Customer Reviews
Worse than the old Wpi 
2008-09-15
Ok, I spend a lot of time fly-fishing, which generally entails a wet and often sandy camera. Having owned and loved an Optio Wpi (2-3 generations back), I immediately went for the new Pentax waterproof over the comparable Olympus. The main reason that I was told that Olympus' retracting lens cover is easily jammed by sand. So I was an easy sell on the w60, after finding out I couldn't buy another wpi - which could have used the 4 batteries I now own for a broken camera. I should mention that broke the wpi, it was so sturdy it could have lasted for ages had I not put about 300 lbs of pressure between it and a solid metal object. I just bought the w60 and took it out for a week on the river. Here are my three frustrations:
1. light areas are totally washed out. I know, I have to figure out the settings to correct this issue... and I will correct the issue. But the settings are going to need serious tweaking before the w60 will take sensible photos. I mean, there was rarely 'true black' in any of my shots. Inexcusable & highly disappointing to have amateur looking vacation photos. The old wpi took awesome - truly awesome - pics straight out of the box.
2. some settings dont seem to stick after powering down. i cant tell you how many times I unchecked the "digital zoom" box, only to find my camera digitally zooming after powering back on. That's the only one I've seen not sticking so far, but I've only been playing with the camera here and there for the last 5 days. digital zoom is useless, in case you're wondering why this is one of my complaints. It basically does on your camera what your home computer can already do... and it sucks battery life. Never be impressed by a camera's digital zoom feature.
3. at full wide angle, corners get faded out. This is a minor issue for me, but definitely true. I read it elsewhere, so I was on the lookout. When you're zoomed out entirely, the corners of your photos CAN (not always) fade a little. eg, took a picture at twilight, corners were darker than they should have been. that being said, the wide angle is an amazing feature. In one frame, I could fit the boat I was fishing on, my fishing companion and his fish, and the incredible landscape/backdrop. I don't know how i lived with out this before.
Other than that, it's an amazing camera. I just wish I had known about these issues before I bought and shot vacation photos all week. Other cool features include a 'digital panorama' that will absolutely knock your socks off. it stitches three photos together for you... but also leaves a little 'ghost' at the end of each shot so you know where you left off. The result is perfect panoramas. There's a 'digital wide' feature that is similar but combines two 'portrait' (ie rotated 90 degrees) photos together in case 10 MP isnt a big enough pic for you.
my opinion: buy this camera if you spend time near the water, or just want that added layer of protection. it's perfect for your pocket, boat, river, kids' soccer game, etc. Not an SLR, but great for everyday use.
Splash 
2008-09-07
Great pictures, and waterproof helps in the rain. The only thing I don't like is the battery charger is a little big. One that plugs into the wall without the power cord like the Cannons would be better.
I'm and Optio Wx fan but... 
2008-09-04
I've owned a Wpi and a W30. Great cameras. After a full weekend camping and hiking in the rain the shutter button on the W60 started to not activate the shutter, the camera would focus but not take the photo, or only take it after depressing the button very hard or very long. I've returned to Amazon. Photos are good, especially in good light at lower zoom levels. Battery seems to give about 230 photos with all the bells and whistles turned off.
Waterproof is a plus, almost everything else is a minus 
2008-08-30
Bought this for a vacation in hawaii. Beaches, water, snorkeling, makes sense right?
First the good news:
* It works well as a underwater camera. We went to Hanauma Bay and took some good photos of fish and turtles.
* Shots for the most part are good--colors are a bit more vivid than the canon
* Shutter lag is noticeable
* No image stabilization--could really be used on this camera
Now the not so good news:
* There was a strange blip where it would appear to be working and then not take the photo. The camera would focus and then as long as I held the shutter down, it would still not take the photo. I recharged the battery, switched SD cards, reformatted the SD cards, nothing. After I tried everything I could think of, including writing to Pentax support, I gave up. My wife tried it about a week later and it was working again. Sigh.
* Battery life is not very good. I got about 3 to 4 hours.
* The construction feels plasticy and not well built
* No autorotation of images
Not one or the other:
* I'm an avid Canon user and had some difficulty getting used to the controls and settings, they're not as intuitive for me on the Pentax.
