Quirks of Pentax Optio WP90

Got this camera recently and, as with the Olympus 1030SW, images are not as good as the non-waterproof Opto 43WR I bought 6 yrs ago.



But I noticed a few things that seem to yield better image quality:


  1. The wide-angle/short focal length end of the range is way better than the tele end or even the mid-range (and I’m referring only to the range doable with optical zoom…no digital zoom).


  2. Bright sunshine gives pretty decent shots, other conditions rather poor (blurring or very shallow depth of field). Not exactly surprising.


  3. On a foggy day, I took several photos of the same subject with standard auto exposure, then with exposure compensation set to -0.3. The latter shot was, of course, a bit darker. It also took on an extremely noticeable blue color cast compared with the “standard” exposure.



    Any other owners of this model notice similar quirks? Got advice on how to deal with them?

Quirks
Last year I bought a Optio W60 and was very disappointed with the image quality. Other than being small and waterproof the camera is a zero. I have since replaced it with a Panasonic Lumix FZ 35 which takes fabulous pictures with a longer zoom I just keep it within easy reach in my waterproof deck bag.

upgrades
A lot of the “upgrades” to digital cameras are software rewrites that boost the mega pixel ratings. This doesn’t always mean a better image. Megapixels is the easiest to understand and market, people are finally catching on and looking at the optical zoom, actual image quality, etc…

Still using my 43W and thinking about the Panasonic