Marginal Waterproof snapshot camera

I bought the Pentax Optio W30 because at the time it was the best reviewed waterproof compact digital. A lot of my recreation revolves around the water and a camera that can tolerate spray, wetness and an occasional swim is high on my priority list. Before the Pentax I had a waterproof Sony Cybershot (unfortunately a model that is only sold in Europe) and despite a fixed lens that camera took phenomenal pictures both on land and underwater. So I figured with 7.1 MPs, 3x optical zoom and the latest technology the Optio would take really great pictures. Wrong.

I have yet to get a really satisfying picture from this camera. They are always washed out and need color correction in Photoshop, the autofocus is slow and pictures are frequently blurry, they never seem to be crisp looking but are particularly bad in low light. The LCD screen gets washed out in bright light and with no true viewfinder your stuck just pointing the camera in the general direction of the picture you want and crossing your fingers.

Also the battery runs down quickly when not in use and the bulky charger is a pain...be careful to insert the battery the right way or you may think you're charging when you're not.

Yes, it's waterproof. So if that's more important to you than image quality you may be satisfied with this camera, but I have fond it disappointing.