Pentax Optio S10: 10 MP Camera - Features
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Features
DIVx Movie Mode
The Optio S10 is a very capable video recorder that will take either 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 resolution video. The S10 offers three quality settings for both resolution levels. The higher the quality, the more memory you'll need to record the video. The S10 saves video in a compressed DIVx format, which helps keep the file sizes relatively small.
The S10 records video at 30 fps, which is DVD speed. The video feature includes sound, but reviews have shown that the microphone is a little weak at picking up sound. This camera will record video until the memory runs out, so you can get a lot of quality video from this little shooter.
ISO Correction
The S10 is capable of high ISO levels, but for the most part, using the high ISO settings will make the pictures extremely noisy. For people not experienced with ISO levels, Pentax has added the ISO correction feature to help them out. This feature will allow the user to preset the maximum allowable ISO setting (I recommend ISO 400), and then when the camera is put into auto-ISO mode, the camera will not go any higher than the level that you preset. This will ensure that each photo is as sharp as possible.
Shooting Modes
There are a variety of shooting modes available in the Optio S10. First of all, there are 11 scene modes including pet, food, kids, natural skin tone, and others. There is a built-in face recognition mode that will automatically adjust focus and aperture on the subject's face. The S10 can shoot images from within 0.2-0.49 feet with its super macro setting.
Digital Shake Reduction (SR)
Unfortunately, the Pentax S10 does not have an optical image stabilization system as many of its competitors do. The answer to this problem is Pentax's digital SR feature, which works to reduce camera shake and blurring of images. This feature works by basically raising the ISO level, which in turn speeds up the shutter speed. While this feature works all right, it does not replace a good optical stabilization system like the ones in most Canon and Sony cameras.
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