* It has face recognition and smile detection, but I'm not sure if they are more than just a gimmick
I'm returning this camera as it not as well built and stopped working for me randomly and the one thing that I need is reliability over features in a camera even if it is a point and shoot.
It's all about trade-off 2008-08-28
Clearly, this is not a camera for everybody. It's designed for those outdoor enthusiasts who's willing to trade the picture quality for the taking anywhere feature. I wish I could have a compact camera that can be used anywhere but still has DSLR picture quality -- but that camera doesn't exist!
If the underwater capability is important to you, then there are not so many choices out there -- and the only two get head to head are Olympus 1030 and the Pentax W60. Both are 10M pixels which I don't think it's really needed -- you can't fully use the 10M capability because of the lens quality. Some important difference:
- Olympus can go 30 ft deep, Pentax 10 ft.
- Olympus is crash proof, Pentax is not
- Olympus's lens is 28-105, Pentax is 28-140
- Both can take video of 640x480, up to the size of the flash card (Olympus may need a firmware upgrade), but Pentax can take 1280x720 in 15 fps.
- Olympus can't use zoom during video taking, Pentax can, but records the zoom sound as well.
- Pentax has slightly better picture quality, but little noisier.
- Pentax uses SD/SDHC card, Olympus uses xdpicture card, which is more expensive.
Finally I decided to go with the Pentax.
Things I like besides the under water capability:
- Feature rich. There are 24 different scene mode, a good fit to novice users, and there are also face detection, blink detection, smile detection and some on-camera editing capability. You can also do the slide-show on camera.
- Easy to follow interface. I learned to use more than 90% of the functions without even reading the manual.
- Macro that closes up to 1cm, not so many cameras are capable of that.
- Picture color is normally good.
- Live histogram view
Things I don't like:
- Poor low light performance, very noisy
- The so-called image stabilizing is just to bump up the ISO, which cause noisier image
- Below average image quality (comparing other point and shoot)
- Metering/White Balance/EV Adjustment only available in the P mode! This is my biggest complaint. I don't know what's in Pentax engineer's mind. I can live with no AP/SP/manual mode, but I still need these adjustments!
- No lens cover. Even though there is a protective layer in the front, so one can't touch the real lens, but that layer can still get dirty and I'm also afraid to simply put the camera in my pocket with other stuff.
With all that said, am I returning the camera? The hell no! I have my DSLR for better image quality, but I still need a compact one that I can bring with me on trips to ski, beach, or even snorkeling!
A Camera Shouldn't Meow 
2008-08-28
Take your PENTAX Optio W60 to new extremes. With 10 megapixels and a 5X internal zoom, this waterproof Optio shoots deeper, wider and at colder temps. A new design allows the Optio W60 to operate up to 13 feet underwater for two hours and at extreme temperatures well below freezing. Perfect for photography in adventurous settings, the Optio W60 captures a wide variety of scenes including expansive landscapes, architecture, and group photos in confined spaces as well as close-up telephoto shots. The Optio W60 also features High-Quality Movie mode, Face Recognition, Smile Capture, and Blink Detection. 2.5 inch IPS (In Plane Switching) LCD monitor with Anti-Reflective coating is viewable at wide angles, even in bright sunlight Coldproof for use in extreme, sub-zero temperatures HD movie capture to vividly capture moving memories in widescreen 720p Advanced Face Recognition technology sees up to 32 faces in 0.03 seconds, with Smile Capture and Blink Detection PENTAX Shake Reduction system automatically sets ISO up to a high 6400 to prevent subject blur. Movie Shake Reduction also available Focus modes - 9 point AF, Spot AF, Auto Tracking AF, Macro, Super Macro, Infinity Landscape, Pan focus, Manual focus Capture Modes - Mode selection - Auto Picture (Standard, Landscape, Portrait, Night Scene Portrait, Night Scene, Sport, Flower), Program, Night Scene, Movie, Underwater, Underwater Movie, Landscape, Flower, Portrait, and more Programmed AE electronic lens shutter Unit Dimensions (W x H x D) - 3.9 x 2.2 x 1.0; Weight - Without battery or removable memory - 4.4 oz
Absolutely Amazing 2008-08-25
I researched both the Olympus and Pentax waterproof cameras, and am so glad I went with the Pentax Optio W60. It is a wonderful camera.
