You’re planning an overseas trip. You want a slim camera with a big zoom and bags of pixels, one that you can slip into your jacket pocket and which will make murals out of your holiday memories. Pentax has just released the Optio Z10, an eight million pixel, 7x optical zoom compact that should just fit the bill.

Size is everything

The zoom range of 38mm to 266mm is brilliant if you like taking telephoto images. But it’s not so hot when you want to encompass your friends scoffing croissants in the romantic French café in a quaint side street.

Luckily, Pentax has included digital wide — a panorama-like feature — that lets you take two images that overlap and which the camera sandwiches into one wide image. While this is a satisfactory alternative, a 28mm lens to start with would be more beneficial.

The focus system has three settings — multiple, spot and automatic tracking AF — that let you decide where the camera should focus. When shooting close up you can switch to spot focus, or when shooting through vehicle windows use the tracking AF. The camera focuses accurately with plenty of light at hand but really struggles in limited light. A low-light illuminator would be handy here.

Prepare for less pain

Operation is painless. A familiar zoom rocker switch is located on the back, right by the thumb rest and behind the shutter release, making it easy to zoom in and out — and then press the shutter when the opportunity arises. The four cursor buttons that surround the OK button are dual function, letting you navigate when in the mode or menu settings, or select a specific function. These same buttons then switch from normal focus to macro, or override the flash and select the self timer.

At any point you can quickly return to a fully automatic setting by pressing the green button at the bottom right on the rear. It also acts as the rubbish bin when playing back images.

Functions

Thirteen scene modes will let you shoot movies, landscapes (night and day) or images at the beach or in the snow. Pentax has included a setting for those of us who may be a little indecisive: Auto Pict selects the right scene setting for what you are about to take without you having to access the menu. Shooting children in the Kid mode activates the Face Recognition AF and Face Recognition AE that target your subject’s cherubic face and give the correct exposure for good skin tones.

Conclusion

The Z10 remains tiny thanks to the folding optics of the lens, which are all contained within the body, even when the camera is turned on. It will fit the bill for travellers thanks to the combination of compact size and 7x optical zoom, and the eight million pixel sensor produces well-saturated images with natural skin tones. If anything there is a need for a little more contrast — which you can dial in — and unfortunately there is some fringing around red backlit subjects. The face recognition system works brilliantly but struggles as soon as a head turns to profile.

Specs

• Manufacturer: Pentax
• Effective Pixels: 8 million
• Lens: 7x optical zoom, 6.3mm-44.1mm
• LCD Monitor: 2.5-inch TFT colour (approx 230,000 pixels)
• Shutter: 4 sec – 1/1440 sec
• Aperture: f3.5 – f5.4
• ISO: Auto, 64 – 3200
• Shooting Modes: Auto Picture, Program, Night Scene, Movie, Landscape and others
• Exposure Metering: TTL, choice of multi-segment metering
• Focus: TTL, Spot, Auto tracking
• Media: 52.1MB internal memory, SD, SDHC 
• File Format: JPEG, Motion JPEG, WAV
• Flash: Flash-on and flash-off modes
• Interface: USB2.0
• Batteries: Lithium-ion rechargeable 
• Dimensions: 94 x 58 x 25.5mm
• Weight: 145g

Profile

Contact

www.pentax.com

Rating

Pros

• Face detect

• Small size

• SDHC compatible

Cons 

• Some fringing

• No low-light illuminator

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