Pentax Optio 330

The Optio 330 is a thoroughbred Pentax, produced not in conjunction with Hewlett-Packard, like so many of its recent products, but within the Asahi Corporation itself. However, rather than attack the high end of the market, the Optio 330 is vying more for the mid-range, three-megapixel market where the competition is at its hottest.

The Optio 330 is a 3.34 megapixel camera fitted with a 7.6-22.8mm f/2.6-4.8 Pentax lens, the equivalent to a 37-111mm zoom on a 35mm camera. Such coverage is suitable for most general uses, allowing a tight crop and wider shots with more background detail. Simple product photography is also within its scope, thanks to the close focus down to 14cm.

The lens features two aspheric elements helping to keep its size down to manageable proportions, in tune with the rest of the camera. This is a good general-purpose lens, but the lack of a decent wide-angle setting or the option to add a converter lens may lose it some appeal.

The Optio 330 may not be the smallest three-megapixel camera on the market, but it's certainly not far off. However, despite small dimensions of 92 x 32 x 59mm (W x D x H) and a weight of just 205g (body only), it's still comfortable to hold. In fact, some cameras make big of their claims to be the smallest, but the Optio 330 is a better compromise from a carrying and handling point of view. It's tough too, with a stainless steel outer giving it a reassuring chunky feel even if it isn't the prettiest of models. However, a downside of the petite dimensions is a rear TFT LCD limited to just 1.6in.

The finder image is clear, with the often overlooked benefit of a built-in diopter adjustment from +1 to -3. It's well placed too, and this epitomises the general design, which is well thought out and logical, illustrating Pentax's obvious understanding of camera users' needs. The small 1.6in TFT screen is also of high quality, producing a good image with decent sharpness and contrast, and it's better than many for viewing in bright outdoor conditions.

As for its more specific imaging capabilities, it's a well-specified camera with an excellent range of shutter speeds, from 16 seconds to 1/2,000th second, making it suitable for those serious about shooting different subjects in a variety of conditions. Taking advantage of such scope, there's a choice of a six-segment multipattern meter, centre-weighted or spot options. The latter can also be selected for the AF detection area, but for more general point-and-shoot the Wide Area AF is a better default option. Hidden among the list of features is a third detection method called Free, where the user gets to select from a moving spot AF zone anywhere on the LCD. This is a brilliant feature, which is only let down by the lack of indication in the optical finder that it's active. Instead there are only fixed markers for the other two detection methods.

The 3.34 megapixel CCD has an effective 3.24 megapixels useable for capture. Images are saved in the common JPEG options, available in three compression levels - good, better and best - each available at 2,048 x 1,536, 1,024 x 768 and 640 x 480 size images. At maximum settings this camera was capable of our usual A3+ test inkjet prints with some adjustment in Photoshop, although the lens isn't as sharp as we've seen elsewhere. There's no uncompressed TIFF file format though, which is something you'd expect to see in a 3.34 megapixel model. Images are saved onto a CompactFlash card (Type 1) and 16Mb is supplied. This is enough to get you started, but if you plan to shoot at the maximum resolution then we'd suggest at least 32Mb as the minimum. Shots can also be uploaded via a USB connection, again with the appropriate dedicated camera lead supplied. There's a video out too.