No Frills

This is a fairly basic camera, despite the performance tagline, with basic exposure control, and a manual mode that doesn’t seem to do very much at all. It does offer a Pentax 5x zoom and 30fps video though.

Design

This is a solid if somewhat boxy model, but looks better than many other entry-level models thanks to its metal shell. The 2.5in LCD screen is a welcome treat for a camera in this price range, while the controls are average.

Performance

The P stands for ‘performance’, which begs the question: What kind of performance can we really expect from a budget 5MP compact? The camera’s a little slow to start up, and there’s some shutter lag too, which is to be expected to some degree on compacts, but nonetheless worse than we’d expect. The EXIF on our test model showed all of our exposures were f/1 at 1 second at ISO 99, which suggests an inherent fault.

Image Quality

Images are surprisingly reasonable, if a little over processed. Noise is visible in shadows, but there’s plenty of detail and sharpness. Exposures are good too.

Value For Money

The addition of the 5x zoom makes this reasonably priced for absolute beginners, but there are better cameras available.