5 megapixel sensor for enlargements up to 20 x 30 inches
5x optical zoom plus 4x digital zoom (for 20x total)
Optical viewfinder shows actual image zoom, innovative stereoscopic shooting
Compatible with Secure Digital (SD) and MultiMedia (MMC) cards
Powered by rechargeable lithium-ion battery(included); connects with Macs and PCs via USB port
This review is from: Pentax Optio 550 5MP Digital Camera w/ 5x Optical ZoomThe major pros of the Optio 550 are its overall image quality, 5x lens, battery life, feature set, and portability. The major downsides I've experienced are ISO noise, a slightly slow zoom and autofocus, and a delay in shutter release. A few other problems are ignorable or easily fixable in photoshop (vignetting) or can be largely fixed in camera settings (indoor photos).Size and Build: I wanted a camera that is unobtrusive and the Optio 550 is certainly small enough. It is not a one-hand camera because of the weight, but it fits my hands (which I believe are slightly below average male size) very well. In addition, the build feels solid.Image Quality: On the whole, very excellent. ISO noise is a problem (400 is unusable, 200 is marginal and will probably depend on your tolerance for grain, 100 and 64 are just fine) and so this camera isn't best for lots of shots in dark spaces, especially if the flash won't be able to illuminate the subject. In some of my images there has also been minor vignetting (slightly darkened corners) and according to dpreview.com, which has a good review, this occurs in wide-angle to half-zoom shots. Most of the time it is barely noticeable, and it is never a showstopper because a forum member at dpreview.com created a Photoshop file that can be used to easily correct the problem, which I have so far used a few times with good results... Cropping out the affected portion is, of course, another option. Otherwise, the image quality has been excellent, provided one sets and keeps the sharpness (and possibly also contrast, this seems to be more a matter of taste) down a notch from the default value. Outdoor images are, in my experience, sharp and detailed using the camera on full auto. Indoor images without good illumination are a bit harder for this camera, but forcing the camera to use ISO 64 or 100, in conjunction with the lower sharpness/contrast settings, will almost always give a very good photo. I am colorblind, so I will not offer an opinion on color accuracy. The comments of others on this aspect seem to be uniformly positive, however. The camera has three levels of JPEG compression, as well as a TIFF mode. The visible difference between ** and *** images is very difficult to see, but ** is about half the size. Users who aren't scrutinizing or heavily editing images will probably find that a very suitable compromise. The purist in me wants to use TIFF but my budget demands otherwise, so I usually stick with ***.Battery life: Quite long. I was, for instance, able to go a week of casual picture taking (perhaps 15 pictures a day, no flash) with around two-three hours (all told) of nothing but reviewing pictures before it finally ran out. An AC adapter is not included, unfortunately, although a charger is.The lens: The 5x optical zoom was a major selling point for me, and I have already appreciated its ability to get me up close several times. At this point in time, if you value small size and zoom capabilities, no other camera is its equal. It takes about 2 seconds to completely zoom in from a wide shot, which sometimes seems too slow. The Optio 550 has a 4x digital zoom also, but this type of zooming is best done after the fact with Photoshop or something else anyway, so I turned it off.Feature set: Has full auto, full manual, an aperture priority and a shutter priority mode all of which operate as expected. Movie quality is adequate, but not great. The sound quality of annotations and movies is quite decent, however. Several filters (for color, softness, etc) are available which I haven't used. Modes for certain picture types (sunsets, snow, portraits, etc.). Of these, I've only used sunset and fireworks so far. The manual neglects to mention that fireworks mode sets a long shutter time, requiring the camera to remain motionless. 3D and panorama modes. The continuous shooting mode is about a frame per second at full resolution. The flash can be on, off, on with red-eye reduction, autoflash, or autoflash with red-eye reduction. The camera will display a histogram on the lcd live or after the fact. There is a 3x3 grid overlay available on the lcd to help framing. There is a mode for taking movies more slowly, allowing playback to appear faster, in addition to time-delay and time-interval settings. Two macro modes. More that I don't have space to detail.LCD: Sharp enough, bright enough. No adjustable brightness settings, however. In bright sunlight it is, as others have noted, difficult to see. You can also elect to turn...
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