Reviews for Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact Camera1.6" LCD - 3x Optical Zoom - 2304 x 1728 Image - 320 x 240 Video - MPN: 18283 
By member:
rmezza
- Oct 17, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Size/Weight, Image Quality, Battery Life Weakness: None This camera has exceeded my expectations. It takes sharp, well focused pictures and the menu system is easy to read and very intuitive. Battery life is excellent. I would recommend at least a 256MB memory card. Although the camera is small, it's controls are very easy to operate. The only drawback may be the location of the power button (next to the shutter control). 100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
jackschath
- Oct 27, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Very small, very low weight and amazing features and quality for it's size. Even the battery time before recharging is amazing. It is really nice to have 11mb built-in memory. Handling is comfortable. Weakness: Covers seems to be flumsy, but the future will show if it is really a disadvantage. So far I have not discovered any other possible weakness to be reported. The Optio S4, even offers the oportunity of a recharge adapter for recharging the battery without removing it, but this one has to be purchased separatly. 100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
bro_hof
- Oct 23, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Image quality, size, battery life, durability. Weakness: Night time picture quality, cheap feeling battery door, shutter button and power button are too close together. I have had so many comments on this camera from anyone that sees me pull it out of my pocket in an Altoids tin. It's a real eye catcher and has the picture quality and features to back up its appearance. It has an improved menu button on the back compared to the Optio S and takes great pictures in automatic mode. The only complaint I have is how difficult it is to take a picture at night that does not come out fuzzy or have the background lights bleed together on the picture. Great camera for its size and would definetly recommend to anyone that wants to take their camera everywhere with them and take lots of high quality photos. 100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
saferoth
- Dec 2, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Size, 4Mp, 3X Zoom, Weakness: Noise at low light The smallest 4MP camera. Can carry anywhere you want. 80% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
drillnfill
- Nov 13, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: small size. light weight as well... Weakness: On and off switch too close to shutter button. During the first day of usage, this camera already does not respond at one point and "freeze up"... :( Having doubt about the reliability.. I am very impressed about this camera for the small size and weight. It really does fit into the mint can and goes everywhere. 80% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
torring
- Nov 26, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Very fast. Light weight and VERY small. Cheap. Good quality pictures. Good focus. Lots of options. Very costomizable. Very good battery life. No nonsense design. Hot shoe. IR Remote control (optional) Weakness: Had som problems with auto white balance. Flash a little weak. No man. control over shutter or apperture. Noise apparent at iso 100, but at 50 it is good. Contrast and Sharpness set too high at defaul I just got the camera yesterday, but played around with it a lot. 75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
nautec
- Nov 21, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Size, zoom, features, quality of images, improvements over Optio S, price. Weakness: Battery door, on/off and shutter button little too close. I was about to purchase a Canon S400 camera until my friend brought over his Optio S. I did some research on the Optio S series and at first glance was very impressed with the specs. My first camera was a Fuji FinePix 2600 2.0MP camera and I thought it was excellent. The advantages of the Optio S4 is obviously the size of the camera. Being skeptic about image quality and size of the camera, I was quite amazed at the quality of images after a variety of shots. Reading reviews of other websites state that the Image quality on the S4 is inferior to the Canon cameras. After 2000 shots in a week, I am very satisfied with all the pictures that came out. Battery life on the S4 is amazing. It took me 3 days of constantly taking pictures and using the LCD to requiare a full charge! My old Fuji camera lasted a day max. The improvement over the S is that at night, the shutter will expose at 4 seconds max and not 1 second the previous version sported. So far, the S4 has fixed a lot of common issues with the previous version. A few things that drive me nuts about this camera is the battery door. Would anyone really complained if Pentax added a few extra ounces of rubber for the battery door? I am dissapointed with the contruction of the battery door. It looks as if it is possible to break the battery door if you do not open it gently. In addition, with the battery door open, it hangs onto the camera with a small strip of rubber with the thickness of a piece of paper. 75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
RPU
- Nov 30, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Small, robust, powerful. An excellent camera. Great lens, suprisingly robust. Because of it's small size, I anticipated a camera with a "flimsy" feel. I was suprised with the solid, large camera feel. Highly recommended. The standard battery has a long life between recharge. 75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
cuteskoolbabe
- Nov 21, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: so small and compact; has as many functions and modes as other cameras (video, self-timer, etc.) Weakness: The material is not very durable...it scratches so easily! Compared to the Exilim EX-Z4 (which is slightly larger), the LCD screen is so tiny ;(. It does not have the scratch-resistant "gel" screen. EVERYBODY was impressed with the camera. People cannot believe a digital camera so small can do so much! Its zoom and resolution is impressive too! Strongly recommended for a 1st camera to last for many many years. 75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
saevans63
- Dec 5, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Picture quality, convenience, size, size, size Weakness: Battery door hindge seems flimsy I absolutely love this little (very little) camera. The quality compares with my larger Optio 430RS. It takes a secure digital or MMC cards, which are, unfortunately, more expensive than the compact flash card. I recommend a 256 mg card so that you are not changing cards too often and perhaps putting a strain on the single hinge compartment door. 67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
