Gr8ful's Full Review: Pentax Optio A40 Digital Camera
I bought this camera for my wife to replace a Hewlett Packard 215C camera, which lasted about one year (just out of warranty) before it passed on to that great CF reader in the sky. My wife had been happy with the HP camera until the LCD display no longer functioned and the snap button quit working.
The Canon Powershot A40
The camera originally caught my eye because of the price. It was on sale for $199.99 and that was a little less than what we had paid for the HP. This camera had a higher resolution and came with a larger CF card as well. The LCD was brighter and clearer than our old HP and my wife liked the fact that the camera was smaller and lighter than the old one.
Features
The camera has a maximum resolution of 1600x1200 at 2.0 megapixels. It has an LCD display approximately 1"x1.25" which is extremely clear for its size. You can zoom in up to 3X optically and up to 7.5X digitally.
You can take still snapshots or short video sequences with sound which are recorded in compressed AVI format. The compression used is decent but don't expect DVD quality. Recording time for AVI varies between 15 and 25 seconds. I have not yet found any way to set a specific amount of time for recording AVI.
The camera comes with an 8MB CF card (which you will almost undoubtedly want to upgrade right away) that holds approximately 10-12 pictures at high quality. We bought a 64MB CF card when we purchased the camera and it holds over 100 pictures at high quality.
Software
You get a package of software with the camera for photo editing and touch up as well as photo album and drivers for the USB connection. However, I have never used any of the software that came with the camera because I have a Sandisk CF reader and I use Adobe Photoshop 7 for editing. So I never needed to use any of the software that came with the camera and can not give an opinion on it.
Picture Quality
The pictures we take with the camera in good light always come out really well and after being touched up slightly for contrast and color correction with Adobe Photoshop, they are exquisitely clear. The only time I get blurry or otherwise bad pictures is when I turn off the flash. For some reason when the flash is turned off (or set to automatic in good light when the flash does not go off) the pictures streak or blur out of focus.
The camera does not take pictures in dim areas very well. It does better in dark rooms than in dimly lit rooms. As far as outside pictures, it does great in sunlight, good at night and decent under cloudy skies.
Zoom Feature
The zoom feature does not work with AVI recording. AVI recording is best done in brightly lit areas. You have to make sure the camera is in focus before recording AVI because once the AVI starts recording the camera will not adjust focus until it is done. Therefore, AVI recording is not as good as you would like because nothing worth recording to video is going to "Sit still" long enough to take the video shot. Personally I do not use the AVI function of the camera; I bought a camcorder for that.
It does, however, work great for still photos. I usually try to keep the zoom at 3.0X or less so it stays in optical mode. Anything over 3.0X will automatically go into digital zoom and the digital zoom is good but not as good as the optical. When using digital zoom the pictures come out slightly grainy and sometimes pixilated (looks like a computer oil painting).
Battery Life
The batteries last a lot longer in the A40 than in our old HP camera. I can usually fill the CF card (100 pictures or more) without changing batteries. Most of the cameras that I have had experience with will kill a set of fresh batteries in about 20 pictures or less. Battery life is expectedly short in any digital camera with built in LCD screen, but this one so far has been fairly good to us with battery life. I recommend buying a set of rechargeable batteries and a charger when you buy the camera. It says not to use rechargeable batteries but I have been doing so for over a year and had no problems with the camera or the batteries. (I believe they just want you to keep buying batteries!)
Conclusion
To wrap it up, I'd say this is the best camera I have found for the price. It's not too big (fits in my pocket) but not so small you can't work the buttons either. It is fairly light weight and is a nice looking camera. So far I have taken over 1000 pictures with it and 99% of them have come out better than expected when shot. (Hey, you try to shoot a four year old on his birthday when he won't sit still for two seconds!)
Thanks for reading,
Gr8ful :-)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199.99 This Camera is a Good Choice if You Want Something... Easy Enough for Anyone to Use
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