Pentax Optio S6 digital camera

Posted by T3 Online on Fri 26 Oct 2007

A Premier League digital snapper at a Division One price.

We've loved THE ultra-compact line of cameras from Pentax for years now, but this is the first one in the range with six megapixels and a screen to die for. It's so small, that you'll barely notice it in your pocket.

The 2.5-inch LCD really is fantastic. It's extremely responsive, so you get almost no smear at all as you pan the camera around to follow your moving subjects. It's also sharp enough to show up any facial hair with stunning clarity on your close-up portraits.

Picture quality is good - in snaps of Sony's AIBO robot dog doing his thing, every bit of dust on his snout shows up crisply, as do all the reflections on his glossy casing. Colours, meanwhile, are bright, but slightly lack contrast which can make some images seem a little two-dimensional.

Start-up time is very fast at under a second and shutter response is pretty quick, but the lens isn't the fastest at zooming. The camera's extremely light in your hands, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that there's nothing inside the solid casing.

This is a quick and classy, compact snapper that takes great pics - there's really no reason not to buy one.