Similar in design to Pentax's Optio 550 camera, the Optio 450 is a four-megapixel version with a magnesium outer shell. It has an impressive 5x optical zoom and a resolution of 2288 x 1712 that result in crisp, rich-coloured pictures. There are four resolution modes and each of these have three further quality settings.

Photography modes are controlled via a rotary dial that offers a variety of shoot settings. The automatic picture mode is likely to be most often used but there are several other settings to choose from, such as panoramic, black and white and a manual mode. Video mode is fun to use and as with the most recent Pentax cameras, it will record sound with your footage, making it even better.

Having these settings readily available on the rotary dial makes life easier and quicker compared to having to sift through an on-screen menu.

A separate microphone selection lets you record sound in a similar way to a Dictaphone. Recording times will depend on the size of your memory card, but you can use this feature to attach voice labels to your pictures. The built-in flash is good but occasionally lacks power when zooming in on distant objects.

Images and recordings can be viewed by pressing a separate playback button and viewed on the 1.5in screen. A great feature of the 450 is that on playback mode you can resize your images on the camera. It's a good way to free up memory space if you decide there are images you won't need to print or that can be saved at lower settings as they will just be used for emailing. You can even crop pictures on-screen if you decide you'd like to cut out any excess or focus on one object or area.

The Optio 450 uses a rechargeable battery and comes supplied with a 16Mb SD card. It also comes bundled with Magix Photos on CD software

It is still quite pricey compared to other four-megapixel cameras on the market, but that aside, the Optio 450 is a good camera packed with useful features.

Contact: Pentax 01753 792762
www.pentax.co.uk