Pentax Optio A40 Review

When you press the Play button, the last image captured is displayed full screen. It shows the date and time the image was taken, folder name/file number and the battery level indicator. A musical note indicates a sound memo has been recorded, press UP on the 4-way controller to play. Pressing the OK button in the center of the 4-way controller toggles the amount of exposure information displayed with an image. Here you can see extended information for image size/quality, white balance, metering, ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and the histogram display.

You can quickly search through stored images using the Index playback function which is activated by pressing the wide angle zoom control. Nine thumbnail size images will be displayed and you can select one using the 4-way controller and then pressing the Ok button. Pressing the wide zoom again will take you to a calendar, which allows you to select groups of pictures based on the date they were taken.

You can magnify an image up to 8x in 6 steps by depressing the telephoto zoom control. Using the 4-way selector you can move around inside the enlarged image.

Playback menu options:

Slide show - Set image play intervals (3,5,10,15,20,25 and 30 sec.)
Resize - Create an image with Lower Resolution and or Quality Level
Cropping - Crop image to different size
Copy Image & Sound - From internal memory to SD or MMC card
Image rotation - rotates image for proper orientation
Color Filter - Apply a color effect to the image
Digital Filter - Digitally alter you images
Brightness Filter - Adjust the image brightness
Movie Edit - Save a still image, Divide or Cut & Stitch a movie
Red-eye Compensation - Remove red-eye from your portraits
Voice Memo - Add up to a 30-second voice memo to an image
Protect - Protect image from deletion; On or Off
DPOF - Set DPOF printing information
Start-up Screen - Manage the start-up image and sound
Frame Composite - Add decorative frames around your images

You can resize the image.

You can trim or crop the image.

Movies are played back full screen with the audio played back on the built-in speaker. You can play a movie frame by frame, pause, fast forward, or rewind with the 4-Way Selector.

The camera allows you to edit your videos inside the camera. No need for a PC.

Setup options:

Format - Format the SD card
Sound - On/Off
Date Adjust - Set Date/Time
World Time - Set World Time
Language - Set user Language
Folder Name - Standard or Date
USB Connection - PictBridge, PC
Video Out - NTSC or PAL
Brightness Level - Adjust LCD back light
Power Saving - Off, 5sec, 15sec, 30sec, 1min, 2min
Quick Zoom - On/Off
Auto Power Off - Off, 3min. or 5min.
Guide Display - Enable the brief popup labels when switching modes
Reset - Restore settings to factory Default