How does the new Pentax Optio W60 stack up against Olympus waterproof digital cameras?
So now that Pentax has finally upgraded its waterproof camera line with yesterday's Optio W60 announcement, my big question is how does it compare to Olympus’ latest compact, point-and-shoot waterproofs, the Olympus Stylus 1030 SW and 850 SW.
So now that Pentax has finally upgraded its waterproof camera line with yesterday's Optio W60 announcement, my big question is how does it compare to Olympus’ latest compact, point-and-shoot waterproofs, the Olympus Stylus 1030 SW and 850 SW.
With pricing to be set at $329.95 when it ships in July, the Optio W60 sits between the 850 SW and 1030 SW in pricing as well as overall appeal.Specs-wise, it sports the 1030 SW’s higher 10 megapixel resolution, but is only waterproof to 13 feet--about a meter deeper than the 850 SW, but not scuba-dive material like the 1030 SW’s 33 feet depth rating. Like the 1030 SW, the Optio W60’s lens is nice and wide at 28mm (equivalent) and zooms to 140mm, which is even better than the 1030. Though the Pentax’s LCD is a touch smaller than the 1030 SW’s, the sensitivity range is better. But the fact that the Pentax takes more-standard SD memory cards rather than the Olympus cameras’ xD-PictureCard or microSD format may just win the deal for some folks.
Based on specs alone, the only thing drawing me to the 1030 SW over the Pentax would be the waterproof depth rating since I am a scuba diver. But otherwise, the Optio W60 seems poised to give Olympus a run for its money.Image quality will be the kicker, so stay tuned.
