODO - check: Shooting modes might be relying on the camera to adjust (and therefore damage) the picture to apply changes. Post-editing may be more appropriate. [ ↩ ]
  9. TODO - To test. I don't know that I had any software for this. [ ↩ ]
  10. TODO - check [ ↩ ]
  11. TODO - check - This probably plays with the Aperture to sharpen the subject and unfocus the background [ ↩ ]
  12. TODO - check [ ↩ ]
  13. TODO - check this, it sounds like "Program" but with sound. [ ↩ ]
  14. TODO - check [ ↩ ]
  15. This is presumably so lessen the exposure time necessary and therefore help with camera-shake. [ ↩ ]
  16. TODO - check this nonsense out -- has anyone seen fireworks which stay in-place for four seconds? [ ↩ ]
  17. TODO - check [ ↩ ]
  18. TODO - check [ ↩ ]
  19. TODO - check [ ↩ ]
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