Pentax Optio 430 Review, Phil Askey, April 2002

Review based on a production Optio 430, firmware v1.00

The three megapixel Optio 330 was first announced back on 29th May 2001, later, in September Pentax announced the Optio 430, a four megapixel upgrade to the 330. The two cameras are essentially identical apart from the additional image size of the 430. Body design, control layout and menus are all exactly the same.

Because of this, and because I've already reviewed the Optio 330 much of this review is based on the Optio 330 review. If you've previously read that review you may wish to skip to the photo tests and image quality comparison.

The Optio 430 measures just 92 x 62 x 31 mm (3.6 x 2.4 x 1.2 in) and that makes it only just bigger than Kyocera's tiny S4. Fully loaded (including battery & CF card) the 430 weighs in at a pocketable 240 g (8.5 oz). The Optio 430 has a steel case, four megapixel sensor, three times opstical zoom, proprietary Lithium-Ion rechargable battery and Compact Flash Type I slot.

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this review (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally 960 x 720 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

This review is Copyright 2002 Phil Askey and the review in part or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey.