Pentax Optio X70 Review

Here you can the camera in 'Green' mode. It selects all of the exposure settings, you just simply point-n-shoot, perfect for beginners.

Program AE mode is geared more toward the novice user, and offers a wealth of camera settings, like ISO, White Balance, Sharpness, Saturation, Contrast, Exposure Compensation, etc.

When the shutter is half-pressed and the autofocus locks, the active AF point bracket will shrink and turn green. If the flash in going to fire, the lighting bolt appears. You can also see the aperture and shutter speed values the camera has chosen.

Using the Face Priority button on the back of the camera, you have the option of turning the face prioritiy on or off as well as putting the camera into smile capture mode.

Press the 4-way controller 'MODE' button to change the exposure mode. A brief explanation of a modes intended use is shown below. Choices are: Auto Picture, Program, Night Scene, Night Scene Portrait, Half-length Portrait, Movie, Landscape, Flower, Portrait, Surf & Snow, Sport, Digital SR, Kids, Pet, Food, Fireworks, Frame Composite, Party, Natural Skin Tone, Candlelight, Text, Blog, Digital Wide and Digital Panorama.

Pressing the 4-Way controller left gives you the flash options. Up is the drive mode and timer, and Right is the focus mode including macro focus mode. Macro covers macro: 4-20 inches.

Record Menu options:

Pixel Track SR - Auto or Off
Recorded Pixels - 12MH, 12M, 7M, 5M, 3M, 2.1M, 1024, 640
White Balance - Auto, Daylight, Shade, Tungsten, Fluorescent, SHUTTER Adjust
Focusing Area - Choose focus mode (Multi, Spot, Tracking)
AE Metering - Multi, Center, Spot
Sensitivity - Auto, or User select ISO 64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400
EV Compensation - �2.0 in 1/3EV steps
Movie - Adjust movie mode settings (shown below)
Blink Detection - On or Off
Digital Zoom - On or Off
Instant Review - 1 sec. or Off
Memory - Saves shooting function settings when camera is turned off
Green Button - Reprogram the green button
Sharpness - Adjust sharpness (+ or -)
Saturation - Adjust saturation (+ or -)
Contrast - Adjust contrast (+ or -)
Vertical Snap - Allows you to take vertical shots similar to using a cell phone, via the OK button
Date Imprint - Off, Date, Time or Date and Time

Macro mode lets you focus on subjects as close as 4 inches from the lens at wide angle. There's also a Macro 1cm option.

You can record 640x480 or 320x320 motion video at 15 or 30 fps with audio or 1280x720 HD at 15 fps. Movie clips are stored as .AVI (Motion JPEG) format video files. While the optical zoom may Not be used during recording, you can preset the desired focal length. You can also use the Digital Zoom option, however this can degrade image quality. The length of these movies is limited only by available memory (max. 2GB clip size). The X70 also features Movie SR (Shake reduction), which helps eliminate blur or shake in you hand held movie clips.

Movie Menu:

Recorded Pixels -1280x720 (15fps), 640x480 (15fps/30fps), 320x240 (15fps/30fps)
Movie SR - On or off

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