Pentax Optio P70 (white)
Manufacturer: Pentax Part number: 17621
- CNET Editor rating: 3.0 stars Good
- Design: 8.0
Features: 7.0
Performance: 5.0
Image quality: 6.0
Overall score: 6.8 (3.0 stars) - Average user rating: 0 stars No reviews, write one!
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Product series
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- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- Pentax nailed the design and features for the oh-so-small Optio P70, but there's room for improvement with its performance and photo quality above ISO 200.
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CNET editors' review
Pentax Optio P70 (white) price range: $160.88 - $199.95
- Reviewed by: Joshua Goldman
- Reviewed on: 04/02/2009
- Released on: 02/01/2009
The good: Great-looking design; easy operation; fun features.
The bad: Photo quality dips above ISO 200; slow performance.
The bottom line: Pentax nailed the design and features for the oh-so-small Optio P70, but there's room for improvement with its performance and photo quality above ISO 200.
Those looking to step up from taking photos with their cell phone or other mobile device will want to consider the Pentax Optio P70. Fronted by a 27.5mm-equivalent wide-angle lens with a 4x zoom, the 12-megapixel ultracompact camera is point-and-shoot simple with all the automatic comforts we expect as well as some extras found above its price point. It looks great, too, and is thin and light enough that you may forget it's in your pocket. Yep, the P70 has a lot to offer for such a small camera--just not speedy performance.
| Key specs | Pentax Optio P70 |
| Price (MSRP) | $199.95 |
| Dimensions | 3.8 inches wide by 2.1 inches high by 0.8 inch deep |
| Weight (with battery and media) | 4.5 ounces |
| Megapixels, image sensor size, type | 12 megapixels, 1/2.3-inch CCD |
| LCD size, resolution | 2.7-inch LCD, 230K dots |
| Lens (zoom, aperture, focal length) | 4x, f2.6-5.8, 27.5-110mm (35mm equivalent) |
| File format (still/video) | JPEG/Motion JPEG |
| Highest resolution size (still/video) | 4,000x3,000 pixels (4:3)/ 1,280x720 at 15fps (16:9) |
| Image stabilization type | Electronic |
| Battery type, rated life | Lithium ion rechargeable, 200 shots |
Much like the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T77, the P70 is a sliver of a camera, roughly the size of a closed flip phone. The aluminum body is attractive, if a little bit slippery, and available in three colors: silver, white, and red. The biggest gripe with the design is there's no dedicated area for your thumb. There is some room to the right of the Face Detection activation and Playback buttons but, because of the rounded edge to the body, you won't get a firm grip for one-handed shooting. Aside from this detail, the P70 is an exemplary ultracompact design. And Pentax even managed to get a wide-angle lens with a 4x zoom in the petite body, too.

For the generation of snapshot photographers who've adjusted to shooting photos with their cell phones, Pentax added a Vertical Snap mode. Hold down the OK button while the camera's off and when the camera eventually turns on, the OK becomes a shutter release, and the directional pad controls the zoom and exposure compensation. The only other control you get is the ability to turn the flash on and off. (Basically, it's the P70's auto-everything Green mode.) It's a fun add-in, but holding the camera like that can be a little tricky, particularly if you need to use the flash.
| General shooting options | Pentax Optio P70 |
| ISO sensitivity (full resolution) | Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1,600 |
| White balance | Auto, Daylight, Shade, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Manual |
| Recording modes | Auto Picture, Program, Digital SR, Scene (20 options), Movie, Green, Vertical Snap |
| Focus | Autofocus, Macro, Pan Focus, Infinity, Manual |
| Metering | Multisegment, Center-weighted, Spot |
| Color effects | B&W, Sepia, Red, Pink, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Soft, Color extraction (red, green, blue), Brightness (effects available in editing only) |
| Burst mode shot limit (full resolution) | Unlimited continuous |
The Optio P70 isn't short on the point-and-shoot features we've come to expect. You get your Smile Capture, your Blink Detection, and some manner of shake reduction (in this case, it's the company's new Pixel Track SR shake reduction explained in the next paragraph). There's also face detection, and while that's not new, the P70 is capable of hunting down up to 32 faces in as little as 0.03 second. (Sadly, I could not get a group larger than five people during testing as I was not invited to any weddings, parties, or proms. However, it is very fast to detect faces as well as face-shaped objects.) Also, if you've never been good about switching to an appropriate scene mode, the P70 will pick out one of eight automatically.
Like the less expensive Optio E70, the P70 has no optical stabilization, but instead features Pentax's Pixel Track SR for helping minimize the effects of motion blur. Turn it on and it will track motion blur at the pixel level, determining in real time the amount of blur. Once you've taken a shot, it filters the effect motion has on each pixel to sharpen them and remove blur (all of this takes a few seconds after the photo is captured). In my tests it worked better than the traditional method of electronic stabilization of boosting ISO and shutter speed, as Pixel Track doesn't introduce more noise. However, in some of my shots it sacrificed sharpness in order to remove a slight blur. So it's not perfect, but it would be worth turning on if camera shake is unavoidable.
What really brings down the overall rating of the P70 is its slow performance. It starts up moderately fast at 2.5 seconds. However, shutter lag is at the high-end of what we consider acceptable for point-and-shoot cameras: 0.5 second in bright conditions and 1 second in dim. After the shutter's released it takes an average of 3.9 seconds till it's ready for another shot. That's long enough for the flash to recharge when you're using it, so at least that doesn't add to the time. Of course, turning on the Pixel Track SR adds several seconds on top of these times. The P70 has a high-speed continuous mode that drops the resolution to 5 megapixels. Its full-resolution continuous mode is capable of 0.9 frames per second.
