One problem - OUT OF STOCK!
Great price + free shipping is good, but not if they don’t have product.
No telling when you’d get one. At least these guys mention they’re out of them up front on the product page and remove the order link. Lot’s of online outfits aren’t so clear, and most will take orders anyway (It’s one of the most common complaints about merchants like this - second being non-US grey market product).
If not in a hurry - sign up for notification. If you want it now - others have them. I’ll just make sure I get $34 dolars extra use during the time I’d be waiting for a cheaper one. 
1 gig memory card was also $13 less at Beach, which at least makes up for the shipping (BTW - not a “recommendation” for Beach - my first order with them).
wow
that second shot is fantastic.
Thankyou for the
Pictures and tips on sources! I JUST bought an Olympus SP 500 UZ. I needed the 6 megapixels and two close up modes for photographing my jewelry and online show applications. So far I am thrilled with it! But I can tell I NEED a WPi!
I may be waiting a bit, but one is definitely in my near future....Thankyou...and keep the shopping tips and photos coming!
The thought of sticking a camera underwater and taking a picture is rather scary and exciting....
The Optio WP’s offer great Macro
For shooting close ups and your jewerly. Love the little bugger almost as much as my big Canon DLSR and 6 EOS lenses!
Shame on me for
not looking into it sooner!!! It could have been just right for everything…Is it full manual control by choice as well???I went with what the local store had and was near a deadline…Wpi will be in my future soon…
mini tripods
I haven’t used a mini tripod with Pentax Optio yet, but I used it with my older Canon PowerShot in a waterproof case: http://users.frii.com/uliasz/wayfarer/notes_video.htm
It’s how I was making all my early video clips.
If I don’t find some liquid water for paddling I will be writing more photo/paddling tips. The next one will be probably about mounting your camera/camcorder/helmet cam on a boat. I have tried a few solutions.
How do you set the shutter speed?
Is there a shutter-priority mode? or ?
How do you set the shutter speed?
Is there a shutter-priority mode? or ?
$80 off … Epson $50 rebate AND the $30
… if you purchase one of 10 or so printers and any 3+ megapixel camera on one reciept from one store before 1/6/06:
http://www.powermax.com/pdf/epson_camera_bundle.pdf
Epson requires COPIES of the receipt and UPC, etc.,
Pentax requires the actual UPC and receipt:
http://www.pentaximaging.com/files/scms_docs//WP_WPi_Rebate_Coupon_Final.pdf
Some boatertalk folks use …
little pieces of soft pack towels … they can be wrung out and used to wipe off drops. Here’s one example, but I bet you could find a simlar one locally or for less:
http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&productId=47842022&parent_category_rn=4500614&vcat=REI_SEARCH
BEWARE OF REBATE OFFERS FROM PENTAX
I posted here saying what a great deal I got with the rebate for the Optio. Well, I was just contacted by Pentax saying that they will only honor the rebate for certain “UPC codes only”, of which there is no indication of which codes are acceptable on the rebate form. How’s that for a scam?
Pentax, another company who’s products I will never purchase again. Good luck to the rest of you who fell for the rebate scam.
Vince
thanks - good idea
I already have a couple pack towels, so I think I’ll snip off a small patch from one that I can keep in my pfd pocket. Thanks for the idea!
Not sure about the WP
Like I said, I’m not sure if the WP has that feature directly or indirectly. My other digital p-n-s is a Fuji that has direct control of shutter speed.
But for my Optio WR, which is also duck-proof but not a dive camera. It has a feature call ‘sensitivity’ that can be used indirectly to control shutter speed. It’s basically changing the equivelant ‘film speed’, which indirectly changes the shutter speed when shooting at the same light. I set them at max ‘sensitivity’ when I need to shoot something that moves at twilight. (In bright sunlight, there’s no need to bump the sensitivity, or you’ll over-expose).
Other models may have another option, which is sometimes called “shooting mode”, which may have icons depicting sport, landscape, etc. Choose the ‘sport’ or whatever icon. It’s the layman’s term for shutter priority, from what I understand.
These are tricks I learn in the days of film point-n-shoot, by ‘forcing’ the film speed within the exposure range of the film to achieve something similar. For digital, setting the higher ‘speed’ doesn’t seem to hurt the resolution of the picture in any noticable way.
Always read the fine print
Personally - I think rebates are stupid - but we all know why they do them: Suckers who are lured by the “deal” - who don’t read the fine print - and who often miss the time window or don’t even send them in.
Still - I would never hold this against Pentax or limit my purchase option because of a company trying to match it’s competitors or generate product interest with dumb stuff like this. I’m amazed this camera has any rebates at all. It’s a very hot item.
My least favorite are the retailer rebates offered directly by the stores (not mfgr) and STILL make you send them in instead of instant in store credit.
shooting movies with Pentax Optio WP/i
I was shooting a lot of movies with my older digital camera, Canon PowerShot S40, but I haven’t tried that mode of shooting with Pentax Optio WP yet.
I was nicely surprised by movies posted by WaterTribe Chief, Steve Isaac, from an attempt to sail his Dreamcatcher canoe from Everglades City to Dry Tortugas. The quality of both video and audio is pretty good, at least for on line presentations.
http://users.frii.com/uliasz/weblog/C1310134656/E20051215165931/index.html