It has lots of modes you can shoot in: Underwater (awesome shots in the swimming pool and at the lake), Macro (I got great pictures as close as an inch away),Fireworks (It took excellent pictures of the fireworks), Sports (The pictures I took of people diving off of rocks at the lake were very clear).
I bought it for it's underwater capabilities, ie. it can be submerged for two hours at a time (I've only had it under for 30 minutes so far) and it is waterproof up to 10'. But it is a wonderful 10 mp digital camera with an optical zoom of 5x. I would purchase this camera even if I did not need it for underwater filming.
Disappointing - Returned to Amazon 2008-08-19
I was looking for a new point and shoot camera, I came across the Pentax W60 before it was released. I was sold on it's specs, not too mention it is waterproof.
After receiving the camera and trying it out, I became quite disappointed rather quickly.
Poor indoor picture quality.
No zoom buttons on top of the camera, they are on the back.
The flash is too close to where your finger rests, therefore, when the flash fires it can reflect red light off your finger; and since the lens does not extend it captures that reflection.
5x optical zoom was nice, but the autofocus did not keep up with far away action shots.
Thanks Amazon for the easy return procedure.
Great "Fun" Camera 2008-08-16
UPDATE: This review was updated on 9/1/08 to reflect the announcement of the Olympus 1050SW.
I am a self confessed camera freak. I have owned the Pentax WPi, W10, W30, and now, the W60. My other primary cameras are the Canon SD 870 (with waterproof housing for diving) and a Canon SLR system with L series lenses, etc. I live in Hawaii and I travel for a living and I can say that without a doubt, the Pentax W series of cameras have been my "go to" cameras for any activities that involve water, snow, sand, or dirt. They take A LOT of abuse even if they don't advertise that fact like Olympus. For optical quality in a "friendly" environment when I don't want to lug my SLR, I prefer my Canon SD 870 which has noticeably better optics.
Like many people who somehow trashed their previous W series camera, I have been waiting over a year for the W30 upgrade and I can report that all in all, the W60 is a worthy upgrade to the W30 if only for the 28mm lens. In addition, it's lighter, the screen is brighter, and it's got a couple of useful software upgrades. I've been using the camera for a month now.
Make no mistake, this is a "fun" outdoors camera. If you're not going to take your camera in the water, to the beach, or mountain biking stop reading now and find a camera with better optics. The W60 is just o.k. and certainly no worse than the W30. As for the barrel distortion at 28mm, it's probably just slightly worse than my Canon SD 870 which means that the distortion is there and is noticeable, but for a group shot at the beach or trying to get the full length of a kayak AND an isle in the background, I'll live with the ever so slight distortion. You can always just click the lens down to 37mm and eliminate the distortion just like any other compact.
I'll also confess that I'm a Mac user and therefore don't know how to read manuals. Because of this, I find the "smile detect" and "blink detect' features amazingly annoying although they seem to work as long as your subjects are not wearing sunglasses. Fortunately, for illiterate and/or lazy idiots such as myself, you can ignore most features and easily find the important ones like underwater white balance.
Here's what I like and dislike about this particular model.
LIKES
1) Nothing beats not worrying about sand, water, dirt, or mud. I had the Olympus 1030SW for two days before sand screwed up the retractable lens cover (great idea, poor execution which has been addressed on the recently announced 1050SW). Also, if you let your kids take photos like I do, you can worry less about camera damage when one of them inevitably throws your camera at the other one or tries to hit them over the head with it in the pool.
2) 28mm lens. Wide angle (vs. the typical 38mm) is an option I'd rather have than not. Also, there is a crazy "wide" feature that's a bit different than panoramic stitch that actually works pretty well. In a nutshell, two portrait shots are stitched in camera into a 5MP 21mm image. It's by no means "publishable" quality, but I've actually been having quite a bit of fun with it.
