Pentax Optio P80: Review

Posted to Digital Cameras 2010-03-05

Pentax Optio P80 review:

The Pentax Optio P80 is a new 12.1 megapixel, 4X optical zoom digital point-and-shoot camera. It features triple anti-shake protection and widescreen HD movie recording at 30fps. Other features include SD/SDHC memory cards for image storage, a true wide angle 27.5-110mm zoom range (35mm equivalent) and automatic face detection.

The automatic face detection technology includes a smile detection mode and a blink detection function. The Optio P80 also features ISOs up to 6400, Auto Picture mode which automatically selects one of 8 scene modes and dynamic range adjustment to prevent over and under-exposed areas of the image. HD video capture resolution is up to 1280 x 720. There's also a large 2.7 inch LCD display and a variety of digital filters that can be applied to images.

Rating:

3.6 out of 5

Value

The Optio P80 is surprisingly affordable at its street price, given its feature set. The full HD at 30fps movie mode is particularly absent from the competition at this price. The automatic face detection is quite advanced and the camera features a useful zoom range that starts at a true wide angle. The long end of the zoom is ideal for portraits. Operation at ISO 6400 is also unusual in this price range, although image quality suffers considerably when using this mode.

Features

The Optio P80 gets an extra star here for the HD movie mode and the advanced automatic face detection. Both of these features are unusual at this price. And Pentax didn't sacrifice on the rest of the features either - the large 2.7 inch LCD display, ISO 6400 operation and surprisingly good image quality under good lighting conditions. One complaint, however, is lack of an HDMI port. You'll have to transfer those HD movie files to your computer first to enjoy them - the A/V port on the Optio P80 is standard definition.

Summary

If you're on a budget and in the market for a good all-around point-and-shoot camera, the Pentax Optio P80 makes an excellent choice. Pentax has managed to incorporate an excellent feature set at a very reasonable price. Performance is perhaps not quite as good as the competition, but more than acceptable for a general purpose point-and-shoot. All in all a very good offering from Pentax.

Pros

12.1 megapixel resolution
4X zoom (27.5-110mm)
2.7 inch LCD
Advanced face recognition technology

Cons

HD movie mode, but lacks HDMI port