June 24th, 2009
Pentax updates its popular waterproof camera with the new Optio W80
[Updated: June 24, 2006 @ 6:12 pm] Back when Pentax announced its waterproof Optio W60 compact camera over a year ago, its main competition was the Olympus Stylus 850 SW and the Olympus Stylus 1030 SW. The new Pentax Optio W80 announced today faces not only six waterproof Olympus models (including the Stylus Tough-6000 and Stylus Tough-8000), but also a slew of new waterproof point-and-shoots announced this year, including the Canon PowerShot D10, the Fujifilm FinePix Z33WP, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1, and even the Garmin Oregon 500, a waterproof handheld GPS unit with a built-in digital camera.
Here’s a quick table with the new camera’s key specs (love the wide-angle 5x zoom lens) . I’ll update the post with a comparison chart of competitors shortly. compared with two of its closest competitors:
| Pentax Optio W80 | Canon PowerShot D10 |
Olympus Stylus Tough-6000 | |
| Price | $299.95 (ships in July) | $329.99 |
$299.99 |
| Sensor | 12.1 megapixels, 1/2.3-inch CCD | 12.1 megapixels, 1/2.3-inch CCD | 10 megapixels, 1/23-inch CCD |
| Waterproof to | 16 feet | 33 feet | 10 feet |
| Shockproof to | 3.3 feet | 4 feet | 5 feet |
| Freezeproof to | 14° Fahrenheit | 14° Fahrenheit | 14° Fahrenheit |
| Lens | 28-140mm (equiv), f/3.5-5.5 | 35-105mm (equiv), f/2.8-4.9 | 28-102mm (equiv), f/3.5-5.1 |
| LCD | 2.5-inch/230,000 dots | 2.5-inch/230,000 dots | 2.7-inch/230,000 dots |
| Sensitivity | ISO 64-6400 | ISO 80-1600 | ISO 50-1600 |
| Storage Media | SD memory card, SDHC memory card | SD/SDHC memory card, MultiMediaCard, MMC Plus Card, HC MMC Plus Card | xD-Picture Card, microSD (MASD-1 is required) |
| Movie Mode |
1280×720 (30 fps)/640×480 (30 fps)/320×240 (30 fps) | 640×480 (30 fps)/320×240 (30 fps) | 640×480 (30 fps)/320×240 (30 fps) |
| Dimensions | 3.9×2.2×1.0 inches | 4.08×2.63×1.92 inches | 3.8×2.5×0.88 inches |
| Weight |
4.8 oz | 6.7 oz | 5.3 oz |
Janice Chen has been covering technology for almost two decades. She got her hands on a Nikon Coolpix 900 back in 1998 and has been a digital camera enthusiast ever since. See her full profile and disclosure of her industry affiliations.
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