Pentax Optio 33LF

Fed up with faceless self-portraits?

With over 50 3-megapixel cameras on the market, any newcomer has to come on like a bull terrier in a corgi shop to make its presence felt. The latest offering from Pentax aims to make fur fly with the combination of a friendly, entry-level price and a modern, rotating LCD screen.

Swivelling screens haven't exactly bowled us over in the past, with a tendency to be smaller, heavier and more fragile than their static counterparts. But the 1.6-inch unit on the 33LF has a few advantages. For a start, there's no smart design to compromise - this new Optio comes in a plastic case that couldn't be any more traditional if it had half-timbered walls and a thatched roof. Secondly, the display's swivelling range of 180 degrees horizontally and 270 degrees vertically rivals yogic masters. And while not huge, it's very bright, colourful and less blurry than LCDs on other cameras at this price. Finally, that vertical flexibility means that you can store the screen in two different ways:screen facing out like a normal snapper, or screen facing in to protect it on the move.

This is a budget model, so serious photo- heads should pack away their technical prowess and just enjoy the company's usual bizarre features. Capture modes include a stunning slow-sync flash program, separate settings for surf, snow and flowers, and a good setting that assists in creating panoramic shots. When shooting in the black-and-white mode, there's a digital filter selection that recreates the effects of red, green or blue filters, but that doesn't work very well, unlike the competent spot-focusing and -metering modes.

Picture quality is well up to the standard we've come to expect from Pentax, with strong skin tones contributing to the excellent colour reproduction. The flash is plenty strong enough and the exposure meter is unlikely to let you down, although there's little manual control for the purists. The 3x zoom is sharp enough for the 3-megapixel sensor, and you'll only notice grainy colour noise if you're shooting in really dark conditions. It's a pity that the movie mode lacks audio recording, as this is otherwise a spot-on party camera. And with great self- portraits from that rotating LCD, it doesn't even matter if no one else shows up.
Mark Harris

KEY FEATURES:
3.2-megapixel sensor, maximum resolution: 2,048 x 1,536 pixels (interpolated), 3x optical zoom, 2.7x digital zoom, 1.6-inch 72,000-pixel LCD, exposure modes: landscape, night scene, portrait, self-portrait, surf, snow, sunset, panorama assist, digital filters, movie mode: up to 320 x 240 pixels, 16fps, no sound, SD card slot (16MB card supplied), dimensions: 109 x 65 x 42mm, weight: 225g with card and battery