Pentax Optio 33WR Review

This is the screen display when in the Program mode. The white brackets in the center are the AF target marks.

Here with the shutter release half-pressed, the green AF target marks in the center indicate a good autofocus lock, they turn red when the auto focus fails. The shutter speed and aperture are also displayed.

You can enable a realtime histogram display in record mode. You will also get icons for image size, quality, white balance, metering and ISO speed.

Record menu options:

Recorded Pixels - 2048x1536, 1600x1200, 1024x768 or 640x480
Quality Level - Three (Best), Two (Better) or One (Good) "stars"
White Balance - Auto, Sunny, Shade, Incandescent, Fluorescent or Manual
Focusing Area - Multiple (default) or Spot
AE Metering - Matrix, Center-weighted or Spot
Sensitivity - Auto or fixed at 50, 100, 200, 400
Digital Zoom - On or Off
Interval Shoot - Time-lapse recording settings
Soft Setting - Amount of image softness (-, normal, +) for the SOFT function
Movie - Movie mode settings (320x240, 160x120), color/B&W/sepia
Memory - Memorize settings between power on and off
Sharpness - Settings for minus, normal, plus
Saturation - Settings for minus, normal, plus
Contrast - Settings for minus, normal, plus

Pressing the 4-way controller "Down" brings up this onscreen virtual Mode Dial where you choose from: Program, Landscape, Night Scene, Portrait (Night), Portrait, Surf & Snow, Flower, Sunset, Firework, Snap, Movie, Panorama assist.

Press the Focus mode button 3 times to enter the Manual Focus mode. A sliding scale is shown on the LCD but no distance measurement is displayed. While you are adjusting the distance the display is enlarged so you can visually "see" the focus change.

You can record 320 x 240 or 160 x 120 motion video at 15 fps with audio. Movie clips are stored as QuickTime MOV format video files. The length of these movies is limited only by available memory space.

The Optio 33WR has a very respectable macro focus range (0.33 to 1.64 ft.), the actual focus range is dependant on the setting of the zoom which is fully useable while in macro mode.

The 3x optical zoom can be further enhanced by a 3x digital zoom. As with all digital zooms, it electronically crops the central portion of the image and enlarges it to create the picture. The Optio 33WR's "enlarged" image is slightly degraded but better quality than most digitally-zoomed images we've seen from other cameras. However, it's still preferable to just get closer to your subject (if possible) and use the optical zoom.

The Setup menu (same in record and play) lets you format the SD card, enable or disable the beep sounds when buttons are pushed, set the date style, change the date and or time, set the world time zone, change the menu language and change the display mode to: information (normal), no information or live histogram. Screen effects, the video format (NTSC or PAL), enable quick delete or quick zoom, set the Sleep timeout value or Reset to factory defaults.