User reviews for Pentax Optio SV: Digital Photography Review

Opinion: Alltogether a deception - compared to the other similar cameras by pentax.
Very small but nevertheless great 5x zoom. Large display compared to Optio 550/555/450

Problems: - display reflects sunlight, thus very hard to see
- viewfinder as bad as for any of these small cameras
- not comfortable to hold (too small ;-))
- autofocus slow and not precise
- poor image quality
- settings not as comfortable as with the optio 550 - especially in manual mode (mode Dial doesn't even have separate items for all of P, S, A and M)

The Optio 550 I had before was *much* better when it comes to autofocus precision and image quality.

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Opinion: Very long focusing time.
Very low sensitivity.
LCD is not viewable on a sunny day

Problems: Very long focusing time.
Very low sensitivity.
LCD is not viewable on a sunny day

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Opinion: I have used this camera for approx 6 months. I just dropped it from my car (at high speed) and smashed it into a million pieces. I will be replacing it with another of the same. Here's why...

I use a Canon Powershot S45 regularly as my main camera. I was looking for a second camera that would take decent snaps, have good manual overrides, and be small. The Optio SV is all of these things.

I agree with other reviews that it is a complex camera that requires lots of learning. For example, I could not get it to focus reliably until I overrode one of the focus settings, which I think allows 2 or 3 fields for the focus calc (I can't tell you exactly because the camera is in lots of bits...). I use lots of manual overrides when shooting, so this was what I expected from the camera.

The image quality is fine for my purposes. I've never noticed it being any worse than my Canon S45.

Some other reviews mention build quality as being a problem. It seems fine to me. I didn't really expect it to survive a 60mph roll down the road, but prior to that it seemed tough enough and felt solid to me.

Subject to the problems listed below, this camera does exactly what I want. But then when I want really good, fast, reliable pictures I would always reach for the Canon S45 which does everything better at the expense of size and weight. The Optio is for me a compromise that works as a second camera to slip in my pocket.

Problems: My main gripes:

1. The camera was very poor at focusing until I changed the default focusing mode from sampling a large part of the picture to a smaller part. Then focus was fine. Once I had done this, even low light focus was OK (though not as good as the Canon S45 which has a focus light to assist, but then again the Optio is nice and small). So, for some weeks I believed that the camera was a poor focuser. But now I am happy with it.

2. Shutter delay time is really poor/slow, to get from no-press to half-way (I think others have referred to this as focus preset). This makes the camera unusable for anyone who has not learned to preset the camera. It took me some weeks to get used to this. Once I did, I ceased to regard this as a problem, and my timing of shots - even with fast-moving action - is fine. In other words, from half-way to shutter-release is quick.

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Opinion: I have purchased Pentax SV despite of the very poor reviews and very please with the camera. It is a very light and small. My home scales red 157 gram with memory and battery. It is very sophisticated camera. It took less time for me to understand my Canons G3 and Pro1. Foe example in Pentax SV you can select for auto-bracketing one of the following: Exposure, WB, Sharpness, Saturation or Contrast plus full manual controls like Av, Tv and M. It has 4 independent adjustment wheel settings with individually set functionality. Camera will restore the selected functions from the complete list on power OFF/ON individually. Is not it something for a tiny 150-gram camera. The most important is image quality. Every opinion rate it as POOR and it is not true. I have photographed the same view outside with Pentax SV and my Canon Pro 1 and then print tem on 8.5x11. I could not say which is better. I have applied only one step in PhotoShop for each one – Auto-Levels. They were absolute twins in resolution, color and contrast. Several times during the learning process I was ready to return the SV then spend more time learning it and every time postponed the return. Now I am definitely keeping the camera. I would advise – TRY IT. For me an advantage of the Pentax 750 is its beautiful screen but its weight and size are big disadvantages. The SV zoom is 35mm - 180mm vs. 37.5mm - 187.5mm for 750. The other valuable differences for 750 should be a bigger CCD, more pixels (7M vs. 5M), TIFF, and 15s vs. 4s and it is about it. I am also assuming that the electronics for these two cameras is the same.
Focusing in low light is very-very good. Screen is good for low light with auto-adjust of brightness. Ergonomics –excellent! Battery life is also GOOD.

