Leon said: > I am starting to get tired of being asked what camera people should > buy, so I'm asking those who might happen to own some what they like > and dislike about their 4MP point and shoot digital cameras. > > Feel free to say that the Pentax is the best, this is the place to say > it after all. > > Comments about the ability to add attachments, or the lack of it, > picture quality etc will be appreciated.
To not-quite answer your question, I have a 5MP Pentax Optio 550 that I'd recommend to anyone. Although officially discontinued and replaced (the replacement, the 555, seems not much different) I saw the 550 on Wolf Camera's display shelf not long ago so it may still be available. I've eulogized this camera at length at least twice on this list, if you can find the posts in the archives; basically I will say the metering's excellent, the picture quality is great, minimal distortion despite the lens being a 5x optical zoom; battery life is loooooooonnnnnnnng; camera fits in my pocket and so can (and does) go everywhere with me. I've found it very versatile, too. Sometimes it's not the right camera for the job -- mainly when I need TTL viewing, as of course parallax becomes a problem close up, and in bright sunlight the LCD screen is not useful as a replacement for an SLR viewfinder. Also, the lens is a maximum 2.8 at the short end, the highest sensitivity is 400 equivalent, so in low-light situations it is of course at a disadvantage compared to a f1.4 lens and ISO 800 or above (which is what I'd choose with film gear in such situations.) But MOST of the time, including all typical P&S situations and quite a few atypical P&S situations, this is the camera I find useful. ERN ERN ERN
