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(Credit: Pentax)

There's been an explosion of waterproof and rugged cameras and camcorders this year, and Wednesday Pentax added one more to the list (though it's been making them since 2003). The Optio W80 is a water/dust/shock/freezeproof 12-megapixel camera with a 2.5-inch LCD selling for less than $300.

The W80 can apparently survive an impressive dunk: down to 16 feet for up to two hours. It'll also take a decent fall of up to 3.3 feet and keep working in temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

On top of its "proofing," the W80 has fairly good camera specs, too. The internal lens has a zoom range of 5x and is wide angle, too, at 28mm. It records 720p, HD-quality video at 30fps. It also has the expected convenience features such as face, smile, and blink detection; auto scene recognition; and a bunch of other automatic shooting options.

About the only thing missing is optical image stabilization; the W80 only has Pentax's digital Pixel Track SR, which though it's good, still degrades photo quality.

If money's tight, but you don't want to miss out on spring photo opportunities, Pentax is offering up some instant savings on three of its compact cameras and its entry-level digital SLR.

Starting Friday through April 11, the company is knocking $20 off the prices of its basic compact, the Optio E70, and its lightweight ultracompact Optio P70, as well as the waterproof Optio W60. Or if you want more than a point-and-shoot, the K2000 dSLR kit with DA L 18-55mm lens and AF200FG flash has a $50 instant rebate, bringing the price down below $550.

I recently reviewed both the E70 and P70, which are $119.95 and $179.95 after rebate, respectively. They are solid cameras, though certainly not perfect. The E70 is definitely geared toward beginners or anyone wanting a very simple but still attractive compact camera. The P70 has a lot more features than the E70, including a 28mm wide-angle lens with a 4x zoom, and is a fun camera to slip in a handbag or back pocket before heading out.

However, neither are particularly fast performers. And if you need really sharp photos in low-light conditions, well, you probably shouldn't be shopping for a compact camera at these prices. Photo quality for both of these under bright light/outdoors (up to ISO 200 or ISO 400) is very good for the price, however.

Read the full reviews of the Pentax Optio P70 and the Optio E70.

Pentax Optio E60

(Credit: Pentax)

When you're about ready to start carving your Halloween pumpkins, Pentax will be starting to ship the E60, a basic black budget compact point-and-shoot. At the moment, its most notable claim to fame is the price: less than $140, which is pretty aggressive for a 10-megapixel model.

With the low price comes the rest of the parade of budget features: relatively narrow 32-96mm 3x zoom lens, compared to the barrage of wide-angle lenses we'll be seeing this fall; smallish, low-resolution 2.4-inch LCD; and no physical image stabilization. It does run off AA batteries, which many consider a nice option, and supports the latest crop of convenience features, like Auto Picture mode for automatic scene selection and a misnamed Face Recognition AF & AE mode: it does face detection, not recognition (it knows there's a person in the scene, but not that she's grandma).

Today the company also announced the Optio M60, a 10-megapixel, 5x zoom model with a nice design and a couple other minor step-up features, but we won't be seeing it in the U.S., except in the hands of tourists from Europe.

(Credit: Pentax)

Pentax just unveiled three new digital cameras in its Optio line of point-and-shoots, the Optio S12, M50, and E50. They run the gamut from budget-priced, simple shooter to high-resolution ultracompact.

The Optio S12 stands out as the smallest and most advanced of the three new cameras. At just 0.9 inch deep, Pentax claims the S12 is the smallest 12-megapixel camera of its class. We'll have to see for ourselves; according to Pentax's measurements, the S12 seems to be a hair or two smaller than the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W200 and the Olympus Stylus 1200, though it might be just a smidge larger than the Nikon Coolpix S700. Even if it's not the tiniest 12-megapixel shooter out there, the S12 still looks like a solid camera. It features a 37 to 111mm-equivalent, f/2.8-5.4 lens, a 2.5-inch LCD screen, and can reach up to ISO 3200 sensitivity. Pentax says that the camera offers program, shutter priority, and manual modes, giving it a bit more flexibility than your average ultracompact point-and-shoot.

Pentax also announced the Optio M50, an 8-megapixel shooter for the style-minded. The camera comes in silver, blue, and pink versions, and features Pentax's Smile Capture mode, which uses its face detection software to sense and automatically shoot when a subject smiles. It uses a 36mm- to 180mm-equivalent, f/3.5-5.6 5x zoom lens to give it a slightly longer reach than most point and shoot cameras.

Finally, Pentax revealed the Optio E50, the company's latest budget shooter.With a 37.5mm- to 112.5mm-equivalent, f/2.8-5.2 lens and a slightly-smaller-than-usual 2.4-inch LCD screen, the 8-megapixel camera doesn't include many bells or whistles, but that's normal for many sub-$200 cameras.

The Pentax Optio S12 ships in April with a suggested retail price of $280, and will come in silver and black versions. The Optio M50 and E50 ship in March, with respective prices of $230 and $150.

Pentax's new 8MP Z10 sports a horizontally sliding lens cover.