Problems: Optical viewfinder is not that grate because of x5 zoom, small size and no adjustment. I still use it or the screen. The screen in bright sun light is not easy to use but it is usavleusable.

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Opinion: The pictures are clear and of a reasonable quality in normal lighting
conditions. I found the mode selector to be painful as it changes setting when
putting it in and out of the case and gets caught on things. The camera body
doesnt feel that sturdy and doesnt have any real feel to it. Shutter lag is quite
long also, worse when fully zoomed in.

All in all its a feature rich camera that is a bit on the expensive side with poor
build quality, I think a Nikon or Canon is better quality and value for money.

Problems: Beware of Pentax Service, it's a farce! I had may battery charger fail after two
weeks, it took another two weeks to get the replacement and when it arrived
was the wrong part... Pentax would not ship the second replacement without
recieving the first back.. so I am still waiting for that part... and not able to
use my camera, its now spent more time out of service than in!

Think carefully before buying a Pentax as the warranty service is very poor. I
have heard of much worse cases than mine.

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Opinion: This camera is fantastic, the controls are outstanding, very easy menu navigation.

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Opinion: I sent mine back! I bought it because of the 5x zoom and 5Mpx quality. But comparison with my Canon G3 (4Mpx) showed images of poorer quality. Also shutter delay was too long even with pre-focusing. I bought the camera to take shots of my one year old and he was walking off in most of them - yes I prefocused/exposed but the delay to actually take the picture was ages. I think this is to do with the image processor. Shame because the camera was nice and small and well made/designed.

Problems: Sloooooow image processing time.

Poor image quality in low light.

Images worse than old 4Mpx Canon G3.

Gave camera back within 7 days and just paid for postage. I will wait for digicams to speed up the image processing so that it is faster than my G3 before I buy again. I think Canon's digic2 is supposed to be pretty fast.

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Opinion: I have this camera for 2 months, and I like it.

It's my third digital camera, I've started with a Minolta dimage S304. Then bought a Sony Cybershot F828 for some serious (and fun) photography, but this one is quite big.
I was looking for a replacement for my day to day camera and choose the Pentax Optio SV

I've chosen it for the 5x zoom and the manual options and the small size. And no other camera has all these features.
I like the feel of the camera, the operation of the setting is quite intuitive.
The quality in good (outdoor) light is good, and I was surprised by quality of the macro, supermacro and outdoor nightshots

In the end I like this camera as a second camera.

for some examples http://www.pbase.com/boegheim/pentax_sv

Problems: In the autosettings the camera chooses quite long aperture times, so photographing in low light is difficult.
when you use the manual settings you can juggle around and get good results.

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Opinion: I’ve been using Pentax digital cameras for over three years. My first was Optio 330 and then I went to the Optio 4s. After leaving the 4s in the my pants pocket and then subsequently doing laundry, I managed to make an expensive hunk of metal. I then had to go camera shopping and after looking around, I settled on the Optio SV.

The 5X zoom was the reason I wanted to go with the SV. But in retrospect that seems to be the only advantage. Actually, because of either me, the lens, or the camera, when I zoomed it all the way out, I was taking mostly blurry pictures. The cycle time between pictures was slower than the 4s. One of the final reasons why I am returning it is that they decreased the file size (quality) so more pictures fit on a memory card. When I first got the camera I put it at 4MP and shot some pictures. The file size was about where my old 3MP camera was. So, I upped to 5MP (at the highest quality) and it still wasn't the same file size as the 4MP on highest quality. As it usually goes with JPEG, the larger the file size the higher the quality. This means they adjusted the SV to lower the picture quality so it looks like more pictures fit on a memory card. Also, it might have been their way to increase the cycle time (which seems slower than the 4S anyway). I would love to see some stats comparing cameras with cycle time, actual picture quality, etc. Oh, and another thing, there is a small dial on the back of the camera that sticks out. It is made to easily switch modes (manual, movie, night, etc). But the location of the dial is that it gets caught when I take the camera in and out of the case and changes modes, something I seem to notice after I take all my pictures. For the increase in physical size and the extra zoom, the rest of the features/operations make for a disappointment.

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