Pentax Optio A10 Review

The Optio A10 features a smc Pentax 7.9mm - 23.7mm 3x optical zoom with a 35mm equivalent focal length of 37.5-112.5mm, the maximum aperture is f2.8 - f5.4. The lens is all glass and consists of 7 elements in 5 groups with 2 dual-sided aspherical elements. When the camera is powered down the lens is retracted inside of the body and a built in shutter closes to protect the lens.

It has a 5-point auto focus system with focus-assist illuminator and user-selectable AF point location, Spot AF, Infinity Landscape, Pan Focus and Manual focus. The focusing range in Normal mode is 1.15 ft (0.35m) to Infinity; Macro - 4.7 inches (0.12 m) to 1.64 ft (0.4m); Super Macro - 2.36 inches (0.06m) to 5.91 inches (0.15m) Manual Focus: 4.7 inches (0.12m) to Infinity at 6.2mm .

On the top is the On/Off power button, the shutter release and on the left is the Shake Reduction control button. PENTAX developed Shake Reduction to eliminate situations where camera shake typically causes blurred images such as telephoto or indoor shots without a flash. The Shake Reduction mechanism is made possible by two internal gyro sensors that detect camera shake while a dedicated CPU calculates the required correction to compensate for the level of camera shake while focusing. In turn, a proprietary mechanism adjusts the CCD automatically based on the calculation and compensates for the camera shake to help deliver sharper images.

The built in flash offers Auto, Flash-Off, Flash-On, Auto + red-eye reduction, Flash-On + red-eye reduction; Effective Range is 0.20 ft - 16 ft (0.06m - 5m) (7.9mm at Sensitivity Auto), Approx. 1.15 ft - 8.2 ft (0.35m - 2.5m) (23.7mm at Sensitivity Auto).

On the back is a large 2.5 inch LCD monitor with the clarity of approximately 232,000 pixels. The monitor is easy to see even in bright locations because of its backlight and low-reflection type. All of this means it is easier to navigate menus, make settings, compose shots and share your images.

Controls on the back: On top is the zoom control, functions as the index/magnify control in playback. Below it is the Playback button. The 4-way controller lets you navigate menus and select images during playback. In record you press "Up" to enable selftimer mode, press left to change flash mode, press right to change focus mode and press "Down" to change recording Mode. The MENU button calls up and dismisses the menus. The GREEN button quickly puts the camera into Simple Auto (point-n-shoot) mode, in playback it is the Delete button.

The I/O ports:


The PC/AV port handles both the USB 1.1 connection for download and the audio-video output for TV display.




The DC IN jack is for the optional AC power adapter or an external battery pack.

The Optio A10 is equipped with 24MB of internal memory and has a Secure Digital (SD) card slot on the right side for optional memory cards. It's compatible with up to any size SD card up to 2 GB. Data recorded on the internal memory can be copied to SD card.

The Optio A10 is powered by a rechargeable Lithium-ion D-LI8 battery which allows for capturing approximately 150 shots according to CIPA testing (with LCD monitor on and flash used for 50% of the shots)

The camera battery is automatically charged whenever it is placed in the included docking cradle.

The docking cradle can charge the battery in the camera and a second battery simultaneously.