woodrat

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
1 votes

Price Paid:  $350.00 from local camera store

Summary:
I have had pretty good luck with this camera. I have been using it for close to 6 months, and frequently in very wet situations, as I am a kayak guide and instructor. I have taken a few underwater pictures, but only just a few inches deep. I have taken a few movies with it too. I like having a camera that I can stick on a pocket and have it wherever I go, and this one seems to take that kind of abuse pretty well. I like its simple form and small, compact size and shape. And of course, I have never had a camera before that I could take kayaking and in other wet environments.

Strengths:
PROS:
Obviously the waterproof feature is hugely beneficial. I have so far had no troubles with water damage, but when I come home from a wet day, I rinse and dry off the camera, open up both little doors, look for any moisture, blow out and dust or moisture, clean the gaskets and let the camera sit in a warm, dry place and dry out if it was at all wet. If you close these doors on a grain of sand or something like that, I'm sure it would get wet inside. I think that if you are scrupulous about keeping the gaskets clean and dry, you should be alright as far as waterproofness goes. This camera does awesome macro shots! I was very pleasantly surprised by this. I like that the lens does not stick out or move in and out when turning the camera on. I think that this camera would survive the abuse of my youngest daughter reasonably well, not that I let her use it! This camera has a lot of useful features that I haven't even touched yet, in terms of settings and modes and so forth. Battery life has been very good.

Weaknesses:
CONS:
The auto focus is awfully slow and therefore has a hard time with action shots. I found that if I just use the panorama focus setting, I have better luck. The biggest thing that annoys me when shooting in wet environments are the water droplets on the lens. I have screwed up a lot of good shots like that, and I have found no way to solve this. I suppose something like Rain-X on the lens cover might help, I haven't tried that yet. I don't like the lack of a viewfinder. I am not really used to using the LCD for composition, and this screen is not easy to see well when you are outside or in bright light. When wearing paddling gloves, it is really hard to hit the buttons on the back correctly, and I often push the wrong one. Oh and did I mention the really really slow auto focus?

Similar Products Used:
older olympus point and shoots.

Customer Service:
so far, haven't needed any yet.

Pamina

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 3 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Price Paid:  $250.00 from amazon

Summary:
I'd like to alert all customer about problems I had with this camera. I owned it for 6 months than it start getting foggy on the front lens and on the screen.
Since there are no shops able to repair it (not even in New York Ciry), I had to send it in Colorado to Pentax headquarter. They keep it for 3 weeks and than they send it back to me with a short message that I report here:
"A pressure test on the camera indicates the waterproof seals are intact, indicating the product exceeded the unit's waterproof capabilities.Extensive water damage exceeds the price of a new Pentax Product".

Now I am a kayaker. I never NEVER deep into water the camera, but of course it get wet when I take it out from the case. I think this kind of customer service is UNACCPETTABLE. Beside that since they send me the camera back, it does no longer store the pictures in the 1g memory card bought.

so now rather than sending it again to colorado, I am going to buy the Olimpus waterproof camera, hoping in better luck with the product and better customer service.

Strengths:
I can't complain for the pictures the camera took for the very short terms of its life. But I will never buy it again because of horrible experience described above.