Pentax X70

Opinion: Extremely bad quality with low natural light. Dirty video resolution enhancement.
I've had it changed as I thought it was deffective, but the new camera came with the same problems.
Forget about inhouse and night shots.
I've got a much better picture quality with a 3 years old low-end ultra-compact Panasonic, and a better video quality with a 5 y.o. $25 webcam.

Opinion: I am very interested in this camera. I rated the camera only on other's opinions. However I am wondering about the EVF not having a diopter. What about those of us who wears glasses and without a diopter it may become difficult to focus.

I would like to hear from someone who has the K70 and wears glasses.

Opinion: Shooting some photos in macro and from 26mm till 624, and not using a tripot. (For a long distance it will be better).
I must say the images are good till very good.
ISO is quite usable up to 800.
You must not be compared the X70 with a DSRL, but for traveling the X70 is very light and you didnot carry a photobag full with lenses.

Opinion: Just started using the camera, I love it. I actually put my DSLR on the shelf, planning to sell all my lens and DSLR's and SLR's.

Opinion: Great Camera!!!
Apart from my Pentax K200D which are, sometimes, too bulky and heavy for some of my trip.
-I've got 250+ shots with one full charge in day time.
-Great Zoom range.
-Image Quality is pretty good compare to its class, almost match a DSLR!!! especially with ISO up to 400.
-Image quality is excellent up to ISO400, and is still very good at ISO800 while ISO1600 is still relatively good.
-EVF is clear & Bright, I use it all the time.
-LCD works well, however, I rarely use it when taking photos except those taken in strange positions which I can't use the EVF.
-Manual controls is like a DSLR, you can manually control everything, and is what I really love since most of competitors don't offer this level of control to a point & shoot cameras.
-Design is like a junior PENTAX DSLR.
-It handled and gripped well with one hand.
-Focussing is good but it still works more like point & shoot rather than a DLSR.
-Haven't try Video feature yet.

Opinion: http://www.digitalcamerareview.com/default.asp?newsID=3993&review=pentax+x70

Pls see this review, ISO from 400-1600 is a lot better than canon SX1 and sony HX1. It's performance is close to DSLR.

Opinion: I owned the X70 for about 2 weeks and I returned it. During the 2 weeks I tried various settings and conditions and I was consistently disappointed with the image quality. I am comparing it to other compact and super-zoom cameras. I love Pentax cameras, I've owned 4 Pentax DSLR's and they always impressed me. But compared to other manufacturers super-zooms, the X70 was a let-down.

Opinion: I was excited to get one of the first X70s when it became available on April 1st. I really didn't know what features it would end up having after reading the preliminary list. One of the things that impressed me that I didn't know anything about was the fact that Pentax for the first time that I knew of, included a dedicated auto focus assist lamp! No more raising of the flash to assist in focusing in low light. I remember reading oh so many reviews on DP Review how Pentax didn't have auto focus assist lamps on their cameras! Now they do! (or at least on one of them anyway)...

As far as image quality is concerned, not bad! Not the sharpest, but not as soft as some early reviewers have said. The zoom is LONG! 24x optical gives you a heck of a lot of reach and if you add just a bit of digital zoom, you can get some really close images without too much distortion. Like most of Pentax's point and shoot offerings, it has the typical scene modes, but also improves on ISO quality (up to ISO 6400 at 5MP). ISO is quite usable up to 800. but 1600 is a let down as it has been on other cameras of this class. The camera shifts to 5MP when using ISO 3200 and above, but surprisingly I think the quality is better at 3200 than it is at 1600.

This model also features auto exposure bracketing with -/+2EV range which is unusual for a P&S camera except for certain G & S Canon models. Only the latest offerings from Olympus & Panasonic have this range now. All the others are still -/+1EV. This camera produces some pretty good HDR shots once the three exposure bracketed shots are processed by Photomatix.

The camera defaults to bright mode and this causes flower colors to over-saturate, so either shoot in Flower scene mode, or change to natural mode.

I have not had the chance to use the camera in movie mode, so I can't comment on that yet.

Good:
12 MP with very good image quality

dedicated autofocus assist lamp

24x optical zoom with up to 6.25x digital zoom (it does have its uses)

triple image stabilization (Shake reduction, Digital Image Stabilization [ISO shift], movie image stabilization)

A multitude of features that can make you dizzy.

The camera is small and very light (no need to make the camera large enough to fit 4 AA batteries)

Zoom is fast and focus is quick

Bad:
No RAW
No EVF diopter adjustment
Short battery life due to its small size