Pentax Optio P70 review

The P70 might be the second-cheapest camera on test, but it surprised us in two ways.

First, it's extremely good looking - better looking, arguably, than some of the more expensive cameras here, with its shiny white finish and 2.2cm depth hiding its budget positioning well. The second surprise was its image quality. At low ISOs, it challenged cameras £100 more expensive: we got rich, accurate colours with good detail even when subjected to punishing 100% zooms. It did a good job on faraway subjects as well: Jpeg compression was kept under control. We also noted a good level of detail in objects such as brickwork, which heavy-handed compression often leaves a muddy red. This was at the expense of a fair amount of sharpening, but we'd have no problem printing the P70's pictures at sizes larger than 6 x 4in.

But while the P70's price and image quality are competitive, there are other areas that betray its price. It might look good, but it feels unconvincing in the hand. It has cheap-feeling, clacky buttons, although we don't doubt its ability to take a few knocks.

Worse, we encountered a number of performance issues. It took 2.4 seconds to start in our tests, and had a horrible shot-to-shot time of 4.3 seconds. And in its continuous-shooting mode, it could manage a maximum of four shots at a rate of just one every two seconds. We also sometimes found ourselves staring at a 'Data being recorded' message, which would leave the P70 unusable for as long as 10 or 11 seconds at a time.

Features are also a little thin on the ground: you don't get manual shutter or aperture control, although manual white balance is a potentially useful inclusion.

It's a toss-up. The P70 takes great pictures and looks good, and its price makes it very appealing, not least because it has a 12-megapixel sensor. If saving money and taking good pictures are your priorities, this is a decent choice, but serious photographers should beware the lack of performance.