Tracey Capen

Pentax Optio 430RS

Like its predecessors (the 2-megapixel Optio 230 and the 3-megapixel Optio 330RS), this model is compact, stylish, and easy to use. Its stainless-steel case and smooth controls give it the feel of a camera that could survive frequent tosses into pockets and bags. A sub-$500 price is low for a 4-megapixel camera, especially a compact model. Illustrating how far digital camera prices have dropped, the Optio 330RS sold for $699 when it was first released.
No video output is available for viewing your photos on a TV. Movies are limited to 30 seconds, and they're soundless. Though you have full-manual exposure controls, you'll have to forgo the conveniences of aperture- and shutter-priority (the latter would have been especially useful for action shots). A selection of "scene modes," commonly found in larger cameras, might have compensated for these missing controls, but the Optio has only one: a "Night Scene" mode that's supposed to help when you're shooting in dark venues (the manual, however, doesn't specify what it does). This camera's battery life is comparatively short, as well. In our formal tests, it took just over 100 shots before its rechargeable lithium ion battery packed it in.
Based on the shots taken in our Test Center, the Optio's overall image quality is middling at best. Its photos didn't look as sharp as those from other 4-megapixel cameras we've tested, and they tended to be a touch dark. Flash photos of our model made skin tone appear a bit gray, and we noticed that the reds in the model's scarf lost some shading details. Images taken in daylight, though, produced more-accurate colors. The Optio seems almost retro in its overall design, harkening back to classic, compact film cameras like the smaller Contax models. Pentax kept the various buttons and menus to the basics: Three well-labeled buttons let you manage the most commonly used controls, such as focus, flash, and the self-timer. They're not large, but they're well separated, making them workable even if you have large fingers. The nearly ubiquitous mode dial on the top of the camera surrounds the trigger button, letting you quickly shift among full-auto, full-manual, and movie modes. Unlike most digital cameras, the Optio has no separate playback switch--you just push the OK button in the middle of the four-way thumb pad. Precise zoom settings can be difficult to control, however: When you release the zoom button (when you're moving to a wider angle), the image tends to jump to a slightly longer focal length. Simple menus add to this camera's easy use; making selections is fairly quick, and the black-text/white-background menus are easily readable in bright light. One of the menus lets you rapidly select settings that you want the camera to remember when it's switched off (such as flash, focus mode, and zoom position). Advanced features include a user-settable white balance, a workable full-manual exposure control, manual focus, and autofocus zones you can choose--useful for macro and slow-speed exposures. (Typically, a camera focuses on a spot in the center of its viewfinder. Autofocus zones let you move the focus point off-center in the viewfinder.) The camera has two power-saving modes: sleep mode, which lets you catch those fleeting shots, and power-down mode, which shuts the camera off. One of the Optio's more esoteric features is its 3D mode: You take two shots, print out the combined image, and look at it with a special bundled viewer. We haven't decided whether this is a cool thing. Not much other software comes with the Optio, but the bundled ACDSee photo management package is a good start.
The Optio 430RS is a nice pack-along camera--small enough to take anywhere, but with enough pixel power for making large, sharp prints.