I had read about the X70 prior to the camera's introduction at the beginning of April, but details about the camera were sparse as they usually are when a new camera is about to be introduced, but from what I had seen up to that point, it was a camera I was definitely interested in. It was Pentax's first foray into the megazoom point and shoot field of compact cameras, so I had to find out what it was all about. I ordered it from Amazon on April 2nd, and by April 10, I had it in my hot little hands.First impression: It was smaller than I expected and a heck of lot lighter compared to other large zoom cameras I've held. Pentax apparently decided to use a lightweight lithium-ion battery instead of AA batteries to cut down on the size and weight of the camera. This has its good and bad points. The lithium-ion battery that it comes with is IMHO underpowered (925mAH) and good for only about 150-175 shots before needing to be recharged, so carrying extra batteries is a must if you plan on doing a lot of shooting. AA batteries would have been more advantageous in this situation because of their availability and cost. Pentax charges $53 for a replacement battery which in my opinion is outrageous for what you get. Fortunately, generic replacement D-Li92 batteries are available from overseas manufacturers for about $7 which are just as good if not better than the OEM model. Pentax should have taken a similar approach to Kodak's Z980 with their vertical battery grip accessory to add more power for the camera.
Ok... enough with the battery soapbox... The features that the camera has are impressive. Pentax, for the first time, includes a dedicated autofocus assist lamp located just to the left of the camera grip and to the right of the lens. The lamp is very bright and can be useful in the dark 10-15 feet away, but can be accidentally blocked by your hand if not careful. The 24x zoom is HUGE in performance and the image stabilization goes a long way in capturing clear shots. It features the usual range of P/A/T/M controls as well a the Pentax green button mode which basically acts like a hyper program which sets your correct exposure and speed no matter what mode you are in, even manual mode. The scene modes are numerous and features such things as flower, portrait, half portrait, sunset, night, etc.... most of which are standard on many other cameras. This camera also features auto exposure bracketing with a range of -/+2EV which is now becoming the norm for the latest batch of new cameras. This will allow a good exposure range for taking HDR photos (3 shots taken at -2EV, 0, +2EV), and processed with an external HDR software processor such as Photomatix.
It also has burst mode shooting, but there are trade offs... You can shoot at 4fps, 6.3fps, and 11 fps. At 4fps, you can shoot up to 7 shots, but the recorded pixels is set at 5MP, and JPEG quality is at 3 stars. At 6.3fps, you can also shoot up to 7 shots, 5MP, but JPEG quality drops to 2 stars. At 11fps, you can shoot up to 21 shots, 5MP, at a quality of 1 star.
Movie mode leaves a little to be desired though. You can use the entire 24x zoom range, but not while you are recording. Only digital zoom is available during shooting, so if you zoom in while recording, you will lose clarity much like you see on those reality cop shows where you view the dash cam, and they zoom in to see detail but it is blocky. The camera features HD recording (720p), but is only at 15fps. At 480i, it's at 30fps. Most likely the reason for the lack of optical zoom while recording has got to be the motor noise that would be audible with the in-camera microphone.
Ok, let's talk about image quality.... in three words, it's damn good. You have 12MP and the lens produces some very good if not excellent shots. High ISO is decent and usable up to ISO 800. ISO 1600 is marginal as to be expected from the small sensor size. Surprisingly, ISO 3200 is better than ISO 1600 IMHO, and ISO 6400 is also available in a pinch. However, at ISO 3200-6400, your recorded pixel size is set at 5MP to improve dynamic range.
All in all, despite some concerns I have about the camera, it appears that it was an excellent choice and one that I will use on a continuing basis to supplement my Pentax DSLRs that I own. There are times where I don't wish to lug around a heavy camera and lens, so carrying a camera like the X70 can be advantageous and still get good quality photos.
The colors are life-like and bright. This camera has so many neat features such as smile and face detect. I also took a couple of shots of our dog running (with camera hand-held) and they came out surprisingly well.
I took a few video clips with this on the highest quality setting and it looks decent but still not as good as a dedicated video camera (but getting closer!)
Pros
Superb zoom capability
Vivid life like colors
Decent video quality.
Camera is very light & lots of nice features to help novices like me take great photos!
Cons
The battery is tiny, supposedly it will hold charge for 170 photos (50 of those flash) or 70 minutes of video. (I 'll do an update on this.)
