Pentax Optio 555

I purchased a 555 in November. This past week I had the camera around my neck. As I entered a door, the camera swung into the door. It was a very light hit. The camera was powered up when this happened. I took a few more pictures, then turned the camera off. When I tried to use it again it would not power up. I discovered the automatic lense cover was not covering the lens. When it banged the door, it broke. The camera senses this condition and will not power up in picture taking mode but will power up in playback only. I think this is a very weak spot with this camera. If this is typical, this camera will be no good for hiking, riding a motorcyle or any other activity where a slight jar might occur. Other than this issue, I really like the camera. Menus are easy and plain. Picture quality is great, speed is average. This camera has a lot of features for the money. The size if great, fits in your shirt pocket. Anyone else have any comments?

See above, there are many.

Built in lens cover.

I bought the Pentax Optio 555 on 2 November 2003 in Hong Kong. My number one reason for choosing the 555 was: The longer battery life. My second reason was the 5x zoom, followed by stronger flash and additional features to learn now to use. Saying that, there will be times I wish I had the smaller, lighter, faster Minolta G500... So it was a serious compromise that was not an easy choice - they are BOTH excellent options for a small light 'everyday' camera! OK - I have never owned a digital camera before, but I have owned most recently a Nikon F100 and do know a little about film cameras... I bought it, battery took exactly 3 hours to charge... While I waited, I read the manual Oh - and the first thing I did was stop all the annoying sounds by turning them all off in the user menu. The second thing I did was turn the digital zoom off I also turned the start up picture off I do not have a stop-watch – but here are some approximate times. NOT ACCURATE TIMES, NO STOP WATCH! Sunlight/brightly lit room - I found the shot to shot time to be incredibly good - even with the flash and the pictures again were in focus with excellent lighting... Dimly lit room - wide angle - 1-3 seconds Dimly lit room - full Optical zoom - 1.5 - 3 seconds Totally DARK room - wide angle - 3-5 seconds Totally DARK room - full Optical zoom - 3-6 seconds I mean TOTALLY DARK! But saying that - the photos look great, are well lit by the flash and in focus... With the zoom, it takes a bit longer to focus BUT once it gets it, it is perfect. (how, I do not know) I am using the P mode and I quickly set up the User Mode as Gordon (see Pentax Forum) suggested: ISO 200 AWB Low Contrast Spot Focus I have a 256 Panasonic SD card (10Mb/Second) MAX Resolution of 2592 x 1944 At 1 * it is 243 pictures At 3 *** it is 75 pictures I am switching between * and *** depending on the subject. I am looking forward to Panasonic coming out with a 2 Gig card!!! The user mode with these settings is faster than the P mode by about 1 second in the dimly lit and dark rooms. continuous mode with no flash - that was really fast too – I did not time this. PIC - Night Scene Mode – I went out at night on the streets of HK and took three pictures of the same things – P Mode, User Mode, Night Scene Mode. What the Night Scene Mode does is really light up the whole area – I don’t know how it does this, but the same photo in P mode was bright lights from the signs, and a bit dark everything else. While with Night Scene the whole photo lights up as if with a flood light - really amazing. At different times I would opt for P, User or Night Mode depending on my desired outcome. Physical - the case seems sturdy, the buttons are well placed, it is easy to hold and shoot. I like the way it is easy to change what the LCD displays and to turn it off... It is not as sexy as the G500, but it is a nice functional, sturdy camera! OK - so this is the quick first impressions... but so far I am really enjoying it! CHECK OUT DPREVIEW.com PENTAX FORUM FOR LOTS OF USER OPINIONS! http://www.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1028

My number one reason for choosing the 555 was: The longer battery life. My second reason was the 5x zoom, followed by stronger flash and additional features to learn now to use. Saying that, there will be times I wish I had the smaller, lighter, faster Minolta G500... So it was a serious compromise that was not an easy choice - they are BOTH excellent options for a small light 'everyday' camera! Very basic - but my very first photos are here - nothing special, just really posting them so you can see the image quality - almost all done in P mode... and straight from the camera! http://www.pbase.com/jaqatac/optio555_firstshots_hongkong

WISH LIST I spend a long time deciding between the DSC-V1 (faster low light focus) and the G500 (smaller, faster camera)... and I feel confident that I made the right choice for me... Of course, I will always wish it was faster, and smaller - but these are not problems. It is quite intuitive for me, and I have never had a digital camera before - so that says something. But I did read the brochures and manual... although I have not memorised it!! The one simple thing I wish for, would be a laminated 'cheat sheet' with the modes, little pictures and other tips on using the more advance features... so I could tie it to the camera!! All cameras should come with this! And I wish Panasonic had a 2 Gig SD card at 10Mb/Sec!!! This is a camera I can use as a point and shoot now, and then learn the full features later. In a few months, I might be more critical, but for now I am thrilled - much better than I expected!.