Pentax Optio S1 Pro Reviews

People need inexpensive and adequate digital cameras, and Pentax produced the Optio S1 to meet that need. There’s nothing revolutionary or mind blowing about its technology, but it is easy to use and takes decent to above-average photos, if you’re willing to learn a little and use manual settings where you can. The Optio S1 gets points for style, size, and convenience. And when paired with its adequate performance, it’s a respectable choice.

For such a modestly priced camera, the S1 offers a good selection of shooting options and settings, including face detection, red-eye compensation and several different exposure modes, filters and effects. It was all fairly easy to use with familiar menu layouts and a familiar, logical navigation system.

Pentax's Optio S1 is a fine compact camera, but we think it's worth paying £20 more for the Canon PowerShot A3200 IS. In most respects the two cameras are very similar but the Canon captures higher quality photos and videos, especially in low light. However, if £110 is beyond your budget, the S1 is an excellent alternative.

The Optio S1 maintains the smart looks, high performance and solid build of its predecessors, while upgrading the detail and zoom and adding a host of new filters and system improvements.

The Pentax Optio S1 is a very stylish camera with the features you would expect at its price point - with the exception of a panorama mode - plus it has a remote control receiver, a feature few Point and Shoot cameras have. The camera is solidly built and seems like it will stand up to normal use (and even some abuse). Its menu system is logically laid out and works well. I like the fact that it includes color filters in playback mode, which gives users the option of making changes to their photos after they are taken. While our lab test shows rather slow shooting performance, I did not find this to be a problem and most users won't either. My only criticism of the camera's performance is that flash recovery time is somewhat slow, at about five seconds.

We'd have liked to have been pleasantly surprised by the S1, but eye catching styling and an eye catching performance going hand in hand was not to be on this occasion. So while this is one of the loveliest Pentax cameras we've seen (and style counting for a lot, it will be relatively critic proof because of it), those wanting a more consistent and rather better performance from an inexpensive compact are directed towards the likes of the Nikon Coolpix S3100, which would make for a better investment. The saving grace is that those spending around £100 won't be hoping for miracles so to an extent a hit and miss performance here is forgivable if not exactly desirable.

There’s not much to the Pentax Optio S1; it’s your average, easy to use “auto everything” £100 pocket snapper disguised as the chrome domed Silver Surfer. Ironically, this flash exterior led us to unwisely hope for a much better performance when it came to still images and video than the S1 delivered, so the overall disappointment was that much greater. No doubt street prices will be cheaper still, which means that the S1 may be better viewed as a camera with gifting potential, or one for the kids to muck about with. Full marks for the design, performance must try harder.

The Pentax Optio S1 is a stylish ultra-compact camera that is made to slip into the smallest of pockets or handbags; while at the same time offer simple operation. If you're looking for a Sub $200 US camera that takes nice photos for mid to large sized prints, the S1 will more than likely please you. However, it's slower shooting performance when compared to its siblings (even less expensive models) might deter some.

Priced at £99.99 the Optio S1 enters a very competitive market and performance wise can certainly hold its own. It's not exactly feature packed and one or two of the modes give strange results (HDR), but if you enjoy shooting landscapes and portraits then the camera doesn't disappoint. The addition of Shake Reduction, and a 5x optical zoom lens in an ultra compact body makes it more appealing and the support for infra-red remote control is an unexpected extra.

Ever since the Optio S, Pentax have carved themselves a niche making incredibly slim compact digital cameras with a metal chassis that have a strong style element to them. When it was first introduced, the three megapixel Optio S was incredibly popular due to its diminutive dimensions and excellent build and optical quality.