Digital Cameras Are Too Cheap!

Digital Cameras Are Too Cheap!

I really can’t tell the reason but prices of compact digital cameras are going down all the time. The one I got curious about is Pentax Optio RZ-10. I happen to have a chance to play with it for awhile.

Here in Japan, Optio RZ-10 costs about only $125. I was interested in this camera since it came out.
I’ve been a Pentax camera user ever since I started taking photos. As a matter of fact, my very first SLR was Pentax auto110.

Anyway, RZ-10.

RZ-10 comes with…

  • 28mm – 280mm lens - Yes, x10 OPTICAL zoom!!
  • Dual Shake Reduction
  • 1cm macro
  • Burst Shooting of up to 40 images
  • Digital filters

And, it is so compact!! I’ve compared it with a cigarette box.
RZ-10 size
Yes, it’s almost as big/small as a cigarette box. And it weighs only about 178g including a battery and a SD. iPhone4 is about 137g. You can put this camera in your pocket and walk around.

RZ-10 sampleRZ-10 is not great in dark places and when ISO is high, you can see the colour noise.

I shot this indoor with only sunlight. As you can see the colour noise is pretty strong(I reduced the original size of 4288*3216 into half).

Aperture : f/3.9
Shutter speed : 1/200
ISO : 800

In most case, people’d use flash before going for the higher ISO, so I think this wasn’t fare fore RZ-10.

RZ-10 Macro sample1cm macro, on the other hand was pretty amazing.
Could you tell what this is? It’s the cover of my iPhone. I didn’t use a tripod and since the shutter speed is very slow, there’s some hand shake going on but isn’t it interesting?

Aperture : f/3.9
Shutter speed : 1/15
ISO : 800

RZ-10 macro sampleI’m sure I’ll be playing with this 1cm macro if I had a time.
I shot a chess set at my work.

I was eager to try out the digital filters but the time ran out unfortunately.

Since RZ-10 is so small, the use for it is rather limited but within that, it is a good camera.
About a year ago, I was looking for a compact digital camera at this price range, and all I found was GE A1455. I was pretty amazed by the fact it takes decent photos. Compared to that, RZ-10 does not only takes decent photos but is something you can play with.


Optio RZ10
PENTAX Optio RZ10 @AMAZON

If you are looking for a “point & shoot” compact digital camera, this is something I recommend!

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