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Picked up a Pentax Optio WG-II

I recently consigned my last DSLR camera body. While I am still hanging onto some lenses for a potential local sale, I wanted to move forward with selling as much of my equipment as possible. I do have a very old digicam that I mostly used in 2006, but I thought something low cost, yet new, would be a good idea. The Optio WG-II line just dropped in price at my local camera shop, so while I was there, I picked up a solid black unit. 

This of this article as basic overview of the camera before I’m able to do something more extensive with better equipment. Taking quality product shots and video for a detailed review isn’t really possible at the moment.

Here are a few webcam based videos that I’ve already made with the camera:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXLzEG_aHKA

As you can tell… I’m pretty enthusiastic about it so far. Of course, the results are not of a DSLR level, but I think I can manage to achieve a decent level of quality.

This WG-II seems pretty decent so far. It’s too bad they didn’t include shutter and aperture control. ISO, exposure compensation, and the standard metering modes should be sufficient (switching the green button to Fn mode where those items can be directly controlled is a big plus). My Yongnuo flash seem to trigger properly in slave mode by the camera’s internal flash. That should be fun to see what I can do with them. However, I noticed the flash won’t trigger outside, presumably due to too much ambient light.

A few points to consider if you are interested in the camera:


Bad Points:

  • I can’t support my hand like I can with a normal point & shoot strap, but it does seem quick access if latched to a belt buckle.
  • Wish the face detection button was programmable like the green button. Have to make a choice between using the green button as Fn and a quick movie button. I’d like both and don’t really have any interest in having quick access to face detection.
  • No full or semi manual mode.

Good Points:

  • No extending lens.
  • Solid take anywhere camera.
  • AF seems good and offers quite a few options.
  • Access to important functions isn’t too bad given the limited buttons.

Overall, a solid and unique camera. It will be challenging to extract the best images possible images out of it, but it is the type of camera that can be used a lot and taken anywhere. 



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