Pentax Optio i-10

The Pentax I-10 is one of the most attractive pocket cameras we’ve seen, with its small rounded grip at one side enabling one-handed shooting, and leather-effect padding at the front.

Outwardly the camera resembles a more expensive digital SLR model. But it is only a quarter the size of the average SLR, weighing 153g with the 250-shot battery and SD or SDHC memory card.

The I-10’s 5x optical zoom lens, starting at a wide-angle 28mm, cannot be changed and in most respects operation is simply a matter of pointing and shooting.

The 12-megapixel camera powered up fast in just over a second. Its default setting is in the Auto Picture mode that recognises common subjects and switches settings automatically to get the best results. There are 23 other scene modes to choose from, or the user can press a button on the back that gives access to an easy mode, with larger menu text and removing any options that could directly affect image quality.

There’s no viewfinder so shots are composed on the 2.7in screen, which has an elongated widescreen format. This was good when recording video clips, as the image fills the screen without cropping. Although the camera records in the high-definition resolution of 720p, sound is only in mono and there’s no HDMI output for direct connection to a flat-panel TV.

When taking still photos the wider screen means a thick black band appears down one side – not that this is a big distraction. It’s quick, too: pictures at the highest quality settings were saved to the memory card in two seconds. Though it has a built-in flash, low-light shooting is possible without the flash, thanks to impressive light sensitivity settings.

Often, cameras that look good from the outside don’t have what it takes within, but the I-10’s picture quality was surprisingly consistent, delivering vivid detail and accurate colours even in tricky mixed lighting. There was some barrel distortion – curvature of the picture edges – at maximum wide-angle setting, and pixel fringing visible at close inspection, but both were minimal.

Overall, the Pentax i-10 performed well and should cost more than it does.