Photo quality is good for an ultracompact camera, but low-light shooters will likely be disappointed. The camera offers ISO sensitivity settings from 100 to 6,400; however, ISO 3,200 and 6,400 are fixed at a 5-megapixel resolution. The P70 is best at or below ISO 200 and that best is actually quite good, too. It's not great with extreme highlights and lowlights, but the P70 produces photos with bright and natural colors, good detail, and that are relatively sharp, despite the early onset of noise. Photos taken at ISO 400 would still be suitable for smaller prints and certainly for online use, but the noise reduction starts making subjects look painterly and edges get fuzzy. Detail and sharpness are poor at ISO 800--like most all cameras in the P70's class--and we don't suggest using higher settings.
Pentax gave the P70 the ability to capture video at up to an HD resolution of 720p, but only at 15 frames per second. So while the quality of the video is nice for an ultracompact camera, it's not exactly smooth looking. You're better off keeping it in 640x480 at 30fps, especially if the movie is destined for online sharing. Also, the 4x optical zoom doesn't work in Movie mode.
If there's a follow-up model to the P70 (and I hope there is), it's going to need better processing speed. The design is excellent, the features very good, and the photos are perfectly suitable for who I see as the target user: someone wanting better photos than they can get from their cell phone without sacrificing the portability and convenience. It just needs to be faster.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
| Time to first shot | Typical shot-to-shot time (flash) | Typical shot-to-shot time | Shutter lag (dim) | Shutter lag (typical) |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Find out more about how we test digital cameras.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Pentax
- Part number: 17621
- Description: Ease-of-use features meet easy-to-find AA batteries in the travel-friendly Optio E70. Take it with you on the next trip and bring back high-resolution memories.
General
- Product Type Digital camera - Compact
- Width 3.8 in
- Depth 0.8 in
- Height 2.1 in
- Weight 4.4 oz
- Enclosure Color White
- Body Material Aluminum
Main Features
- Resolution 12 megapixels
- Color Support Color
- Optical Sensor Type CCD
- Total Pixels 12,390,000 pixels
- Light Sensitivity ISO auto, ISO 64-6400
- Digital Zoom 6.3 x
- Shooting Modes Frame movie mode
- Shooting Programs Pet, Blog, Food, Kids, Text, Candle, Flower, Fireworks, Landscape, Night scene, Sports mode, Surf & snow, Digital wide, Party/indoor, Portrait mode, Frame composition, Natural skin tone, Half-length portrait, Night scene with portrait
- Max Shutter Speed 1/1000 sec
- Min Shutter Speed 4 sec
- Exposure Metering Spot, Multi-segment, Center-weighted
- Exposure Modes Program, Automatic
- Exposure Compensation ±2 EV range, in 1/3 EV steps
- Face Detection Yes
- White Balance Custom, Presets, Automatic
- White Balance Presets Shade, Daylight, Fluorescent, Tungsten light
- Digital Video Format AVI
- Still Image Format JPEG
- Video Capture AVI - 640 x 480, AVI - 320 x 240, AVI - 1280 x 720
Memory / Storage
- Supported Flash Memory SD Memory Card
- Integrated Memory 34 MB
- Image Storage JPEG 4000 x 3000, JPEG 3072 x 2304, JPEG 2592 x 1944, JPEG 2048 x 1536, JPEG 1920 x 1080, JPEG 1024 x 768, JPEG 640 x 480
Camera Flash
- Camera Flash Built-in flash
- Flash Modes Soft, Auto mode, Fill-in mode, Flash OFF mode, Red-eye reduction
- Red Eye Reduction Yes
- Effective Flash Range 8 in - 15 ft
Lens System
- Type Zoom lens - 4.9 mm - 19.6 mm - F/2.6-5.8
- Focal Length 4.9 mm - 19.6 mm
- Focal Length Equivalent to 35mm Camera 27.5 - 110 mm
- Focus Adjustment Manual, Automatic
- Auto Focus TTL contrast detection
- Auto Focus Points (Zones) 9
- Min Focus Range 15.7 in
- Macro Focus Range 10-50cm
- Lens Aperture F/2.6-5.8
- Optical Zoom 4 x
- Zoom Adjustment Motorized drive
- Lens Construction 6 group(s) / 7 element(s)
- Features Aspherical lens, Built-in lens shield
Additional Features
- Self Timer Yes
- Self Timer Delay 2 sec, 10 sec
- Additional Features DPOF support, Face detection, Audio recording, Date/time stamp, Cropping an image, Resizing an image, PictBridge support, PRINT Image Matching, USB 2.0 compatibility, Digital image rotation, RGB primary color filter, In-camera red-eye removal, Digital image stabilization
Display
- Type LCD display - TFT active matrix - 2.7 in - Color
- Display Form Factor Built-in
- Display Format 230,000 pixels
Microphone
- Type Microphone - Built-in
Connections
- Connector Type 1 x USB, 1 x Composite video/audio output
- Expansion Slot(s) SD Memory Card
Software
- Software Drivers & Utilities
Miscellaneous
- Included Accessories Carrying strap
- Cables Included USB cable, A/V cable
Power
- Power Device Battery charger - External
Battery
- Supported Battery Pentax D-LI88
- Supported Battery 1 x Pentax D-LI88 Li-ion rechargeable battery ( Included )
Product series
Accessories
Manufacturer info
- Pentax
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