DISLIKES
1) HD movie clips. I was very disappointed that the 720p movie clips are only 15 fps. My old Canon S80 had the same specs and I find the jerkiness at 15 fps too distracting. The initial press release (specs since updated) didn't disclose this. Oh well. I'd still buy it. 640 movie clips at 30 fps are as clean as expected and the shake reduction works fairly well (but reduces the frame to something less than 28mm). Also, a note on reviewers who complain about sound recorded from the focusing drive, switch to infinity focus which works fine in 90% of all situations and that annoying sound will be eliminated).
2) Noticeable barrel distortion at 28mm. Like I said earlier, better to have the option available and zoom in when able. Even at 28mm, your shot won't be ruined. Also, if you have a mother-in-law you can cleverly position her at the end of the frame and the distortion will make her look slightly thinner (in case she accuses your SLR of making her look fat).
3) Still no travel charger included or officially available (which I find inexcusable) although inelegant third party solutions exist online (and the multi battery use ones still work even though they've changed the battery model).
4) No external user replaceable lens protecter. Come on Pentax engineers. How hard would it be to design an exterior casing that allowed for a user replaceable transparent protective "filter" like an SLR. There's a reason I've bought four models. I trash them.
Now for the important feature: Underwater Imaging
If you want a camera for scuba diving stop reading now and go buy yourself a Canon with any of their factory built cases. This is not a diving camera.
If you want a camera for snorkeling, kayaking, surfing, or kiteboarding; or if you plan to take your camera to the beach; or if you like hiking in the rain or mountain biking, you will be stoked with this camera. (Previous W series models I owned worked fine in the snow and cold whereas my compact Canons sometimes freeze) The Olympus 1030SW is a close second for me for the following reasons. 1) I like the rectangle form factor of the Pentax a tad more; 2) I find SD cards more convenient than XD cards (plus I own a bunch and my computer has a slot for them); 3) a personal bad experience with the 1030SW retractable lens cover; 4) movies on the Olympus models are capped at 10 seconds (vs. the size of your memory card on the Pentax - 30 minutes on my 4GB card); and 5) the Pentax is noticeably lighter (but does not feel cheap). I think there's also some merit to the fact that this is Pentax's sixth generation of W series cameras. They've learned a lot. Also, I should mention that I used to use a Sony compact with a waterproof "Sport" case and besides making the whole camera "fat", the picture quality suffered greatly.
UPDATE regarding the new Olympus 1050SW: While i have not used this camera (to be released on 10/31/08) from the specs and photos I can see that they have addressed the retractable lens cover issue with a Sony style system however they have increased the focal length to 38mm (equivalent). I'd still prefer a 28mm. Also, 640 movies are still inexplicably capped at 10 seconds vs. the size of you memory card for the Pentax models.
Underwater videos of kids in the pool rock (set focus to infinity in the Settings menu to avoid mechanical noise). Videos of them surfing are priceless (buy yourself a neckstrap). Being able to wash your camera off at the end of the day is amazing. It's also kind of fun to drop it in a mug of beer at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich and freak your friends out.
I highly recommend the Pentax W60 for anyone that has an outdoor lifestyle and likes to record memories. It's a great secondary camera when paired with something a bit more serious like an SLR. It is not the best camera for going out for a night on the town and it's not the best camera if you're going on the vacation of a lifetime that doesn't involve a lot of water or dirt. Have fun!
If you need a water proof camera this is a good choice 2008-08-15
If you need a water proof camera and don't need to take it below a few feet and want the look of a regular camera this is a good choice.
However, when you cpr. this unit to other non-water proof units of the same price it comes up a bit short. There is a LOT of shutter lag, focus lag, and the camera is challenged by all but bright light conditions.
Image quality in sun light is good but when you shoot indoors, low light, or anytime you need a flash you start to see really long shutter times. If you allow the ISO to move up to reduce the shutter times so you don't blur the images you start to get a LOT of noise/grain in the photos. Don't expect to shoot underwater photos of any quality, IMO.
All in all, this is a good choice for a water proof digital that does not look water proof; just understand that you are going to be giving up function and photo quality.
