Pentax Optio 430RS 4MP Digital Camera w/ 3x Optical Zoom

Most high-feature cameras are too large to carry with me all the time. The Pentax Optio 430, on the other hand, fits EASILY in a shirt pocket, yet includes every feature I wanted, plus its quality matches Canon and Nikon. Interestingly, smaller size and matching features and quality was also the main virtues of the Pentax I used 30 years ago over the same competitors.

I've just returned from a two week trip to Northern California, during which it took over 300 pictures. I consider many of them great...

4MP means you can crop without losing visible detail. I added a Sandisk Ultra 512 Meg Compact Flash card and a spare battery, allowing me to take as many pictures as I wished each day, deleting bad ones each evening.

This camera replaced two Canons that still work well. Compared to both, I find it easier to use.

One suggestion: 1) cover the LCD with a plastic Palm screen cover. I once damaged a Canon for lack of that.

After 9 months of use, I still consider this the best small digital camera at any price. Highly recommended!

Cons: Image quality is acceptable, but the inability to write tifs or raw image data hurts. Battery life is good for about 80ish pictures w/ no flash. It is very easy to scratch the screen (I did so on its first trip down a trail) so a PalmPilot screen protector is a must. The movies have a nifty old-school 8mm family movie look to them.

Pros: the big win for this camera is that I can carry it one hand when I run trails. I've taken it along on 1.5 hour runs and it has performed admirably. The camera is lighter than the water bottle I carry in my other hand. Well-exposed 8x10s look good at arm's length (HP DeskJet 970, glossy photo paper). 5x7's look just fine. On a recent trip to Brno, Czech Rep., the camera was very convenient for being a tourist without standing out as a tourist (as much).

Context: I've had the camera for 2 months now and shot about 400ish frames. I've shot tripod mounted, slow film, landscape stuff for 8 years.

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The reviews and specs do not give this camera justice. My favorite feature so far is the digital filter mode. You select the filter feature, and can take pictures in black and white, and use the following filters also: sepia, blue, red, yellow violet, and green. There is also a slim filter, where you can elongate vertically or horizontally.

In addition to the automatic mode, where you can zoom and the camera sets everything else, there is also a manual mode you can shoot in. For those of us who enjoy manual photography but don't want to pay the price for a super expensive manual digital camera, here is a good in between. You can set the shutter speed and aperture using the controls.

You can also do continuous shooting and a night-mode is also on this camera.

The 3-D feature is neat; the camera comes with a separate 3-D viewer. I am still figuring that one out.

The mini-movie (30 seconds long, no audio) is neat. It's good for when there is lots going on at once visually (no flash; need good lighting).

The zoom works quite well, also.

All in all, I love this camera and would highly recommend it.

I have Windows XP, and have had no problems. The only Windows software that the software is not compatible with is Windows 95. It comes with ACDSee, a photo editing software. I have Roxio's Photosuite 4 Platinum, and am able to edit my pictures no problem!

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I really like this camera. I have been using digital cameras for several years now and this one is easy to use and takes great pictures. The most important thing for me was size I found that unless I could put the camera in my shirt pocket I rarely took it with me. This on is only slightly bigger than a pack of cigerettes. You need to buy a compact flash memory for it if you are going to take high resolution pic's as you can only get something like 8 of the highest res pictures. The battery is a strong one and will run for a long time, and one ought to have a extra but finding one of these new lithium ion batteries has not been easy. You can even zoom in on a picture you have taken while reviewing it.

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The Optio takes true 4MP pictures, which are good for enlarged prints. The image quality is good, with decent colors and slightly soft edges. (I personally don't like sharp edges anyway.) The form factor makes it easy to hold, and the 3X optical zoom is fast and accurate. You can use either the LCD viewfinder or the optical viewfinder, the latter saving you considerable battery life. A solid product that I think you'll like. Do look around for the best price.