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Pentax W60

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	10.10 Megapixels
	5.00x zoom
	2.5 inch LCD

The Pentax Optio W60 digital camera combines a ten megapixel CCD image sensor with a 5x optical zoom lens in a compact, pocket-friendly body designed to take whatever the elements deliver. Capable of being used underwater at depths of up to 13 feet for as long as two hours, and also able to survive operation in temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 degrees Celsius), the Pentax W60 looks to be a worthy successor to last year's design, with a number of changes in many areas.

As compared to the W30, the Pentax W60 is just a couple of millimeters thicker and taller, but almost a full centimeter less wide for a more traditional point'n'shoot shape. About 15 grams has been trimmed off the weight in the process, yet Pentax has still managed to cram in a 5x optical zoom lens as previously mentioned - much more versatile than the 3x zoom of the W30. There's both a little extra at the wide end for a useful 28mm wide angle, plus a creditable 140mm telephoto to get you closer to the action. On the downside, the new lens is just a little less bright than on the previous camera. Where the W30 had a 7 megapixel 1/2.5" CCD, the Pentax Optio W60 instead uses a 10 megapixel 1/2.3" type - the use of a slightly larger image sensor perhaps somewhat helping counter the less bright lens and the increase in resolution.

As with the W30, the Pentax Optio W60 forgoes any form of optical viewfinder in favor of solely a 2.5" LCD display. This is the same size as that used on the previous camera (and pretty much the bottom end of LCD sizes seen on competing cameras), but the resolution has been doubled to 230,000 pixels - so still a noticeable improvement here. Other changes include a new 720p (1280x720 pixel) HD movie mode, although the increase in movie quality comes at a decrease in framerate to just 15 frames per second. At VGA or below, the Pentax W60 can offer 30 frames per second movies. There's also more built-in memory ( 36.4MB instead of 21.9MB), a new battery type (the D-LI78 instead of the D-LI63), a slight increase to the strength of the digital zoom (5.7x) and playback zoom (10x), and a slight decrease in the fastest shutter speed - now 1/1500 instead of 1/2000 second.

The Pentax Optio W60 ships in the US market from July 2008, priced at US$329.95.