At a time when digital cameras have become a commodity and one camera brand blurs with another, Pentax has brought out something different, their new “adventure-proof” camera.
Pentax has just announced the Optio W80. This latest Pentax digital camera is waterproof, dustproof, coldproof, and now shockproof enough to withstand impact from a fall of more than one metre.
Pentax has been making “dunk-able” digital cameras since 2003, the new Option W80 is waterproof till depths of 5 meters and can do full underwater photos and video for up to two hours.
Pentax is billing the W80 with the following slogan: “Adventurous meets clumsy in the waterproof, coldproof and now shockproof Optio W80. Dunk it, freeze it, drop it, and it will keep coming back for more.”
One might think that such a rugged camera would A) look awful and B) have only a few megapixels and take mediocre photos. Well, not the W80. The design is stylish with a slim one inch body and it packs a huge 12.1 megapixels, has a 5X internal optical zoom and a wide angle 28mm lens. The 12.1 megapixels for still photos translates to HD movie capture and the camera records resolutions up to 1280×720 pixels at full-speed 30 frames per second.
The W80 also features a “Super Protect” coating which is applied to the mineral crystal cover of the internal zoom lens to help repel water, grime and finger marks. While on the subject of coatings the 2.5 inch LCD monitor features anti-reflective coating, making it easy to view, even in bright sunlight.
Other things worth mentioning are the face detection (which can see up to 32 faces in 0.03 seconds), shake reduction and super macro mode.
The W80 will be available in Cardinal Red, Azure Blue and Gunmetal Gray in July 2009 for $299.95 USD. There is no news from Pentax yet about UK pricing.