I bought this camera because of it's huge optical zoom, 8 MP, new mirror optics and because it is Pentax. And this camera is absolutely great! The pictures are very juicy in color and clear! Nothing moves when you zoom - only mirrors inside the camera! It's true that the camera marks easily, but it can be easily cleaned! The Menu is very easy to read, with helping tips about each mode of shooting - a great plus for me since I don't like to read the manual. However there was one thing that frightened me and I did read the manual - if you press several times Ok-button - histogram will appear and if you want to shoot something that has spots which are very dark and very light - they will appear as yellow and red spots on the LCD display! In the beginning that made me think the LCD or camera itself is damaged. But - it's actually the way it's supposed to work!!! And now I think this is very useful tool! O! btw, to turn the camera on - you should move the plastic piece that covers lenses on front - tricky to understand but easy to do!
So I'm completely satisfied with this purchase. That's why I give this camera 5 stars. A great camera in style!!!

This is a great camera. You can use the Auto but I prefer to use the Green mode where you can set the settings as in my SRT 101 35MM camera. I took a outdoor shot of a veined flower, about 8 inches away. It came out extremely detailed, and trust me I'm pickey. I then used the stitch mode where you can create a 'Digital wide angle' it also worked great. The feature of the lens that uses a refraction mirror to go from wide angle to close is great as you never get the lens protruding from the camera. The features in this camera are plentiful and you can use them to get really fantastic pictures. Read up on this camera and compare for yourself, you'll love it.

This really is a remarkable camera. The moving-mirror zoom is one of those ideas which makes you wonder why nobody did not think of it and implement it sooner and works well. Picture quality is impressive and the quality of the colour is fantastic. And all at a very reasonable price.

This camera has speed settings from ISO 64 to 3200. Of these, only 64 and 100 are acceptable. In bright scenes you will get a picture with good detail and color and a small amount of noise. Even at these low settings, a magnified image will show noise as a speckling in the image. I made a mistake buying this camera - somehow misunderstanding its characteristics before I bought it.

The good - It's compact, has a 7x optical zoom, and takes adequate MPEG4 movies.
The bad - It takes low quality pictures, it has no image stabilization.

My recommendation: Do not buy this camera! If you want a small high zoom camera that takes MPEG4 movies, but has better noise characteristics, look at the very similar looking Casio. Pentax certainly could do better.

This camera has speed settings from ISO 64 to 3200. Of these, only 64 and 100 are acceptable. In bright scenes you will get a picture with good detail and color and a small amount of noise. Even at these low settings, a slightly magnified image will show noise as a speckling in the image. I made a mistake buying this camera - somehow misunderstanding its characteristics before I bought it.

The good - It's compact, has a 7x optical zoom, has a nice screen, easy to use controls, and takes adequate movies.

The bad - It takes low quality noisy pictures, it has no image stabilization. Pentax claims it has image stabilization, but what they really do is increase the ISO level, reduce the exposure time, and greatly increase the noise level. You will get this effect whenever you take zoom pictures, except in the brightest of sunlight.

My recommendation: Do not buy this camera! If you want a small high zoom camera that takes good movies, but has better noise characteristics, look at the very similar looking Casio with real image stabilization. Pentax certainly could do better.

I bought this camera from a saleswoman who really sounded like she knew what she was talking about. She said that it was simply the best point and shoot camera on the market. I bought the storyline and made the purchase without going to other stores, professionals, or reading online reviews.

I thought the functionality of the camera was wonderful. However, when I printed out the pictures all of the indoor ones looked extremely grainy. The outdoor pictures were bright and clear but nothing from indoors. It was also difficult to get a picture that wasn't blurry.

I took the camera back and bought a Sony W90. I took similar photos (with similar objects, light etc.) and printed the pictures. Sony was clearly the better camera.

I would not recommend this camera. The functionality is great but the quality of the pictures is poor.

I have had a number of good point and shoot digitals and enjoyed them, but hated the lag time. This camera all but does away with that! I even took sports shots of my grandkids and got the "on the move!"
I like the shake reduction feature because I was shooting in low light a lot of times and needed it. Also, the night time and closeup features worked much better than my old Pentax, even though it was a great camera.
My only complaint is that in high light it is impossible to see the image on the screen, and I discovered immediately that I could not take vertical pictures with my sunglasses on because they are polarized.
Otherwise, it's a great little camera!!

