Pentax Optio A20 digital camera

Pentax has announced the 10 megapixel Optio A20 digital camera. This unit features face recognition AutoFocus and Auto Exposure, auto-tracking AF, high-quality movie mode (640x480 at 30fps), support for SD & SDHC memory cards, red-eye correction (even after shooting), 22MB internal memory, and a USB 2.0 interface.

Look for this model in October 2006 for under $350. Click on the headline of this article for the Pentax press release.

Pentax Introduces Optio A20 Digital Camera

PENTAX Imaging Company has announced the PENTAX Optio A20 featuring 10.0 effective megapixels and three anti-shake functions including Shake Reduction, Blur Reduction High ISO mode, and a Movie Anti-shake all designed to improve image quality.

The Optio M20 also offers new face recognition AutoFocus and Auto Exposure, auto-tracking AF, high-quality movie mode (640x480 at 30fps), support for SD & SDHC memory cards, red-eye correction (even after shooting), 22MB internal memory, and a fast USB 2.0 interface.

The Optio A20 will ship in October 2006 for under US $350.00.

Pentax Optio A20 Feature Highlights

10.0 effective megapixels image quality
The Optio A20 produces clear, high-quality images with 10.0 effective megapixels. The superb level of resolution makes it possible to produce prints with crisp detail even when the photo is enlarged to A#* size. The Optio A20 image sensor is a large 1/1.8 inch CCD with a wide light-sensitive area, which realizes superior tone reproduction, fine textures, and greater noise reduction.
*A3 (paper) size is an International / European paper size established by the ISO (International Standards Organization). It measures 297 x 420 millimeters, or equivalent to 11.69 x 16.54 inches.

High-performance smc PENTAX zoom lens
The Optio A20 is equipped with a high-quality smc PENTAX zoom lens, which is renowned for its clarity and high-contrast image performance. The lens configuration, with seven elements in five groups including three aspherical elements, effectively corrects for spherical aberration. The lenses are coated using a PENTAX-developed technique to reduce ghosting and flare.

Three Anti-Shake functions featured

SR (Shake Reduction)
The SR (Shake Reduction) mechanism, developed by PENTAX, features two gyro sensors that detect the amount of shake and an image sensor (CCD) that moves both horizontally and vertically to reduce the camera shake. The SR mechanism effectively prevents shake at the instant that the shutter is clicked to take a photograph.
Blur Reduction Mode*
In this mode, the camera automatically adjusts the sensitivity to as high as ISO 1600 according to the brightness of the subject. The higher sensitivities permit faster shutter speeds that reduce not only camera shake but also the blurring caused by moving subjects.
*The image recording size is fixed to 5 M (2592 x 1944 pixels) when Blur Reduction mode is selected.
Movie Anti-Shake Function*
Camera shake while taking a movie can also be corrected automatically by software, thanks to an electronic, movie anti-shake function.
Using the movie anti-shake function results in a narrower field of view than during normal recording.
New Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)
A new ASIC supplies the Optio A20 with dramatically more image-processing power. With this ASIC high-speed processing capability, the Optio A20 attains a high level of tone reproduction and color correction based on enormous amounts of actual photo data.

Face Recognition AF & AE for beautiful one-step portraits
The Optio A20 features the new Face Recognition AF & AE* function, which helps ensure bright, beautiful photos of people with perfectly focused faces free of shadows caused by exposing for the background or for the colors of clothing. This useful function automatically detects the position of the subject anywhere in the photo frame and then adjusts the focus and optimizes the exposure for the detected position.
* This camera's Face Recognition AF & AE function uses the Face Tracker face-recognition technology from FotoNation.

Auto-tracking AF continuously focuses on a moving subject
The Optio A20's auto-tracking AF feature continuously focuses on subjects such as kids and pets that move around unpredictably. Since the focus frame automatically follows the movement of the subject inside the photo frame, you can be sure to capture those instantaneous photo opportunities.

High-quality movies with an anti-shake function
The Optio A20 smoothly captures movies at 30 fps (frames per second) at sizes up to 640 x 480 pixels with image quality rivaling camcorders. Since it employs the DivX® (MPEG-4 compliant) movie format,* the Optio A20 can record longer, high-quality movies.
*The Optio A20 is DivX® certified. Movie playback is not supported on Macintosh operating systems.

Auto Picture mode automatically determines the best settings for the shooting conditions
The Auto Picture mode lets the camera automatically determine the shooting conditions for Landscape, Portrait, Night Scene, and Program modes and choose the optimum settings for each subject. This PENTAX original function makes photography a lot easier for users since it eliminates the necessity of making a number of individual settings. A wide range of exposure setting mode in Programmed Exposure mode, the camera automatically determines the shutter speed and aperture. The camera also includes "Shutter-Priority AE" mode and "Manual Exposure" mode, which the user can set freely depending on the effect they are aiming to achieve.

Compact and lightweight body
Despite incorporating a large CCD and the SR system, we managed to create a slimmer and lighter body by using our unique Sliding Lens system* together with high-density mounting technology.
* PENTAX's proprietary lens system: The central lens group slides upward from the optical axis and the front and back lens groups slip under them. Housing the lens in two steps in the lens cylinder reduces overall lens thickness, thereby minimizing body depth.

Supports the SDHC memory card for greater storage of high-quality images and longer movies
The Optio A20 supports two removable storage media: the conventional SD memory cards and the new SDHC memory cards.*
* SD High Capacity; these memory cards have capacities in excess of 2 GB.

Red-eye correction available after shooting
The Optio A20 comes with FotoNation's red-eye correction function, which can correct red-eye problems, a side effect of flash photography, after the photo is taken. With the ability to manually select the area to correct, this function allows for more precise correction of red-eye photos.
Additional Features

Calendar Display function allows image retrieval based on the capture date
Easy image search and arrangement on a PC using a Date Folder function
Green Mode enables the use of fixed, automatic settings when taking a photograph
Digital zooming provides up to 4X magnification
Approximately 22MB of built-in memory
Pan-focus function for effortless snapshots
ACDSee for PENTAX image viewer/image management software
USB 2.0 (HI-SPEED) compatible
Supports PictBridge, DPOF functions, Exif Print, and PRINT Image Matching III
SD Logo and SDHC Logo are trademarks. PENTAX, Optio and smc PENTAX are registered trademarks of PENTAX Corporation. All other brands or product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. This product supports PRINT Image Matching III. PRINT Image Matching enabled digital still cameras, printers and software help photographers to produce images more faithful to their intentions. Some functions are not available on printers that are not PRINT Image Matching III compliant.