Slow to average speed for a consumer camera.

The Pentax Optio A10's performance ranges from average to quite slow, beginning with a sluggish start-up time for an average zoom-equipped camera. Shutter response at wide angle and telephoto zoom settings is quite slow, with lag times of 1.36 and 1.64 seconds respectively. (1.64 seconds can seem like an eternity if that's how long your camera takes to snap a shot after you've pressed the shutter button.) "Prefocus" times (half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure) are better at 0.30 second, though still not as fast as many competing cameras. Shot-to-shot cycle times are also slow, at about 2.8 seconds for large/fine JPEGs, though the camera can capture frames continuously at this rate without pausing, with a sufficiently fast card. Continuous-mode speed isn't stellar either, at only 0.47 frame/second, but again, the camera captures frames at this rate without having to slow down to wait for the memory card. Flash recycling time is about average, at about six seconds. Download speeds are where the camera's performance picks back up, with fast enough speeds to eliminate the need for a separate card reader. Bottom line, the Pentax A10 is sluggish overall, and not a good choice for action shots or photographing small children. But if you're purposes are mainly travel shots and family pictures (of the posed variety), then the A10 will perform just fine.

Battery
Modest battery life with the LiIon battery pack.

The Pentax Optio A10 uses a single LiIon battery for power, and comes with a battery and charger.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions. This is a very modest battery life by current standards: We strongly recommend picking up a spare battery and keeping it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Storage
The Pentax Optio A10 accepts SD/MMC cards, though no card is included; 24MB RAM is built into the camera.

We strongly recommend buying large capacity SD/MMC memory card, to give yourself extra space for extended outings. (These days, 256 MB is a good trade-off between cost and capacity.)