Pentax Optio 555
Presented during the IFA events, though not actually having a Pentax booth in Berlin, the Optio 555 got its public appearance during the Eurasia Bilisim event in Turkey. We had the opportunity to get our hands on this replacement of the Optio 550. The new Optio 555 is compact, stylish designed and equipped with a powerful 5x optical zoom lens. This new Optio model has a reduced lag time so when we turn on the camera it is almost immediately ready to respond. The 5x optical zoom lens combined with a 4x digital zoom results in a total zoom of 20x. The OPTIO 555 is just like the OPTIO 550 camera equipped with 5 effective Megapixels. The optical zoom lens extends from 37.5mm to 187.5mm (equiv. to 35mm camera). The zoom lens is a high-precision SMD Pentax lens. The easy operation of the camera and the fast start-up time allows the user to capture spontaneous moments the easiest way. Diverse modes are selected through a handy dial. There are 11 capture modes; Programmed exposure, Aperture-priority AE, Shutter-priority AE, Metered manual exposure, User mode, Picture modes, Panorama assist, 3D image mode, Digital filters, Movie and Voice recording mode. The Optio 555 also features PictBridge compatibility that eliminates the need for PC connectivity during printing by allowing the camera to be connected directly to a compatible printer. This feature allows direct control over printing and a full range of other functions. The Optio 555 includes an ACDSee software package designed exclusively for Pentax Optio digital cameras that includes ACDSee 5.0. Valued at more than $150, the ACDSee digital camera software makes it easy to retrieve, view, manage, print, enhance and share your digital photos. One who would like to change any setting the Optio 555 has diverse settings to be selected. With a choice of eight white balance modes, the Optio 555 is ideally equipped for a range of different lighting circumstances. These include settings for daylight, shade, tungsten light, and three types of fluorescent light. There is an auto setting, as well as the manual setting, which allows you to take greater control over the balance of colour with regard to your lighting circumstances. With a selection of multi-segment metering, centre-weighted metering, and spot metering, the Optio 555 offers closer control over the evaluation of exposure. The Optio 555 enables exposure compensation across a range of +2EV in steps of 1/3EV. This allows you to take a set of images of a single subject and then select the exposure most closely suited to your own taste. With settings that allow you to take manual control over sharpness, saturation, and contrast, with three grades for each, the Optio 555 lets you manipulate the final outcome to a greater extent than other digital cameras. Macro mode allows the Optio 555 to be used for close-up compositions as close as 15 centimetres from the subject, while the super macro mode allows shots to be composed from as close as just 2 centimetres. Both modes may be combined with 4X digital zoom. The Optio 555 also offers Infinity-landscape mode, which is ideal for capturing expansive scenes and even provides pleasing focus when shooting through windows. The data will be stored on a Secure Digital or MultiMedia card. The Optio 555 will be available in October 2003.