Pentax Optio Wg-1

[Josh Calhoun]

anybody ever owned this camera? is so what did you think. i am picking one out for my thru hike in 2013

[bfayer]

I have one.

Light weight, battery lasts a long time, easy to use.
Pictures are so so, nothing to write home about.

There is no lens cover so you need to keep it in a case to protect it.

Took it whitewater rafting and the water did not effect it at all.

Macro focus is great. Low light conditions are a challenge.

The WG2 has just been released, and may fix some of the issues with the WG1 but I don't know.


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[Josh Calhoun]

i saw the #2, i dont know if the price increase is enought to make me pay for the small improvements to the camera. do you have to use the rechargable batteries that come with it? if not how long does a set of regular batteries last?

[Velvet Gooch]

My decades old Pentax K1000 is still going strong. Just a nod to Pentax

[bfayer]

My decades old Pentax K1000 is still going strong. Just a nod to Pentax

I have an old K1000 I just passed on to my daughter. I saved up forever to buy that thing back in 1979. Great camera.

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[verasch]

Of the major waterproof, shock resistant models out there, customers at my wife's camera store here in DC seem to prefer this camera. I went to take a look at the wg-2 and at first glance it seems to be encased in cheap flimsy plastic. It has a futuristic mold on the camera, similar to those lightweight disposable wareproof cameras you can still buy at walgreens.

However, the grip is much more stable than my much older and somewhat heavier Olympus SW-10 (This camera weighs about 60 grams according to dpreview). The odd body construction makes it easier to grasp with one hand to shoot and wouldn't seem to pop out of my potentially sweaty hand.

The pricepoint is about average compared to the nikon, olympus or canon; coming in at about $350. I didn't have a chance to shoot with it yet, but I can't imagine it being any different than other p&s cameras in this range.

It probably has such a high megapixel (13) to compensate for the CMOS senser in low light, high noise propensity situations. the reason they probably went with the CMOS is because the CMOS senser uses less power, extending your battery life. If you test it, see if the MP is a good balance for the senser size based on the amount of noise it generates in low light. The high MP could be bad since the senser is small, as more pixel information could overcrowd the senser.

If you are looking for something in this price range, it seems like a structurally sound device, despite the chinsy plastic molding. I've heard it is pretty crush resistant, and other photographers have said they just throw it in their bags at the bottom of all their other camera crap. Also, it comes in red, which might be easier to find if dropped.

Wow, third post in 6 years on a hiking forum and i post in the electronics forum. That says a lot.

[bfayer]

i saw the #2, i dont know if the price increase is enought to make me pay for the small improvements to the camera. do you have to use the rechargable batteries that come with it? if not how long does a set of regular batteries last?

It uses a proprietary battery but a second does not cost much

The battery on mine has yet to die on me, I charge it when I remember, so I can't tell you the actual life.

This does bring up another issue, the charger is huge for what it does. Its about 5 times larger than it needs to be. Not that heavy just bulky.

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[kayak karl]

i have the wg-1 and w-90. after other cameras freezing, drowning and dropping to their demise i switch to w-90 2 years ago. just got the wg-1. are durable and battery like is good. always used Pentax back in the 60's put drifted away after college. great for the kayak and rain.
http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/45496/2550916510104593866S425x425Q85.jpg

[bfayer]

16247

Photo credit: http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com

This is what you get in the box. You can see the size of the charger in relation to the camera and battery. This is not an issue for me because I am not a thru hiker and I don't carry the charger. Since the battery lasts so long, you could just put the charger in a bounce box and carry a second battery.

I like the camera as an all weather point and shoot, but if you are a die hard photo nut you will be disappointed in the pictures. There is only so much they can do with a tiny lens covered in plexiglass.

We gave my daughter a Nikon D3100 for her birthday and if you take pictures of the same thing side by side with the WG-1 you can really tell the difference. Of course the Nikor lens on the D3100 weighs more and is larger than the whole WG-1, and I don't think I would take the D3100 whitewater rafting.

[WIAPilot]

I just bought the new WG2 that came out, as it was recommended by a really great AT photographer. It's a good camera, but I added protective film for the screen. It light and pretty rugged.

[Tree Nerd]

Amazing Camera. I love this thing. I just picked up the WG1 about 6 months ago off ebay. It was suppose to be light used but I dont think it was ever used at all, everything was still sealed and I got it for $120. Anyway, the camera has a lot of awesome features, it is easy use for technotarded people, but allows everything to be manually adjusted to accommodate artistic people. Some of the functions are awesome. My top ten pro's are:

1&2) self assist and smile assist functions. When facing the camera, the LED lights tell you where your located in the frame while smile assist takes pictures if it senses that you or people your taking pictures of are smiling.
3) Macro function. The LED lights make the lighting amazing on pictures as close as 1CM!
4) Self Timer. The LED lights on the front count down to the time so there is no guessing of when or if it took the picture.
5) Panoramic. The camera allows you to fuse three pictures together for a panoramic view. Its kinda hard to get them just right, but I dont have any major problems with it.
6) No lens cover. I do a lot of ATV riding and racing and I no longer have to worry about dust clogging the lens covers.
7) Adventure proof. Im hard on everything I have and this has surprisingly held up to me.
8) Versatility. The camera accommodates technotarded to completely custom photos.
9) Video. It takes surprisingly good videos.
10) Looks. It looks pretty cool.

As far as picture quality goes, I dont have a problem with it. They dont look great on the camera screen but once you upload them to your computer they look amazing! It also helps if you know how to take full advantage of the cameras features.

I highly recommend you read the entire owners manual. This camera has a lot of functions and to take full advantage of the camera you need to read the manual.

I also recommend that you turn the picture quality down to 5M. This cuts down on memory space and I think the pictures look better.....I wouldn't keep it on 14M unless your going to print a picture to the size of a small car.

[Tree Nerd]

P.S. I also recommend the Mountainsmith Cyber II camera case. It straps to the shoulder strap of backpacks. A Medium size cyber II fits the WG1 and 2.