(Credit: Pentax)

Pentax very quietly announced two new cameras late yesterday. The first, an 8MP model called the Optio Z10, marks new territory for Pentax with a sliding lens cover that moves sideways and, like the sliding covers on Sony cameras, turns the camera on and off. Sony often gets credit for the sliding lens cover design in digital cameras, but many compact film cameras incorporated sliding lens covers years before Sony started using them in its digital cameras.

While those film cameras often had mechanical issues due to their extending zoom lenses, this Pentax has an internally zooming refraction lens. The Z10's 7X optical, 38-266mm-equivalent f/3.5-5.4 zoom lens should provide plenty of reach, especially for such a compact camera, for capturing far-away subjects. The Z10 also sports a 2.5-inch, 230,000-pixel LCD screen, sensitivity of up to ISO 3,200, a Digital Wide function that can convert two images into an approximate equivalent of a 28mm wide-angle shot, and Pentax's Face Recognition system, which can detect up to 15 faces and uses them to set autofocus and exposure. On the video front, the Z10 can record AVI Motion JPEG clips at up to 640x480 pixels and 30fps. You won't find optical or mechanical image stabilization, but Pentax's Digital Shake Reduction system tries to compensate for hand shake by boosting sensitivity, and in turn shutter speeds, to combat blur in your photos. You will, however, find an attractive price of about $250 for the Optio Z10 when it hits stores in September.

Pentax's new 10MP Optio S10 will be sold exclusively in Wal-Mart in the U.S.

(Credit: Pentax)

The second new Pentax is the Optio S10, which will be sold exclusively at Wal-Mart in the U.S. The 10MP S10 includes the Digital Shake Reduction and Face Recognition systems mentioned above, as well as a 3X optical, 38-114mm-equivalent f/2.8-5.4 zoom lens, a 2.5-inch, 232,000-pixel LCD, as well as the Auto Picture mode, which analyzes a scene and then chooses the appropriate scene mode for your shot. The S10 joins the ranks of Pentax compacts that can record 640x480-pixel, 30fps video clips in the DivX MPEG-4 format, which is compatible with a large number of DVD players--making it easy to burn video clips to disc and play them on a TV (but it isn't compatible with the Mac OS). Like the Z10, the S10 will cost about $250 when it hits Wal-Mart shelves in September.

Less than a month after their last announcement, Pentax has unveiled two new cameras. The Pentax Optio A30 and the W30 are two compact cameras that respectively offer high-resolution and waterproof shooting.

The Optio A30 is an ultracompact camera that packs a 10-megapixel sensor into a metal body that's just 0.9 inch thick. It uses a fairly standard 3x, 38-to-114mm-equivalent lens with Pentax's Enhanced Shake Reduction digital image stabilization. The camera includes a wide variety of features and modes, including a face-recognizing autofocus and autoexposure mode, a manual exposure mode for more advanced users, and a 30fps VGA movie mode that records MPEG-4 DivX files. Besides face recognition, the A30 is almost identical to its predecessor, the 10-megapixel Optio A20, and it probably doesn't merit an upgrade if you already have an A20.

The Pentax Optio W30 is the company's latest waterproof camera, replacing the Optio W20. Pentax claims that the 7-megapixel shooter can be submerged under 10 feet of water for up to two hours. Like the A30, the W30 seems almost identical to the 7-megapixel W20. Both cameras share the same 3x optical zoom, the same 2.5-inch LCD, and even the same body design. Like the A30 and the A20, the only significant difference between the W30 and its predecessor is the addition of a face-recognizing autofocus and autoexposure mode. If the W30 doesn't seem like quite the right fit, the Olympus Stylus 770SW can function under 33 feet of water and is shockproof, crushproof, and freezeproof. Of course, all of these extra -proofs mean it's a bit more expensive.

The Pentax Optio A30 and the Optio W30 will ship in late March, with suggested retail prices of $300 and $350, respectively.

Pentax announced two new 7-megapixel digital cameras for the spring, the Optio T30 and M30. The high-end T30 sports a 3-inch touch screen as its biggest feature, while the more conventional M30's appeal is in its solid feature set and much smaller price tag.

The Optio T30's touch-screen LCD functions much like the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-T50's, with most settings and features accessible through the touch screen's menus instead of buttons. It also includes a basic paint mode, for editing and drawing on images in the camera itself. Besides the touch screen, the T30 includes face-recognition autofocus and autoexposure features and has an all-aluminum body.

The Optio M30 doesn't have quite as many impressive features, but with a price tag a little more than half of the T30's, it doesn't really need them. The M30 is slimmer and lighter than the T30, and is otherwise a standard, compact 7-megapixel point-and-shoot camera. It has the same face-recognition autofocus and autoexposure features as the T30, and other standard-but-handy functions such as a 30fps VGA movie mode and on-camera image editing.

The Pentax Optio M30 will have a suggested retail price of $200, and the Optio T30 will have a suggested price of $350. Both cameras ship in March 2007.