Pentax Optio W30 Digital Camera

First let me say that yes the waterproofing works! I tried taking underwater shots in my aquarium as I have never gotten good shots of my cichlids from outside the tank and wanted to test the waterproof claim while in warranty. Great shots! Worked perfectly! The shutter button takes a bit to get used to, having to press it halfway down till it focuses but otherwise it's easy to use. This camera is pretty much point and shoot in auto mode. There are enough modes that anyone can find one to meet their needs. If you wait 2 seconds on each selected mode it displays an explanation of the ability's or uses of that mode. It has ev settings for brightness and great settings for the flash. It also accepts sdhc cards. I have a 4 gig card in mine which allows 1200+ 7meg pics or up to 3800+ 2meg pics to be taken. The on-board memory seems small for the pixel size of the camera but is adequate for most everyday shots. You can also set the time your shot is displayed after capture. I set mine to zero so it takes less time between shots. You can just press the replay button to look at them if you want to. If in a flash environment you can time the replay to go off when the flash is recharged with a little experimenting with the time. It seems to take around 1 1/2 -2 seconds to recharge the flash. It has a li ion battery and charger which limits being able to replace batteries in the field unless you purchase spares. It has a cable for outputting pics or video to a device with component video and audio jacks. It only has one audio jack though. Also included is a usb cable and software with album and editing software but when using XP all you need to do is plug it in and turn it on and the software with XP will recognize it and allow you to download pics and vid files easily. I've never used the software that comes with it so I can't comment on it. We have two of these cameras now and they output an excellent picture with vibrant color reproduction. The lens has a glass covering to waterproof and protect it so you must be careful not to scratch it. There is no view finder which makes it difficult at times to take outdoor and night shots. All in all though if you're looking for an inexpensive dustproof/waterproof camera to take to the beach or snorkling this is it! You'll be delighted at the clarity of the underwater pics and the colors it takes. My fish never looked better...lol. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand the menu's and everything is pretty much self explanatory. Set the mode and shoot away and auto makes it even easier. You can manually set the ISO or set it to automatically assign and shoot within a certain set range of ISO's from 64 to 3200. In auto mode it uses an ISO of 400 if not assigned a range. It has manual focus and a few other auto focus settings such as macro, pan and infinity. It also has a setting for focus limiting and focus area for wide or narrow focus. For 250 bucks it's quite a camera for dusty or wet conditions and can output a poster size print to your PC or printer. It has pictbridge capability built in for output to pictbridge enabled devices also, you have to set it though. If you or a loved one is heading for Iraq or Afghanistan it's a good camera to take along with a few sd cards to record your experiences, throw in a 4 gig card and take 1200 or more pics or take vids at 320 or 640 pixels at 15 or 30 FPS with autofocus and audio and mail the card home to be emptied and returned to you. Great way to record vids w/audio so the wife/hubby and kids will have them if the unspeakable happens. It also has a feature where you can interval record vids automatically after setting the start delay and record interval and overall time. I would recommend this camera as an inexpensive alternative to the olympus waterproof if you don't need the 30 ft depth capability of the olympus. Although I have read that pentax tests these cameras at depths greater than 30 ft with no ill effects but will only guarantee 5 ft. For the price it is a feature packed waterproof/dustproof camera that anyone can use.