Pentax Optio WS80 review
Review Date : Thu, 10 Dec 2009
Author : Cliff Smith
- Sample Photos: View sample shots of the Pentax Optio WS80
The Optio WS80 is waterproof, but how does it fare as a camera? The What Digital Camera Pentax Optio WS80 review puts it through the paces...
| Pros: | Robust build, fun factor, ease of use |
|---|---|
| Cons: | Image quality |
For a long time, only Pentax and Olympus made waterproof compact cameras, but the growth in popularity of outdoor sports and activity holidays has opened up the market for ‘ruggedised' cameras, and now most of the main manufacturers have models in this category. Pentax's response has been to add a second waterproof model to its range in addition to the latest model in its long-running Optio W series.
The new Optio WS80 is a lightweight, low-cost compact camera featuring a 10.0-megapixel CCD sensor, an internal 5x zoom lens equivalent to 35-175mm and 1280 x 720 30fpd HD video recording. It is also waterproof to a depth of 1.5 metres for up to two hours, and can be rinsed clean under a tap.
Although the camera body is plastic it feels strong, and although it isn't advertised as being shockproof it certainly looks capable of surviving a few knock and bumps. The lens is protected behind a glass cover, and the camera's low weight of 125g fully loaded means it is light enough to bounce rather than break. The WS80 is available in a range of colours including the black with orange stripes seen here, as well as white with pink, white with black and a rather ghastly yellow with green.
Apart from its internal vertically-mounted lens and waterproof body the WS80 shares most of its features with another of Pentax's recent ultra-compact models, the Optio E80. Like the E80 it is a very basic snapshot camera, with only automatic controls and a range of 12 scene modes, although these do include underwater photography and video modes, as well as a setting for beach and snow.
Despite its simplicity the WS80 does offer a reasonable range of features. It has D-Range contrast compensation with selectable highlight and shadow correction, and saturation, contrast and sharpness can be adjusted. The WS80 also features a much-improved face detection system, able to detect and recognise up to 32 faces in each shot.
There are several interesting features in playback mode too, including red-eye correction, colour filters, composite frames and a bizarre Small Face filter which, to quote the official website, ‘makes the subject's face appear smaller in proportion to the body than it actually is, to produce attractive, well-balanced portraits'. Personally I like my face the size it is, thanks.
The WS80 performs well for what is essentially a budget compact. The autofocus system is fast and accurate in good light, and although it does slow down a bit in dim light it will still focus in very low light. It has no AF assist lamp though, so it doesn't work in darkness. In single-shot mode it can take a picture approximately once every three seconds, while in continuous mode it can manage a burst of three shots in just under three seconds at full resolution.
Image quality is, unfortunately, average at best. The lens, shooting through its glass cover, simply doesn't produce enough contrast or sharp detail for real clarity, and it is also prone to glare if there is any trace of dirt on the lens cover. Wide-angle distortion appears to be corrected electronically, but at the cost of edge sharpness. Image noise is also visible even at low ISO settings.
Have your say!
Latest comments
March 27 02:17
Claren
Review by V. Tapp for Rating: I've had this camera for a pocule of weeks now, and have not yet fully explored everything, but thought I'd start a review and then update it at a later date, once I really know the camera.What I was looking forI wanted a replacement for my Sony DSC H9 which was beginning to fail me. I have an SLR but like to have a smaller camera for the times I don't want to lug a dead weight around with me. I was looking for good image quality, big zoom, manual controls and something that I could put in my pocket rather than carry round my neck.The ones I didn't buyI read several reviews and was tempted by the following, but:TZ7 Controls poorly designed, no manual settings.TZ10 More expensive and has GPS which eats up battery power and apparently has to be switched off every time you switch the camera on if you don't want it!Both of the above have a better LCD screen and better movie options, but this wasn't a concern for me.Canon Powershot SX200 Annoying pop-up flash, no histogram, possibly poorer image quality (depending on which review you read).What I like about the TZ8Very nice to handle: quite small, solidly built, pleasing design. The on/off switch moves sideways, rather than being a button, so you won't switch the camera on or off by mistake. I like the record/review switch on the back, too.Image quality excellent, pictures remain sharp unless you really wobble when taking pictures. Macro shots also sharp and detailed. The high sensitiviy mode produced very natural colours in incandescent light, which can be a problem with some cameras.Massive zoom seems to work well, even the boosted e-zoom.What I haven't yet establishedThere are lots of different options when it comes to auto functions, including an endless array of scene modes. I'm not convinced these make a lot of difference, though for example the the pinhole option does obviously alter the image quite a lot. The intelligent auto does seem to work well; for example identifying a macro or landscape shot by itself. Is the resulting image better than if you leave the camera on P ? I don't know yet.Small things that annoy meIf you want to use intelligent auto and shoot at 3:2 aspect ratio, you have to use the full 11+ megapixels, unlike all the other modes which allow you to do this at around 5 MP.The zoom lever is a tad over-eager, though I'm learning to use it very gently so the camera doesn't immediately launch into 12x zoom.The printed instructions supplied with the camera are very sparing indeed. The full manual is a pdf file on a CD, which is very irritating.A replacement battery costs over a330 as third party manufacturers haven't cracked the code yet. Really mean of Panasonic.***UPDATE 20/04/10Discovered that my Sandisk 8GB SDHC doesn't work for movie mode seems it's not fast enough, so will only record a few seconds before being overwhelmed. Can't see this mentioned in the manual, Panasonic should make it clear what type of memory is required.***Features I would have likedRAW capabilityOptical viewfinderRemote controlAll in all this is proving to be a great camera which I would recommend to anyone looking at the same criteria as me.
April 23 12:37
Fraser
I've had this camera for two years and it has now failed. Water has got in and the circuit board has corroded. I use it while at sea and in the mountains but only once over eighteen months ago underwater. I see this as very poor. So for a waterproof camera it's not very waterproof. I was averagely pleased with the camera. On the plus side it is a good size for slipping in your pocket. On the negative side it has no viewfinder, the automatic set-up before a shot seems to take too long and you can miss a shot, the shutter button is not very tactile, and holding it steady for shot can be problematic as it is small. The photographic quality was ok, but not as good as my previous which was a Cannon Sureshot. I wouldn't but one again.