Pentax Optio H90

This pocket camera, with a retro design, is underwhelming at first. But in fact it has a good resolution of 12.1 megapixels and a longer-than-average 5x optical zoom lens, the equivalent of 28-140mm on an old film camera.

Keep a finger resting on the zoom control and there’s the ability to extend the reach to 6.5x using cropping to zoom in on the middle of the picture, which reduces the resolution to seven megapixels. It can even be extended further, though quality suffered so much at this top setting that it is best avoided. Stick within the 5x limit of the optical zoom, however, and the camera’s sharpness and detail are impressive.

Equally positively, the H90 pulls off the trick of feeling sturdy but lightweight at 131g, thanks to a metal body construction. It is also small enough to slip into a pocket, with the lens protected within the camera body when it’s not in use.

Equally tidy is the price, less than £130. A rechargeable lithium ion battery is included, which allows for 210 pictures when fully charged, a better performance than the AA batteries usually included with budget models, if not by much.

Photos and video (it can record at the high-definition resolution of 720p) are composed on the H90’s 2.7in rear screen, which is reasonably bright yet inevitably not at its best in sunlight – there is no viewfinder for composing shots.

We were disappointed that the full manual is only included on the software CD rather than as a printed copy, but the camera was quite simple to use.

It was quick to switch on and shots were saved to the removable SD memory cards (not supplied) or internal 32MB memory in two seconds, fast for its price range.

An Auto Picture mode automatically selects the best settings for any given scene or subject and proved reliable, as did the H90’s interesting ‘digital wide’ mode that pastes two images together to give a wider (21mm equivalent) view than the lens will allow.

Add digital effects, exposure correction and subject tracking auto focus to the mix (though it lacks any image stabilisation), and this small Pentax adds up to a big deal.