My comments on Optio 430RS

[Michael Perham]

Well I have been playing with my new toy for a couple weeks now and overall I am pleased with my purchase.  I particularly like the intuitive controls that seem to be a Pentax trademark, and I like the solid feel and overall quality of this digital P&S.  Image quality is good and I really like the skin tones it produces.   On the down side, the optical viewfinder seems to show only about 70% of the image.  I guess for critical framing, such as in macro work, I will have to use the LCD screen which shows a true image and for everything else I can crop tight and know I am not cutting off heads or hands etc.   My other complaint is the camera wont auto focus in the subdued light of my living room at night.  No problem with the MZS, but we are comparing apples and oranges here and I think I will simply have to manually set the focus to an appropriate distance and rely on DOF to do the job. Any one else have any observations on the Optio series …good or bad?    Cheers, Mike.