I've had my optio for almost a year and a half now, and it worked well for the first year. As soon as the warranty expired, the flash randomly stopped working. I had to bring it to a Pentax repair shop and luckily I lived in a city which had an official Pentax repair store (Vancouver). However, since my warranty had expired, it cost about $170 (including tax) to get it fixed. The guys who fixed it were super fast and it took only 1 week to repair - but still, $170 for a broken flash? Come on. This camera is very small and slim and it is easy to carry around in a purse. I found that the only problem that I had with it was that there is quite a delay between pressing a button to take the picture, and the flash going off and the picture being taken. After using a regular camera (non digital) for many years, I expected the picture to take immdediately while pressing the button. This can get quite annoying when taking action shots.
All in all, I am still really enjoying the camera after getting it fixed. Hopefully nothing else breaks. Perhaps getting an extended warranty would be a wise idea for those purchasing a new camera.
This camera is quite popular, as I know about 5 other people with it. However, they also share the same complaint about the delay problems.

I've had my little Optio S for over a year now, and I still love it. So far I haven't had any problems with it- I was worried by some of the reviews that mention problems with the plastic hinges, the lens jamming up or the customer service problems. So far I haven't dropped it, the plastic is holding up well and I haven't had a need for customer service.

I wouldn't say I take pictures every day, but my Optio S has been used a fair amount. On average I take about 30 pictures a week up to 200+ pictures a day while on vacation.

It does fit in an altoids tin, but not when you put the wrist strap on it. I've found the "wrist strap" is actually long enough so you can wear the camera as a pendant.


Picture quality is great for the average photo taker. Battery life I'd rate as average. So I spent the money for an extra battery. With two batteries fully charged, I've never had a problem running out of juice.

I do wish it had a better optical zoom, but for such a small package I guess there had to be some trade off.

It does have a high "Wow!" factor.

All in all, I've been very happy with this little camera.

I had a great experience with Pentax's warranty service. I dropped my Optio S (NOT covered under warranty) while the lens was extended and it totally jammed up and would not function, and the memory card fell out at the same time, all while a picture had just been taken and it was being recorded.

I sent it in for service with the description of the problem being "Lens is jammed and will not close". They ended up replacing the whole thing and I had it back in about two weeks! You just have to make sure you don't volunteer any information they don't need to know, and you're most likely going to be just fine.

As for the camera and a review, I was going to buy one of the Cannon ELPHs, and then I saw an announcement for the Optio S and the fact that it fit in an altoids tin sold me. I absolutely love it; it's so small it's easy to carry on you without taking up much pocket space. I tend to put it in my jeans fifth pocket and almost always have it on me. You never know when you might need a camera!

The pictures are very nice and clear. The close up feature is nice for taking pictures of items I put up on eBay and other sites, good pictures really help sell. I also like the fact that along with choosing the resolution, you can change the quality setting from 1(low) to 3(best). The only other digital camera I've really had a chance to use and compare with is a Sony Cybershot 3MP, and this Pentax wipes the floor with it.

The only cons I can see are the movie mode and speed. The movie mode is limited to 30 seconds, whether you have an SD card or not. I think if you've got the free space, it should let you record as long as you can. The speed of the camera when you take a picture and be a little annoying sometimes, especially if you are trying to capture a moving or changing object. I seem to notice it when the flash is on auto, I don't claim to know much about photography, but maybe it's because it's reading the light levels and determining whether the flash is required.

Anyway, other than those two things, I absolutely love this camera, and I'm glad I didn't go with the (bigger) Cannon ELPH.

I love this camera HOWEVER... be prepared to wait 8 seconds between shots!! I know that doesn't sound like much, but when you are trying to capture a babies smile or something, it is truly an eternity and it difficult to get the "right" shot. Other than that, this camera takes amazing pictures, the size is awesome, I never go anywhere without it and the battery lasts and lasts. I only need to charge it every few weeks and I use it every day (I have 5 kids so you can imagine... then again, maybe you can't, LOL).

I also bought my Optio because of the out-dated reputation of Pentax. And, like numerous others, was met with lies and cover-ups for a flimsy camera. I had my camera for four months. I was taking a picture of my sleeping husband and baby and when I went to turn it off, the lens did not retract. The camera was very lightly used, always in its case when not being used, and never out of my sight. Having the extended warranty (although it was still under the original warranty), I sent it back to Pentax. They told me it would cost $180 because "Excessive force" was used on it. Totally untrue, as I'm sure all the other reviewers with problems had. Pentax customer service is horrible. They told me they'd call back and didn't, would not let me talk to a technician, and tried to tell me that maybe I didn't know I dropped it. "You know, like when you see a bruise on your knee and you don't know where you got it from." They need some serious help. I also emailed and snail mailed a letter to Pentax stating my disappointment. Never heard back from them. Not even a courtesy email. I, like many others, will never buy a Pentax again. And if you decide to buy, don't bother with the warranty because they are great at lies and excuses.

I've bought Optios S from amazon 1,5 year ago. It came with a malfunctioning LCD. Thankfully amazon sent me another one because as I saw the service (!!??) of Pentax I don't think that they would accept such a thing.

The new camera was good for a while. Very light. Even with its original bag. Easy to use, easy to transfer. Fine picture quality for a 3mp camera. But...

Then one day it said memory card error. I've lost all my pictures in it and I was left with a broken memory card. I thought it was a problem of the memory card. But this happened with 3 other memory cards too. My one year was over. I don't think anything would change if it wasn't over.

Now it started to have focusing problems. I'm using my camera very rarely and keeping it in a good condition. I don't suggest Pentax to anybody anymore.

We bought it in 2004, now 2006, it is broken. I'm very disappointed at the quality of this camera, wish it is me that look for digital camera at that time, I would check out some reviews people have here. I have used other digiatl camera, have much better experice. Don't waste your money if you want to keep a camera longer than 2 years.

I bought this camera from an Army PX right before I shipped out to Iraq. I've been back for three years now, and it is still my one and only camera. It has survived every thing I could dish out; I even ran over it with a golf cart (don't ask me how that happened). The one catch? I keep it in the Altoids tin that it was designed to fit into. That is hands down the best thing about this camera.

Why hasn't other manufacturers done this? Who knows. Keeping it in that bulletproof (not literally) little case has made up for the flimsy battery cover, and the sensitive gear that extends the lens. You should see all the scratches on the outside of the mint tin.

It takes great pictures, and having a camera so small that you carry it around everywhere you go means you never miss a picture.