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Details at a glance
Megapixels: 6
Optical Zoom: 3x
Digital Zoom: 4x
LCD screen: 2.5inch
Storage: SD, 23mb int
Size: 85(w) x 53.5(h) x 19(d)
Weight: 120g
We clicked with
The use of DiVX for video
Shots in the dark
The lack of an optical viewfinder
No RAW format
Links
More Pentax information
www.pentax.co.uk
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This is one of the smallest and lightest ultra-compacts that still has a range of adjustments rather than just a range of point and shoot options. It's only 18mm thick and weighs in at just 120g, but it fits in a 6 megapixel sensor and a 3x zoom lens (6.2 - 18.6mm equivalent; but the macro only goes down to 15cm).
Most of the back is taken up by the backlit 2.5” LCD and there's no optical viewfinder at all, which means you can see it in sunlight but you get no choice about keeping the LCD on and using power. The battery is half the size of the battery in Casio's slightly larger EX-Z750 and doesn't last quite as long as you'd want. It's also far too easy to put the battery in the wrong way round. There's an external battery charger in the box and the camera has a power connection so you don't need to worry about carrying a docking base when you travel; but you have to buy the power adapter separately; the Optio S6 doesn't charge over USB.
Small buttons
The buttons are small and the large LCD doesn't leave a lot of room for butterfingered hands, but the grooved texture on the front does give you more grip; keep your fingers away from the auto focus assist light near the flash. You need to press the shutter release rather more firmly than you expect to actually take a photo.
Apart from the zoom control, all the options are on the four-way arrows or the menu. The arrows let you set the timer, control the focus mode (including manual focus) and flash or choose from the various scene modes. These include a panorama assist that shows the edge of the previous photo to help you position the next shot (and spot if the angle has changed too much). The tracking auto-focus automatically turns on in the 'sport' and 'pet' modes.
All on the menus
Everything else is on the menu, including choosing the resolution and JPEG quality (there's no option to shoot uncompressed images). You can choose from four different white balance settings or tune the custom setting. There are four ISO settings from 80 to 400, but we saw a lot of noise at higher ISO settings, especially in macro mode. You can also change the autofocus area, AE metering and adjust EV compensation. If you're going to adjust these frequently you can change the green button usually used for switching into record mode so it lets you control any four settings you want with the arrows; this also gives you a histogram and other settings information on screen. Turn on the memory for settings you want to adjust as well, so you don't lose your changes when you turn the camera off.
Image quality is usually good, with a reasonable amount of detail but colours are a little more vivid than realistic. Macro shots are crisp with little distortion, but full flash can overpower images.
The usual 640 x 480 30fps video mode records not in AVI but in DivX, which makes for much smaller files; there's also an anti-shake option for video if you're happier with a narrower angle of view.
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Ease of use 
Functions 
Value for Money
Overall 
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When you don't want to carry a larger camera, you could happily slip the Optio S6 in your pocket for quick snaps with more control than you might expect from an ultra-compact. But if you can manage a little more weight, be sure to compare it to similar models with larger batteries and more megapixels |
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