Pentax Optio WS80

Generally speaking, dirt, moisture are best kept away from digital cameras. The Pentax Optio WS80 is one attempt to improve the relationship between technology and the elements.

The sporty styling and credit-card-sized construction suggest it’s good for adrenaline junkies wanting pictures of their exploits. Waterproofed to a depth of 1.5m and dust resistant as well, snapshots benefit from a 10-megapixel resolution and an 5x optical zoom lens (equivalent to 35-175mm in film camera terms). The lens is protected because at no point does it extend proud of the glossy plastic body.

There’s no automatic cover to hide the lens when it’s not in use, so it can attract dust and fingerprints. In fairness, these can be rinsed or wiped off, though the position of the lens at the top-right edge of the camera body means stray fingertips can intrude into shot when it’s gripped in both hands. Because of the smaller size, fingers can also partly obscure the built-in flash if you’re not careful.

The WS80 was quick to respond and had a smooth and steady zoom action. At the back the camera has a 2.7in screen for composing not just photos but also the widescreen movie clips that can be shot in the high-definition resolution of 720p, unusually impressive for this price.

Menus were easy to navigate thanks to the cartoon-ish icons appearing at nearly every button press. Face-detection, smile-detection and blink-detection technology are all present, and the D-Range feature can automatically adjust the exposure to avoid under-exposed or whitewashed images.

The shake-reduction, however, uses corrective software to hide blur that results from camera wobble rather than what more expensive cameras do, which is to use a mechanism to avoid it. Image-wise, colours were at the warm end of the spectrum, though we had our fair share of soft shots due to the lack of effective anti-shake.

Still, given that the alternatives can cost quite a lot more, for a sug gested cost of £149 the Pentax Optio WS80 is one of the most reasonably priced choices for those looking for that extra degree of reassurance from their cameras.