Thanks for the insight, Bruce. As you say, it is a problem of comparison and reading your experience, I don't doubt that the A10 does its job.
However, you'll agree that it is always nice to know if there is another camera in its class (similar price tag and size), that offers a better performance. ----- Mensaje original ---- De: Bruce Dayton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Para: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <[email protected]> Enviado: viernes, 3 de noviembre, 2006 23:52:57 Asunto: Re: Compact point and shoots - Optio A20? I think that most reviews are only a minor guide. Half of what they say, I don't necessarily agree with. I can say, in practice, that all P&S cameras that I have owned or tried, are fairly poor compared to the DSLR's out there. But the real trick is to consider what the camera is and what it is targeted for. In the case of the A10 - my wife absolutely loves it. She used to have the original Optio S before that and before that one, she wouldn't use a P&S regularly because they were too big and clumsy. What she likes on the A10 - SIZE, SIZE, SIZE. It is basically the same size as her old Optio S (Altoids tin) camera. What this means to her is that is sits in her purse all the time, ready for any quick shot that happens. She is trying to record history and make memories of our family life. So the camera that actually is at the events, is the camera that gets used. An example - she has to run one of the kids to school - as she gets there she finds out that the child is being given a little award in class. So she stays for a few extra minutes, pulls out her camera and records the event. It is one thing to take a camera to a planned event, it is quite another to be ready for the little moments. She also takes just as much video with it as stills. While the video is not the most superb quality, it is good enough for the purpose. It even has image stabilization while videoing (helpful for my wife) and stores in mpeg 4 (43 minutes per gigabyte in 640X480 X 30 FPS). So perhaps the angle I work from is that the purpose of a P&S camera, to me, is to have something that can be easily pocketed and pulled out for those times when you can't plan for a bigger, more powerful camera. All the little cameras suffer from similar problems. If you learn how to work with them a bit, then it is not a real issue. I think what happens is the reviews have to be comparative - without providing any weight to the things being compared. If a P&S was ready to shoot from power on in .1 sec versus 1.0 seconds, in the real world of use for the intended user, it is insignificant. If you learn how to focus lock before firing, then focus lag is not a big problem. (All P&S cameras that I have tried are fairly mediocre on focus) It is really a matter of using a camera the intended way and see how it works. The A-10 has been a worthy upgrade to the original Optio S. When I bought it from my local camera store (primarily a Nikon shop), the clerk said they sell them a lot more than the Nikon P&S cameras. They obviously sell the SLR's on the Nikon way more than Pentax. I'm not really trying to defend the Pentax A10 against the reviews, only that I find the camera quite adequate for it's intended use. When I want a real camera for use, I wouldn't use any of the P&S - I'd use a DSLR. -- Best regards, Bruce Friday, November 3, 2006, 1:55:05 PM, you wrote: JL> Hi Bruce, JL> Well, what bothered me was a strange unanimity in various reviews: (...) ______________________________________________ LLama Gratis a cualquier PC del Mundo. Llamadas a fijos y móviles desde 1 céntimo por minuto. http://es.voice.yahoo.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
