Review: Pentax Optio M10

product images: front | 3/4 front | top | back
sample images: fringing | colour | dark | landscape | macro | movement

Camera Details Details at a glance Megapixels: 6 Optical Zoom: 3x Digital Zoom: 4x LCD screen: 2.5 inch Storage: SD(20mb int) Size: 89 x 59.5 x 24.5mm Weight: 120g (full details at bottom of the page) We clicked with The size and design of the camera, price, well written manual, level of freedom offered for a budget camera Shots in the dark Green Mode and some scenes are redundant, lack of a viewfinder, some jokey gimmicks. Links More Pentax information www.pentax.co.uk

The M10 is designed to be a versatile camera for use as a learning camera for first time users, but also for use by more experienced users that know their way around concepts like white balance or exposure.

Features
Straight away, from the £100-150 price point to the no-nonsense and simple design, it's clear that this is a camera with beginners in mind. The 2.5-inch LCD allows the menu to be clear and obvious and lets each of the 15 scene modes have its own guide - which have a sufficient explanation of their operation on camera so you don't explicitly need to consult the manual to use them properly. Mention must be made of the manual - it's one of the clearest I've read and I was in no doubt of the camera's ability once I'd read it.

Perhaps the best indication of the camera's learner friendly intent is the “green mode” which puts the camera onto pre-recorded settings, locks out the menu and reduces the flash and focus modes to very basic options. On paper this sounds like a good idea but in practice it seems only useful to complete starters just learning the ideas of shot composition. Program mode is a much more useful mode as both a default any-situation scene and for learning. I also found the choice of settings for green mode a bit strange, most importantly for me was the decision to set picture quality to medium instead of high, and these can't be changed. On the whole it probably isn't a good enough feature to warrant its own dedicated button (although it is sometimes used as delete and for scene descriptions).

Handling
The camera has a very good sense of size to it; it's not too big to fit in a pocket yet it's big enough to sit firmly in the hand. The grip especially is the right size and there is a slight bump for the thumb on the back too, so you feel like you can safely operate with one hand without fear of dropping it, once you feel confident with its layout.

All the buttons, from the on/off button on the top to the menu and green mode buttons seem logically placed. The LCD does take up the majority of the back of the camera but it doesn't over dominate it, and it has a wide-angle low reflection scene so it can be viewed properly from almost any angle. There is no viewfinder; although they are not often present at this level, it would have been nice to see a viewfinder because it teaches good camera habits and shot set-up.

Image quality
The picture quality of the M10 is what you'd expect from an entry level camera - the colours are reasonable but a bit soft and the red especially looks a bit thin and washy. The camera suffers from a bit of purple fringing (see the shot of the Tudor building and the security camera area).

Noise is a fair problem to the camera too, ISO is quite noisy and it seems this is an area that Pentax have skimped on in order to keep the price down low, much like Ricoh may have done with the RR660. There was a fair movement in the images even at higher shutter speeds, which could arise from the general softness of images and the lack of a viewfinder for stability - either way if you are using the long end of the zoom you'll want to work on your hand holding technique

To give the camera its due however, the picture quality is ample for its purpose - learning and holiday snaps where quality is less of a concern than capturing the moment. When printing out 6x4 photo prints are ok, but if you are planning to print A3 posters (which a 6MP camera should allow) you may have to look elsewhere.

Shooting
I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with the speed of the camera; both at turning on and zooming in and out with the 3x optical zoom - I didn't expect to find it this fast. Camera shot time is fast enough too with no noticeable “save to card” time between shots (both using a professional SanDisk Ultra II card and the standard SD card supplied).

There is a range of camera options that the user can play with - exposure compensation, white balance and manual focus can all be controlled. The latter is quite intuitive to control; the centre of the frame fills to show the actual size of the subject and a bar appears showing the focal distance. If the user chooses to, the LCD can show a histogram of brightness while you are setting up, a feature not usually seen on budget cameras, and an even nicer feature is that over and under exposed areas are highlighted in red and yellow respectively - showing possible problem areas. The only settings that seem to be missing are control over shutter or aperture, but I feel control like this is above the remit of the camera.

Speaking of manual control, the M10 has a feature to remember certain settings when the camera is turned off, for example the position of the zoom, and the user sets this. The list of options is pretty everything that the user has control over, but curiously the selected scene is always remembered. This can be either a blessing or a curse based on personal opinion of scene modes; I know I accidentally shot a whole series of photos in “Pet” mode because I accidentally left it on this in the last session (more on this mode below).

What's not to like
Perhaps because the camera is aimed at novices, Pentax has felt it needs to fill the camera with gimmicks to appeal to the market. Some are justified (like the menu is review mode that allows in camera editing, trimming and zooming) but others aren't as welcome. Examples are the frames that allow you to surround the shot with a border (e.g. roses) at time of shot, which I thought was the realm of included software rather than the camera itself. Thankfully these options aren't the default, and don't show themselves unless you really go looking for them, and you can download more if they take your fancy. More obvious are the sound options that greet you immediately on turn-on and whenever you use the shutter or buttons. The three included aren't particularly inspiring and have you looking for the mute - although the cat meow sound is briefly entertaining.

15 scene modes could be considered overkill and offer too much freedom - a stark contrast to the green mode that allows practically none. Of the 15, “Flower”, “Food” and “Soft” all offer the same functionality (the key is in the name of the latter) and “Pet” mode is similarly redundant - supposedly offering slightly different output for cat or dog and colour of coat but its not very noticeable. This could be because all of all the manual options, sharpness, saturation and contrast can be changed, but the real differences don't seem to be obvious, at least not compared to what a different White Balance setting gives.

Our Verdict

The M10 is a camera I was initially unsure of, but while I've had it for review it's grown on me, and I can definitely say it's a good choice of camera for novices - it has the specification you'd expect and the right level of freedom. More experienced photographers may find the lack of total control and image quality a bit constricting but the size and robustness of the camera would make it a worthy travel camera.

Pentax M10 Specification

Mega-pixels:	6	Photo:	JPEG
Optical Zoom:	3x	RAW:	No
Digital Zoom:	4x	Aperture:	F/2.8-4.9
LCD:	2.5 inch	Focal Length:	equiv. 35-105mm
Dimensions:	89 x 59.5 x 24.5mm	Shutter:	4 sec to 1/1500
Weight:	120g	Exposure:	ISO 64 to 400
Storage:	SD/MMC	Movie:	320x240@20fps
Internal Mem:	8.3mb	Battery:	2AA
Interface:	USB 2.0, AV	PictBridge:	Yes
Included accessories: Batteries, USB cable, AV cable, Software CD, Strap, Dock insert, Manual