No raw image capability
No flash hot shoe (though the on-board flash is very good)
The best thing any camera can do is take great photos and this does that very well. It has plenty of nice features and looks well made.The pentax x70 is a good little camera, if you are a beginner or want a
camera that has a descent super zoom. The first thing I notice when I took it out of the box was, it is very light weight. The functions took some getting use too after a few days of shooting with it. Overall this camera perform quiet well for what I use it for, which is taking distant pictures of wildlife and taking using the macro mode, which I will give it 5 stars.
If you are using this camera for night shoots, the best setting is the manual mode. This camera works very well, even in digital zoom, one of the best if not the best for the 24x zoom. I tried the other brands at the local electronic store, and this one came out on top for the super zoom. The color is pretty much right on, very good color. I posted several pictures here on the Amazon web page to look at.
There are a few issues that I have with this camea. First the camera is a little pricy, but if you get the shot you want it doesn't matter. Another issue is a very small view finder, but I am glad the camera has one. The camera is not made for sports, in burst mode I could only get the first picture to come out clear. This is the shorttest battery life that came with a camera that I have used. You may get about 120 pictures if you are not using the flash and expensive, around $50 for the battery, if you can find one. Speaking of the flash it is one of the best for a point and shoot. The red eye elemination 5 stars. I have taken at least a 200 pictures with the flash and no red eye so far.
Conclusion: This is a good little camera, picture quality 4.5 stars, 4.0 stars ISO good up to 400 which is far better than the other ones in its class. 800 iso usable, don't use it any higher . If you are a DSLR user like I am, do not compare it to one because, this is a point and shoot camera in every since of the word. I would recommend this camera. Happy picture taking.I purchased this camera after reading reviews and looking at several other cameras. I have taken a little over 300 pictures along with a few minutes of video just to see what it would do in the video setting. You can't use the optical zoom while shooting video, but you can use the digital zoom. If you want a good video camera, then you should invest in one that is for that even though this one is pretty good as a backup.
I am very pleased with the camera so far. Very good color and most of the pictures are sharp, although I did have a few that were softer for some reason. I have made some adjustments to the camera since then, but have not taken any pictures since the adjustments. Lots of great features and of course the 24x zoom is one reason I bought it. I am just a hobbyist but have an Olympus C765 that took great pictures but had a shorter zoom and fewer megapixels.
I found the menu to be easy to use and the owner's manual is easy to understand. I have referred to it on several occasions due to the many features of the camera. I do highly recommend spare batteries since it goes through them pretty quickly. You have to take into consideration the large LCD screen, powerful zoom, flash, etc. that all eat up battery life. I also recommend a good LCD screen protector. I found a nice glass one for under $10 made for the Pentax screen. So, all in all, this camera has most everything I wanted in a digital camera without all those lenses to lug around. The video was pretty good for not being a regular video camera.
ProsGreat zoom, excellent color, good picture quality, lightweight and small size, good menu layout, good flash, focus assist light, loads of features.
ConsLow battery life, no lens thread for filters, touchy zoom lever.
Updated 2/5 2013-After having used this camera for quite sometime now, I can say with certainty it is one heck of a good camera! Takes great pictures and videos and also takes very good 3d pictures.I had stated earlier that you could not use the optical zoom while video taping, but I found out that is not the case. Optical zoom works just fine in video mode although you will hear some motor noise if the scene is very quiet. Another thing I like about the video mode is you can capture stills from your video. This comes in handy when the action is too fast to try to get a still shot in camera mode. I take a short video of the action and then save a still image as a jpg. I used this method when I was trying to get some shots of dolphins swimming alongside the boat. They would be under the water by the time I clicked my shutter, so I just took a short video and was able to get some shots of them that way.OK. First off I am far from a professional photographer. I have a Canon Digital Rebel and various other P&S cameras. This is my first Pentax.
My initial impression when I took it out of the box was how light weight it was. This is a good thing for me but I'm sure some people may think it is too flimsy.
The zoom is great like others suggest you must use a tripod if getting out to the maximum zoom range. The photos are at least as good as my Canon DSLR. I definitely see myself using this camera much more than the Canon due to the size and weight.
Overall I am happy with the purchase. I'll start playing with the video capture this weekend.
Update: OK, I've had some time to really play with this and I like it more as time goes by. The burst mode is great taking pictures of the kid's baseball games. They love being able to see their swing in incremental steps. I'm trying to get more creative with the manual settings and getting some fairly good results. I'd probably upgrade to 5 stars after using this for a while. I picked up a couple of spare generic batteries on Ebay for $10/each for backups.
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