I had been searching for a camera with more zoom,I was hoping for at least 10, but all the cameras I looked at were so big. I came upon the
Pentax and decided to give it a try. Could not be happier,this camera is
so easy and having the lense covered is great.Can carry in my purse or pocket. 7x zoom is plenty for me at this stage of my picture taking. Don't hesitate on buying this camera!!!!!

I am about to travel around the world and want an alternative to my Pentax K10D, particularly when wishing to be unobtrusive in third-world countries. First, I spent some time with the Panasonic LX2 -- same camera as the Leica at less than half the price -- which has some unique features and seems to be a terrific camera. BUT it won't go into a shirt pocket because the marvelous Leica lens protrudes. At a hefty (!) 7.8 oz, it weighs 56% more than the Optio Z10's 5 oz. The Optio is so small that there is nothing to hold onto. The Panasonic is better in that respect, but significantly bulkier.

I had just about decided to send both cameras back when I realized that I hadn't even looked at the few pix I had taken with the Optio. So I duly transferred them to my Mac and was absolutely astonished by the results. For reasons I don't understand, the Optio seems to handle subtle shades in the sky and clouds better than the K10.

The bottom line: The Optio produces razor-sharp pictures, even when using the 7x zoom hand-held at a slow shutter speed. Given some of the negative comments in these pages, I really didn't expect that. The design of the camera is superb. I only wish there were some semblance of a grip to hold onto.

I really like the compact design for its mobility. Also the built in 7X optical zoom produces high quality closeups as well as clear distance shots.

The shipping was extremely quick. The product is everything I expected. A great gift.

The only problem I see with this camera is that in bright conditions outside you cannot see the screen or picture you are taking. Most cameras have done away with the little viewfinder; it sure would be nice to have one.

Other than that, this camera is outstanding!

I didn't go looking for another Pentax. I bought a new laptop, which came with Windows Vista. The upshot was that I could no longer download photos from my old Pentax Optio. So I did my homework, looking for a lot of optical zoom, lots of pixels, big LCD screen, small package (I loved how the old Pentax fit into an Altoids box), small price. This one came out on top, so I bought it sight unseen. It is a wonderful camera, has amazing zoom capabilites, has anti-shake software and takes great time exposures/night shots. The battery lasts a long time and the camera feels great in the hand. My only complaint is that blues are too, well, blue! I love the camera and always carry it with me.

Bought this camera to replace Sony that was stolen. Great camera. Takes unbelievable pictures, easy to use.

Great bargain. I love my new Pentax. The zoom is great and the camera fits in my shirt pocket, perfect combination. Battery life is fantastic, the best battery life I've ever seen.

Pros: 8MP, 7x (very nice zoom, great idea for such a small camera), size is perfect for travel or just fun events, battery life.

Cons: Just a minor thing, it took a bit of time to get used to holding due to it's small size. At first you feel like your fingers are in the way. Definitely worth getting used to.

The picture quality was terrible. I tried several different functions but every picture I took was very grainy. Also the slider that turns the camera on and off moves way too easily.

I have several Pentax cameras (digital and 35mm) and I find that they are truly built to last and are as user friendly as they possibly can be. This camera is my quickie pocket camera and has proven itself worthy of the Pentax name. The buttons are simple, intuitive and easy to read for any digital camera this size. The zoom is awesome, but I usually don't go past the 7x optical because the digital zoom is like most digital zooms, grainy. It isn't the fastest between shots, but it's usually fast enough even for sports, kids and pet action. It shoots nice little videos with decent sounds quality too. I have dropped this camera several times on hard surfaces, used it in rain and snow, and even dropped it in some water once and it still works great. The LCD viewer is like all LCDs in the sun, a little hard to see, but I find that the photos always turn out better back home than they looked on the LCD. Bottom line, for $200, this is a great, great camera. I wouldn't have been upset paying $300 for it.

I owned an optio s5z a 5mp camera and the picture quality was better and the optio z10 an 8mp camera, pictures to grainy.

