The video function is definitely not a gimick. You should be able to get about 20mins of high quality VGA video with sound on a 512MB card. It may not seem like a lot but the video is amazing. You can drop the quality or size of the video for more capacity but I haven't tried that yet.
Also, all the functions are available during video sudh as zoom, macro focusing, etc. The stills are pretty good (what I'd expect from a Pentax digicam). The lens is SMC and has some real reach and is pretty fast on the long end (for a digicam) at f3.5 (380mm equiv FOV for 35mm) 2 issues: 1. I'm not used to the funky handle yet. It's gonna take some time; 2. I'm gonna lose the lens cap. More later Christian -----Original Message----- From: Bruce Dayton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Jul 14, 2004 12:38 PM To: Bill Owens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: New toy Bill, I'm curious about how it records when doing the video. Does it just write to the memory card? About how many minutes can be stored on the card? What about audio? Guess I am trying to determine if it can be used as a video camera or if it is more gimmicky like the video modes on most digital still cameras. Bruce Wednesday, July 14, 2004, 9:00:25 AM, you wrote: BO> Sent this awhile ago, but haven't seen it show up yet. Apologies if this is BO> a duplicate post: BO> While visiting a local camera shop yesterday, the wife and I found out BO> they'd just that morning received their first shipment of 2 Optio MX's. The BO> wife okayed the purchase (probably so she could have HER Optio S back), so BO> we walked out with one of them. BO> My first impression is that it is quite a camera for the price. Full auto, BO> Tv, Av and full manual, flash compensation and flash power adjustment, auto BO> bracketing and 30 fps Mpeg 4 video. BO> Anybody else have one, and what's your impression? BO> Bill
