Pentax Introduces Optios, d-SLR Lens
By Staff -- TWICE, 10/8/2007
GOLDEN, COLO. — Pentax will ship a pair of new point-and-shoot digital cameras and a new d-SLR lens to dealers in the next two months.
The 12-megapixel Optio A40 ships this month for a suggested $299. It sports a 2.5-inch LCD screen and a 3x optical zoom lens. It offers a CCD-shifting stabilization system and digital blur reduction in both still and movie modes. It captures MPEG-4 video at VGA resolution at 30 fps. Video can be edited in camera.
The A40 also features manual controls, facial recognition with a natural skin tone mode, and a half-length portrait mode that takes a photo of the subject from the shoulders up.
A dynamic range adjustment properly exposes under or overexposed portions of a photo. It offers light sensitivities to ISO 3200 for 5-megapixel images.
The 8-megapixel Optio V10 features a 3-inch LCD, 3x optical zoom lens and uses a new battery and circuit board to achieve its compact form factor, Pentax said. Features include facial recognition, digital blur reduction, 16 scene modes and automatic macro.
TheV10 will ship in November for $249.
Lastly, Pentax said it would offer a new lens for its digital SLRs this month. The SMC Pentax DA 18-250mm F3.5-6.3ED AL [IF] is a 14x zoom lens. It will retail for a suggested $499.