I just purchased this camera and I love it! The pictures turned out great. Its easy to use and the 7X zoom is such a nice feature. The price was just right, too.

This camera works very well. I've only been using it in Kuwait, as that's my current location, so I can't rate it on how it does in the mountains and whatnot. The reason I picked this camera was because it had a 7x zoom without a retractable lense (there's lots of sand storms out here) so I wouldn't have to worry so much about dust. All in all, there are only two problems I've had with the camera, and they are small. The "automatic" mode (so the camera will pick which mode should be used for your pictures) isn't the best. Alot of the time, it wouldn't focus correctly. So I have to play around with the modes to figure out which one will work the best. The other problem is fluorescent (sp?) lighting. I'm pretty sure there's a setting for fluorescent lights, but I can't seem to find it. It should be noted that almost all cameras have issues with fluorescent lighting though, so I was expecting that. The zoom is great, and so is the video. The screen scratches pretty easily, so you should get a camera case for it (whoops) and the fact that you can change how many megapixels your pictures are, is a great feature. If I'm planning on e-mailing someone, I'll knock it down to a 2 or 3 megapixel setting. If I'm going to be using the pictures as a presentation on a projector, I'll use the full 8 megapixels. For the price of this beauty, I don't think there's a better camera available.

My new Pentax Optio Z10 at 8 megaixels is absolutely fantastic. So easy to use, carry,focus and get completely good clear results. The expanded movie mode is particularly good with great ease of use and playback. So far I love it.

This product to date has met all my expecations in terms of size, ease of use, mobility, and picture quality.

What a nice little camera,so far every picture I have taken day or night,inside or outside has been outstanding. Its very easy to use right out of the box,I have not tried all the bells and whistles on the camera yet,but for basic picture taking its great.

I love pentax.

With my previous pocket pentax (optio 550) had amazing pictures, but the promising Z10 was a bad bet, which I regret.

If you are looking for a large zoom, get the panasonic lumix.

I bought this camera because of the size, price, and the way the lense worked. I used it for a while before leaving my review. I am so disappointed with the quality of picture coming from this camera. I tried to take some pictures indoors with and without flash. They were grainy looking. My daughter used a Kodak camera at the same event and her pics were fantastic. I then tried to tell myself that it would just have to be my "outdoor" camera that I used in high light situations. Well, took it to the beach and got the same results. I am really sorry that I bought this camera. Thinking of giving it to the grandchild to play with! I have used Kodak, Canon, Nikon small digital cameras before with wonderful results. I also own a Canon EOS Rebel. This Pentax is the worst by a long shot.

Good camera for the price and I do like the extended zoom capability. However, the pictures are not as vibrant as my Canon A-95.

This camera was purchased for my husband to travel to Indonesia into the rain forest for work. He is a paramedic and loved the 7x zoom, the fact that the camera is water resistant is helpful in the rainforest enviroment that he is traveling in. The small compact design and great price all were factors in our buying this camera. We first saw it at [...] but item was sold out when we went to purchase it so i found it on Amazon and was very happy with the price and service.

I was hesitant to even order this camera, given the not just negative, but virulent reviews I read from some of the reviewers. However, I was attracted by the many advertised features of this camera being sold for such a low price. I ordered it and found the well written instruction booklet (a half inch thick) to allow easy mastery of the camera. I don't believe many of the reviewers have either knowledge of the digital camera concept... or even bothered to read the instructions. This is an excellent camera which has more features than any I've ever owned. If you pay attention to how to operate it, you won't find a nicer camera and certainly not at the price offered. This ain't no Brownie Hawkeye!!!!!!

I purchased the Optio Z10 from a salesman that assured me this was THE camera to be used on my frequent excursions in the outdoors. I loved the fact that the lens did not extend from the camera body (1 less moving part) what I did not realize is that the LCD screen is so fragile, it cracked while in the camera case on my belt. Having bought an extended warranty I was informed Pentax would not cover the damage. I wasted $300.00 on the camera and warranty and was given very poor service in the repair shop. Don't be a sucker like I was and buy a good product from a responsible company.

nice features, very slim camera and no protruding lens. Must read the manual to fully understand the features. Where can you see a camera with 8MP 7X optical zoom with this kind of slim camera, with a very reasonable price.