BIOS: Technology Means Business

Pentax’s latest digital camera offering, the Optio W10 (£175/$300), comes furnished with superior waterproofing and dustproofing, making the 6.0-Megapixel camera ideal for holidaymakers. There’s also a 2.5-inch LCD monitor and 3x optical zoom lens integrated into the new body.

The Optio W10 (107x55x23mm, 140g) is based on the company’s Optio WP series, which realises the waterproof functionality for underwater photography without a waterproof case or other accessories. The Optio W10 also offers improved LCD monitoring and movie recording.

The model has been made more convenient and user-friendly with the addition of the new Face Recognition AF/AE function, which detects people’s faces in the picture frame and adjusts the focus and exposure accordingly.

The Optio W10 complies with JIS class 8 waterproof performance, enabling it to withstand up to 30 minutes of continuous operation at an underwater depth of 1.5 meters. Furthermore, the Optio W10 has also been proven to conform to Class 5 dustproof performance of category 2 (machines produced to prevent internal changes in atmospheric pressure).

Such capabilities make it ideal for use when skiing, taking part in marine sports, going fishing or enjoying other outdoor events. Waterproof performance of this kind also means users can simply rinse the camera off any time it becomes dirty.

The Optio W10 comes with a new 2.5-inch low-reflection LCD monitor. The LCD cover is finished with a non-glare coating, making the screen easier to see even outside on a sunny day. The LCD backlighting mechanism features a brightness adjustment as well as a Power Saving mode, which automatically reduces the backlight intensity to preserve battery life.

The Optio W10 captures movies at 30fps at sizes up to 640x480 pixels. Furthermore, switching on the newly added movie anti-shake function automatically compensates for camera shake while recording movies.

The Optio W10 is equipped with Face Recognition AF/AE, a new technology that detects people’s faces and automatically adjusts the focus and corrects the exposure to suit. When the camera’s shooting mode is set to one of Portrait, Self-Portrait, or Natural Skin Tone, this feature will detect and focus on a person’s face anywhere in the picture frame.

This technology is particularly effective at preventing ‘dropout’ photos, where the camera focuses on the background and not on the person when taking commemorative or other valuable photos. At the same time, this feature automatically corrects the exposure so the face is properly exposed even in lighting situations where the brightness of the person and the background are drastically different, such as when a person is under a spotlight or on a strongly backlit stage.

The camera includes a 3x optical zoom lens that covers focal lengths from 6.3 to 18.9 mm (equivalent to 38- to 114mm for 35mm film) and features a ‘folding’ optical system so the lens never protrudes from the camera while zooming. Optical components have been redesigned for higher resolution, delivering advanced image quality that takes full advantage of the raw power of 6.0 effective Megapixels.

A dedicated green button immediately calls up the setup screen for settings such as exposure correction and sensitivity. You can assign frequently used functions to the green button to speed up setups when shooting. Up to four functions can be assigned. Initially, the Green mode is pre-assigned to the green button (the three other functions are not assigned).

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