Pentax Optio E70L review

Today's upmarket compact cameras pack in more pixels than you'll ever need, and now even the budget models are joining the megapixel arms race.

The E70L's 10-megapixel sensor was in last year's premium models, and was responsible for a notable slump in image quality in 2008. Otherwise, this is a no-frills camera with a plain plastic body, low-resolution screen, 3x zoom and AA batteries.

The menu system is a departure from those of previous Pentax cameras. Its horizontal rather than vertical scrolling made it harder to jump to a particular setting, but the camera is generally easy to use. Perhaps that's because there are so few features to complicate its operation. Its only notable feature is smile detection, which captures a frame automatically when the subject smiles. On other cameras this mode often requires the subject to perform a maniacal toothy snarl, but here, a beaming smile was enough to trigger the shutter. It's more of a gimmick than a practical feature, but we still find it a fun novelty.

The E70L performs respectably, taking around 2.4 seconds to switch on and shoot, and a similar time between shots. However, the shutter button must be half-pressed to focus before being fully pressed to take a photo. Quickly pressing the shutter button all the way down resulted in out-of-focus shots. This is a serious flaw in a point-and-shoot camera, as many people won't know the half-press trick. Even after using it for a few days, it's easy to bungle shots taken in a hurry.

Then again, even if you ignore this issue, there are better cameras available for the price. The E70L's images didn't display any major faults and in bright light they bordered on excellent, but Nikon's similarly priced L19 produced notably smoother, sharper photos indoors. If you can find remaining stock, Pentax's Optio M50 is better than both models and has a 5x zoom and Li-ion battery.