Pentax Optio WS80 review

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.

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.