First of all you said: "Even though this is a Pentax list this isn't the normal subject of the list, so feel free to reply to me directly."
Why do you say this? What is the "normal" subject of this list if it isn't all things Pentax? Anyway, on to your question about the 33WR... A friend bought the Olympus Stylus 300 for a 10,000 mile solo motorcycle ride from Washington, DC to the Artic Ocean (Prudhoe Bay Alaska) and back. He liked it for the following reasons: 1. it is small and easily fit in a slim pocket of his riding jacket. 2. It has a "clamshell" cover to protect the lens. 3. the batteries lasted a surprising time (he charged them once and didn't have to charge them again until he got back after several hundred pictures! very little flash usage). 4. The water resistance factor. If the 33WR was available when he left I would have recommended it (Pentax loyalist) but it is bigger and doesn't have the clamshell cover so he would not have bought it. BTW, my friend did the whole trip on a Kawasaki single cylinder on-road/off-road bike (klr650 I think) Christian ----- Original Message ----- From: "alex wetmore" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 1:07 PM Subject: Pentax Optio 33WR > I'm looking for a pocketable digital camera to use as a P&S for when > we aren't using the *ist D and that my wife is comfortable using. > It's first trip will be the beach in Mexico and I'll probably carry > it on a lot of bike rides in a sweaty jersey pocket, so the new > generation of water resistant cameras is tempting. That leaves me > with two options: Pentax 33WR, or Olympus Stylus 300/400 (same > camera, different resolutions). > > Has anyone on here used the Pentax 33WR, and what do you think? > There are few reviews of this camera so it is hard to find good > tests of the image resolution and other particulars. > > Both of these cameras are almost strictly P&S with no manual controls. > They both use scene modes though, which are almost as good as manual > controls sometimes if you understand what the scene modes are doing. > The Pentax is better here because it has more scene modes, manual > focus, and histogram display. > > My worry with the Pentax is that it has a tiny little lens. The > samples that I've seen are okay, but not great. There is no lens cap, > which means that I'll always be cleaning condensation off of it. > > The Olympus lens is marginally slower (f3.1-f5.2 vs f2.8-f4.9), but > seems to be more substaintial. It does pretty well in resolution > tests compared to other P&S digital cameras, with the exception of > corner resolution. > > Pentax appears to have longer battery life and uses standard AA > batteries compared to the Olympus's propreitary rechargable. It > also uses the more common SD memory compared to the Olympus Xd. > > Anyway, I'd like to hear comments from anyone who has used one. Even > though this is a Pentax list this isn't the normal subject of the > list, so feel free to reply to me directly. > > alex >
