Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)When I first purchased and received this camera I was delighted. It's small and light weight so I can carry it in my purse all the time. The big bright screen is wonderful to show off photos of my new grandson without having to carry photographs and the camera took great photos. The 10MP photos allows me to crop a lot and still have a beautiful 8x10 printed photo. The stabilizer works wonderfully. I can take photos of this little 6 month old and never get a bad shot. I gave my A10 to my daughter, because I was so pleased with this new little camera, that now uses the new high capacity SDHC memory cards.
Then, after about a week the camera starting getting these bright purple streaks through the pictures, from the glare of light. Even with a flash the photos were so bad you couldn't even make out what you were shooting. This is my 4th Pentax digital camera and the first bad one. What's worse is that, I sent it to Pentax for repair and a month later got back the same bad camera, but without my battery. They were real nice about offering to send me my battery, but that doesn't help me since the camera isn't worth using.
Where ever there is the slightest natural light coming through a window, the camera picks up a purple glare, that is in the photograph. It's also in the movies. When I sent it in for repair I sent print outs of the pictures so they could see how bad it was. I had to call and beg to get my camera back, they promised it would only take 15 days. But they received it a week before they even logged the camera in for repair, then put it in a line (ups tracking information shows when it was signed for on the dock). When I called two weeks later they pulled it from a place in line, and finally started to work on it.
They sent it to me 2nd day, but without the battery. I used the battery from my A10, only to find that the purple glare is still there. It's not as bad as it was, but still awful. Not just a little... a lot. Previously I owned the z550, the z750 and the A10, All those were wonderful, hence my willingness to purchase the new A30 and comfort in giving away the A10 right away.
Now they want me to return the camera to repair so that they can try to repair it again. It's already been nearly 3 months since I purchased this camera, 3 months less warranty on a lemon of a camera. I asked to have a new camera sent to me and I'd return this one, but they wouldn't do that; so I called corporate offices.
What a difference in attitude! They said they'd send me out a new camera 2nd day and issue a call tag so I can return this entire camera kit. They were so nice. So, if you have a problem and repair can't or won't take care of it for you, so right to the top... it's worth the trouble.
The new camera is great, what I hoped for when I first purchased it. Since having this awful problem, I have noticed a slight purple cast on some of my other photos with other cameras, that I never noticed before... it's so slight. Not anything like I had with this A30, where the whole photo was purple and you couldn't even see what you were trying to shoot. The replacement camera is fine and takes beautiful photos. I'm concerned as to why it did get so awful and afraid it will come back, but so far it's been wonderful. I carry it with me all the time. The movies it takes are the best I've ever taken with a still camera. They are actually very good. I hardly use my Mini DV movie camera anymore. All in all, I really like this camera and there is no other camera with the same features for close to this price. If it stays as good as it is now, I'll be extremely happy.
BTW, Amazon was great. When I couldn't get ahold of Pentax and it had been slightly over the 30 day return date, Amazon still was willing to take the camera back and give me a refund. But I couldn't find another camera that was this small and light that uses the new SDHC cards. So thanks Amazon, for the wonderful service!
Click Here to see more reviews about: Pentax Optio A30 10MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Zoom with Shake Reduction System
The 10.0 Megapixel CCD and 3x optical zoom assure high-resolution images while Enhanced Shake Reduction technology includes SR, Digital SR and Movie SR. The 2.5-inch LCD monitor makes sharing images easy with Bright mode and wide field of view. Face Recognition Auto Focus and Auto Exposure assure properly exposed portraits. The 0.02-second shutter lag time let's you have swift operation and the intelligent zoom function enhances the digital zoom. High-quality movie can be captured at MPEG-4 DivX (640 x 480) at 30fps with anti-shake and editing functions. Choose from a wide range of automatic and manual exposure modes including manual exposure and shutter priority modes.ISO Auto -64-1600, 3200 available in Digital SR Mode at 5MP ISO Manual -64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 White Balance -Auto, Daylight, Shade, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Manual modes Shutter speed -1/2000 to 4 sec Sensor Type -1/1.8-inch Interline Transfer CCD with primary color filter Lens Type -SMC Pentax Zoom Lens (7E, 5G, 2 dual aspheric lenses, 1 single aspheric lens) 160 degrees horizontal and vertical wide angle viewable LCD Viewfinder Capture Modes -Auto Picture (Normal, Night Scene, Landscape, Portrait), Program, Night Scene, Movie, Voice Recording, Landscape, Flower, Portrait, Kids, Digital SR, Surf & Snow, Sport, Pet, Text, Food, Frame Composite File formats -JPG (EXIF 2.2), DCF, DPOF, Print Image Matching III Sills, AVI (DivX with MPG-4) Movie, WAV (PCM), monaural sound NTSC and PAL Video out Aluminum Alloy Construction Materials System Requirements -Windows ME, 2000, XP, Vista, Mac OS 9.2, X (10.1 or later) and USB port Dimensions -Width 3.5 x Height 2.3 x Depth 0.9 inch Weight -4.6 ounces without battery
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