Pentax Optio A10 Operation

The Pentax Optio A10's user interface is fairly similar to previous Optio models, although it has been restyled somewhat. Colorful cartoon-like icons that represent scene modes were added a couple generations back and they're still effective. For such a compact camera, there's a fairly good selection of external controls and - for the most part - a concise LCD menu system. The most basic features such as flash, focus mode, drive mode, and zoom are all adjusted via external controls. Exposure modes are selected from the Capture Mode Palette, called up by pressing the Down arrow on the Four-Way Arrow pad when in record mode.

When delving into the LCD menu system, two menus, each three pages long, are available delineated by subject tabs at the top of the screen. The keys of the Four-Way Controller pad scroll through each selection, and the OK button in the center of the pad confirms any changes. Overall, menus were clearly labeled, attractively designed, and efficient to use.

Record Mode Display
By default, the Pentax Optio A10's display shows the central autofocus area along with currently-selected options for shooting mode, flash mode, drive mode, focus mode, shake reduction setting and warning, digital zoom, memory status, storage remaining, battery status, key lock, exposure compensation, date and time, and world time setting. By pressing the central OK button, you can also have it show a more detailed display which adds a live histogram, shutter speed, aperture, image size and quality, white balance, and sensitivity. By pressing the OK button again, you can dispense with everything but gridlines and the focus frame. Another press just offers the focus frame, and another press disables the LCD altogether to save on battery power. Finally, one last press of the OK button returns you to the default normal display mode.

Playback Mode Display
In Playback mode, you can press the wide-angle side of the zoom toggle to show images on the memory card in the form of thumbnails, nine at a time. Pressing it once more takes you to a view of all top-level folders on the flash card. Pressing the telephoto side of the zoom toggle zooms in on the image as much as 8x. Pressing the Display button cycles between Normal Display (which displays the folder number, file number, protect icon, voice memo icon, volume icon, memory status, key lock icon, capture date and time, and four-way controller guide), Histogram + Info (which adds a histogram, image size and quality, white balance, sensitivity, shutter speed and aperture), and No Icons (which shows only the four-way controller guide).

Pentax Optio A10 Modes and Menus

Shooting Modes: In Record mode, the camera can capture still images, movie files, or audio clips. Available Record modes include Green Auto Picture, Program, Night Scene, Movie, Voice Recording, Landscape, Flower, Portrait, Candlelight, Surf & Snow, Sport, Pet, Text, Food, and Frame Composite, and are selected from the on-screen Capture Mode Palette menu called up with the Down arrow portion of the Four-way Arrow Pad. Most of the preset scene modes are fairly self explanatory, though the Frame Composite mode deserves a small mention. In this mode, you can select from a series of three available image borders, and you can download additional borders from a computer. Playback mode, where you can browse recorded still images, movie files, and audio clips, is activated by pressing the Playback button.

Record Menu:

Setup Menu:

Playback Mode Palette: Listed below are the options that come up when you press the Mode button in Playback mode.