1. Why digital? As I mentioned recently, I have been considering buying a digital camera to fit in the ecological niche which once was filled by my Minox 35mm camera (sold to fund the purchase of my first PZ-1p), then by my dear departed Leica Z2X (doused in a stream by my wife.) The size of that ecological niche is about the size of my shirt or jacket pocket or the size of the pocket on my cycling jersey. The purpose is primarily snapshots, and the web is more likely to be the publication media than is paper. So Digital should work fine. 2. What have I done? As is my wont when purchasing something new, I started by reading and web browsing, then made a purchase, then read some more, then made a second purchase while muttering about the first . . . 3. What have I learned? a. First, I was surprised. I knew that this digital thing was happening out there, but I have not paid attention. We bought one at the office a couple of years ago (someone else took the lead role, I merely signed off on the purchase). I tried the camera a few times, and happily went back to film. It was a fun toy, but the quality was not there in the image, and what was there could not be put onto paper via the printers we had available. Meanwhile, there has been the occasional discussion here on PDML, but the focus has been on DSLR's in general and on Pentax DSLR's in particular, i.e., cameras that could advantage our fine Pentax lenses. And I haven't paid much attention. I did know that more megapixels is better and that electronic gadgets eat batteries. Other than that, I was basically ignorant. So, I was surprised to find that there are a lot of these little doo-dads out there, and that they seem to work fairly well. b. The technology is maturing. The megapixelation has gotten to the point where 3mP is sorta standard mid-grade spec on a P&S Digital. And 3mP is said to comfortably produce high quality 8x10 prints. c. There are many many little P&S digital image capturing devices. They all look pretty much the same to the uninitiated. I looked at a Digital Buyerıs Guide on the rack at the local Barnes and Nobel, my mind was boggled. So I narrowed my purview to Pentax. [Do you suppose that others might also be confused, and might take the same approach, looking at a familiar brand name?] I looked to the Pentax USA website and B&H and eBay and Steveıs Digicam website and a few other places. What I found was five currently overlapping models of Pentax digital P&S: Optio 230, 330, 330GS, 330RS, 430, 430RS. Now, I can figure out quickly that the 230 is fewer megapixels than the 330 which is smaller than the 430. What nobody, including Pentax, seems to know is what is the purpose of no S vs. GS vs. RS. Ignore the 230 (which most of the web-based vendors seem to be doing as well.) It seems that the 330/430 were first. Then came the 330RS/430RS. Why? What was changed? Only the name? Software? What??? Then (?) came the 330GS. Why? It seems that the RS is some sort of upgraded version of the base 330/430 (though all the specs look exactly the same). But the GS has a few fundamental differences. Cheaper. Larger. Replaceable AA batteries. Plastic case. Different lens. (6/5 design rather than a 7/6) Different size chip. Faster ³film² (ISO 100, 200, or 400 where the 330 is ISO 100, 200 only, the RS is 100, 200 or 125, 250 depending on what you read). Less user control of focus, shutter speed, etc. No built-in memory. This reminds me of what I have read about the strategy back in the days of the Spotmatic when a perfectly good camera with a shutter speed of 1/1000 was reissued with an indicated top speed of 1/500 even though the camera, shutter, etc were all the same. They are imagining small niches, they are making what I am sure will be many virtually identical camera models each with minor tweaks to fit a niche. I for one would rather they said: this is entry level, this has more user control, this is better built; pay your money, take your choice. In other words, I vote for a retail model that assumes an intelligent (well, at least an aware) customer with some notion of what he/she is looking for and who is willing to pay, or not, for different features. And a vendor who can describe the available offerings. Oh well, I dream. d. The Pentax engineers seem to be hitting a chord with magazinesı reviewers with the Optio. Praises for the looks, good comments about minimal shutter lag, good control layout, etc. ³Clearly top of its class. . .² e. The RS models have a selectable focus point, where the selection is done via the 4-way switch on the back which is otherwise used for menu selection, focus adjustment in manual-focus mode, etc. This feature absolutely must make it into any DSRL, and maybe into the new film body. 4. What did I buy and what do I think of it? Well, I bought the 330GS. New, from a dealer selling via eBay. For $US330 including a leather case. Then I came across the comment that the GS looks metal but, unlike the 330 or 330RS, it is actually plastic. And that it didnıt have the manual shutter control. So I bought the 330RS from a dealer over the web for $330. And I sold the GS for $300 on eBay not including the $30 case. I canıt give you any impressions of the cameras themselves they are both still in transit. When the 330GS arrives tomorrow (?) Iıll reship to the one I sold it to. When the 330RS arrives Wednesday (?) I will charge it up and stick it in my shirt pocket and be ready for anything! Iıll let you know that is chapter 2. 5. The meaning of life will come in chapter 3.
Stan
