Pentax Optio X
Pentax has just announced two subcompact digital cameras, The Optio S5i and the Optio X. While the S5i seems to be very much the same as its predecessor the S4i but with a 5MPix CCD instead, the X is a very interesting model with a twisting body much like Nikon’s.
However, like similar Nikon’s, the X suffers from one major flaw - the lens in on the left side rather than the shutter button side of the body. This problem is what made the similar designed Sony Camcorders not as convenient to use as the Sharp’s where their lenses were on the different side of the body.
The problem is that when one composes a shot, like other regular bodied cameras, it is very natural for one to move the right hand and point the lens toward the subject, but not otherwise when the lens axis is twisted away from it’s normal position. Any photographing device that I have tried or owned with the twisting lens part separated from the shutter button body, be it camcorders, DV’s, PDA’s such as the Sony Clie, or any moving lens cam cell phones, were all very awkward to compose shots. Yet I love my dad’s Sharp DV and my Nikon Coolpix 5700 and the like where their lenses are on the shutter button side of the body (tilt and flip LCD panel in the case of Coolpix 5700).
That said, the 18mm thickness of the Optio X might be enough to make it a very attractive DC to carry around for daily use. Perhaps the problem isn’t so bad for some as I too was able to live with the Coolpix 995, which I still have, for quite some time.
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