Pentax Optio S5i Digital Camera

it has a viewfinder. not often found now in these type of camera but in many light conditions a viewfinder is essential

I bought this camera to take to the italian lakes and Venice. What can I say, for such a tiny thing it takes fantastic pictures. The quality is outstanding, and with all the different feature modes, you always get the right picture. The low level light performance is great, even better than my digital SLR.
In summary, I cannot recommend this camera enough.

This is a nice little camera - easy to use, small and light enough to carry anywhere. The macro facility is particularly good and the picture quality is above average for a 5 megapixel compact.
Even with the Pentax underwater case it is small enough to be useful when diving - in both macro mode and near the surface where the light is fine. For further underwater use with less light it needs an additional flash and it will never be a serious underwater snapper's choice - but what do you expect for the price?
On the downside the screen does suffer from reflection problems and (like many compacts) the shutter delay can cause you to miss the occasional shot.
But overall I like it.

Over the years I've used cameras of various types from basic to top range 35mm SLR units, progressing onto the 'digital' age where I've also had the use of both digi' slr, and compact 'point and shoot'cameras such as the S5i.

'Pentax' have a reputation of producing top quality items, and I've found my S5i' ( bought via ebay !), to be capable of taking brilliant quality pictures, ( 5 Mp. is more than enough for most occasions unless you need 'poster sized prints!), and it has both a large lcd viewing screen and a separate viewfinder, also linked to the zoom facility, for very sunny days when nearly all Lcd screens are rendered unusable !

It's smart, brushed aluminium casing and extremely compact size makes it comfortable, yet easy to use and the docking station is very useful as it can not only charge a battery in the camera, but, in addition a 'spare' battery in the dock itself. - A spare battery is a really useful addition to have though !!

Used in its 'simple' mode, with the 'on screen' options, anyone can take gr8 photo's, but, in addition, using the menu options, the more adventurous can not only satisfy their 'technical' needs, but can also 'edit' the resulting frames in the camera before downloading and printing or storing the results.

Better value and easier to use than its successor the Svi,(I've used both!), and for size, quality and general capabilities, the S5i will take a lot of beating ! - HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!

A superb compact camera thats small enough to carry at all times. Pentax lenses are legendary quality and 5 mega pixels really is enough for most purposes.

I bought this camera bacause I wanted to take close-up pictures of the items I intended to sell on eBay.

Pentax has an excellent reputation and I had a Pentax analogue camera previously and it gave great service with excellent quality pictures for many years so I had a positive bias in favour of this particular manufacturer.

It was in the mid-price Pentax range and had many feature while the online reviews indicated that it was good value for the amateur like myself and they seller had excellent positive feedback.

It does the job as indicated, however, I must admit that I was somewhat disappointed with the quality of close-up shots which seems to vary considerably. I might be able to improve on this when I have more experience of operating it but the automatic focus is unreliable.
Still, for the price I paid (around 115 euros) I couldn't really have expected much better.