anoisette

Before I left for my South East Asia backpacking adventure I carefully researched what kind of camera to get. My number one priority was to travel light, so a digital SLR was out of the question. I decided that what I wanted was a small and light point and shoot that would produce good quality pictures. There are tons of cameras on the market that meet that criteria, so I stepped it up a notch. I also wanted a camera that I could use to take pictures under water without a separate (expensive) waterproof housing.

After researching carefully, I settled on the Pentax Option W10. At the time it was their latest waterproof model. The newest one now is the w30, which of course has many improvements including longer underwater time (up to 2 hours).

Just under 2000 shots later, I have to say that i am very happy with my choice. On land the camera takes good quality pictures, and also takes surprisingly good macro shots. Under water, I’ve used it to take pictures and video while snorkeling in Malaysia and also in Australia on the Great Barrier Reef. I’ve also taken it snowboarding in the Japanese Alps without having to worry about dropping it in the snow. It’s small, light, waterproof (and sand proof!) and did what it was supposed to do: let me take pictures. It has a large LCD screen, but no viewfinder. However I didn’t find that to be a problem for me at all.

And the best part is that on top of being all the camera it should be, I was also able to use it as a pocket watch and alarm clock. It has a very useful clock function that allows you to check the time, without actually having to power on the camera. And it has an alarm clock function as well, which was super useful for the days when I had to wake up at a certain time to catch a train or bus or whatever. Those additional features were really useful while traveling, and made it unnecessary for me to pack or wear a watch or portable alarm clock.

A couple of weeks into my trip I accidentally dropped my camera down onto some sharp rocks while overlooking a beautiful beach in Thailand. The camera suffered some scratches but seems to be otherwise unaffected.

So all in all, the Pentax Optio W10 (or newer model) is a great point and shoot camera to consider if you’re shopping around for a new camera for an upcoming trip.