Pentax Optio W30 Review

This is the "green" point-n-shoot mode. Here the camera controls all aspects of the exposure process. The Record and Mode menus are locked, you may only change the flash mode (Auto or Off), enable the Self-timer, or change between 9-point AF or Macro focus mode while in point-n-shoot.

Auto Picture mode is also fully automatic, however now the user has access to various menu options, like resolution, quality, ISO, etc.

Depress the 4-way controller "Down" to bring up this graphical menu of recording modes to choose from: Auto Picture, Program, Night Scene, Movie, Voice Recording, Landscape, Flower, Portrait, Underwater, Underwater Movie, Digital SR (Blur reduction), Surf & Snow, Sport, Sport, Pet, Frame Composite, Synchro Sound Record, Kids, Soft (focus), Self-portrait, Fireworks, Food, Text, Museum, Natural Skin Tone, and Report. NOTE: This does NOT work in "Green" mode.

When hovering over a record mode for a brief second, the camera will show a description of that mode on the screen explaining its function for you.

Program AE mode with the real time histogram display enabled. You will also get icons for image size, quality, white balance, and ISO speed. See the menu below for all available settings.

With the shutter half-pressed the autofocus locks, the active AF point bracket will shrink, turn green, now you are ready to shoot.

Record menu options:

Recorded Pixels - 7M, 5M, 4M, 3M, 2M, 1024x768 or 640x480
Quality Level - Three (Best), Two (Better) or One (Good) "stars"
White Balance - Auto, Sunny, Shade, Incandescent, Fluorescent or Manual
AE Metering - Multi, Center-weighted, Spot
Sensitivity - Auto or fixed at 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
EV Compensation - Override metering ±2.0EV in 1/3 steps
AF Setting - Focusing Area (9 point AF, Spot AF, Tracking AF), Focus Limiter (On/Off)
Movie - Enters the Movie mode menu (shown below)
Interval Shoot - Choose interval, number of shots, and start time
Digital Zoom - On or Off
Instant Review - Off, 0.5, 1, 2, 3 or 5 seconds
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

The Macro focus mode covers from 0.03 in. to 1.97 ft at wide angle.

In Manual Focus mode a sliding scale is shown on the LCD with distance marks. While you are adjusting the distance the display is enlarged so you can visually "see" the focus change.

You can record 640x480 or 320x240 motion video at 15 or 30 fps with audio. Movie clips are stored as QuickTime MOV format video files. The optical zoom may be used while recording your movie (when enabled via the menu), and the Shake Reduction setting will help you capture steady handheld clips. The length of these movies is limited only by available memory.

Approx. Storage Capacity