chiapet
- Nov 10, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: size, style, handling, speed Weakness: none so far - maybe low light. and they definitely should have moved the on/off button! we love our camera! the quality of the stills and of the video have surprised us so far. it is very easy to use and easy to get to know. some reviewers have voiced concern over the "flimsy" battery door - it's actually brilliant design - we think it will hold up better than conventional doors due to its flexibility. it is fabulous to have sound as well, and it's quick! it's amazing that they fit so much into such a tiny little camera. 67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
mosesma
- Nov 3, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Size is amazing, easy to carry. Best feature is heightened responsiveness through a shutter release time lag of 0.01 sec! Weakness: I'm pretty happy with this baby... It's the best mini-camera on the market today. I got a 512 MB SD card for it, and I'm very happy with all aspects - fast shutter release time, lots of interesting shooting modes like 3D, spectacular super close up lens, good battery time. The user interface for mode switch is a bit clumsy, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. The software is okay, not as good as the competition, but once I get stuff on my HD, I use PhotoShop... so who cares? I used to shoot with a Canon digital Elph, which used to be small but now feels like of clunky! I think Canon's picture sensing internal software is slightly better. But once I get used to this Optio, I'm sure I'm going to rocking and rolling. 67% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
vstjie
- Dec 5, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Small, powerful, 3x optical, image quality, many functions, good battery life compare to Canon SD100, powerful flash and design. Weakness: Battery cover a bit flimsy, the 4 arrows dial button too small (though I have small fingers, find it difficult to operate), 3D function seems useless to me. Great small compact camera, a recommended to have one. But if you looking for many features and small size camera but a little bigger than this Optio S4, I would recommend to own a Canon SD100. About the 3D function, it seems useless because it needs a special 3D viewer spectacle to view the 3D image that we took. I would rather take the 3D fuction off and add stronger feature on the manual control. Right now, the camera manual control is only for focusing control not for shutter controling. Too bad, hope they could improve in the next optio line. Peace out... 56% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
vincenttx
- Mar 22, 2004
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: very cute; good pic quality; reasonable price Weakness: shutter botton is too close to power switch.my wife accidentally turned off the camear once. generally, this camara is very goood. the design is elegant. it looks very cute and is very easy to handle. 50% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
h_ammar
- Apr 30, 2004
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Size, weight, very high performance,& resolution for such a size. You can rely on. Weakness: week flash light, couldn't charge the battery on board the camera. This camera is perfect for point & shoot purposes. I have it as a second camera used for business quick shots. I have it with me everywhere, but when travelling with my family I prefer to use my Olympus C-730 for better zoom, and higher performance 50% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
newtype350z
- Oct 30, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: -SMALL! FAST!! Quality! With this price, you can't go wrong with what you are getting. -the on/off switch didnt bother me, yet -love the voice record -video mode is decent for this little camera Weakness: -assembled in philipines (personaly bias...i like made in japan) -the crappy battery door of course -no sd memory included Back in maybe 3 years ago, buying a 4.0 MP cost a lot! Now, at this price, getting a small and 4.0 MP is a dream come true! this camera is the best I have tested so far. I personally didnt care about the big and professional...I m only into the small and companct. This one is #1 on my list. At first, i liked the optio s...but now, S4 is even better and the buttons have been improved. This camera is worth to buy! 50% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
yiks
- Oct 16, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Love this camera, it is small and stylish. The inbuilt memory means that I can start snapping pictures without buying a memory card yet! Weakness: One fear is that the battery cover feels a little flimsy. Also, the on/off button is right next to the "take picture" button, so often I find myself turning off the camera by accident Generally, this camera is great considering its size. This means that I can carry the camera around with me every where, to capture that special moment. This is unlike my old big film cameras. 40% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
jvrualo
- Jan 19, 2004
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Size. A true "take anywhere" camera. Battery life amazes me everytime. Great value for the price. Weakness: Battery must be removed to recharged and the battery door seems flimsy. Overall this camera has suited my needs. I used it on my honeymoon and have some wonderful pictures and short videos that will make me smile for the rest of life! It is extremely small seems to be one of the best point and shoot cameras on the market. 33% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
philodelphi
- Oct 29, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: Tiny! Cool! Light! Lots of cool features, takes great snapshots. In windows, cam is seen as a disk drive. Weakness: Pics are sometimes a little fuzzy in the corners. Not good in low light situations without a flash - only goes to ISO 200. On/off switch is very close to the shutter switch. I also own an Optio S - just like the S4 except 3 instead of 4 megapixels - that's why I'm saying I've owned it for a year. This cam has been great. It takes great snapshots & movies with sound. The flash works well, color comes out quite nicely. Also, takes amazing closeups. Battery life is good. People have complained about the battery door - I find it to be very clever. Since it bends, it doesn't break - kind of like a tree that bends in the wind instead of snapping. The cam is truly tiny, so small you forget you're carrying it, so it is convenient to have where others are not - I've taken it on long bike rides, had it in suit pockets (doesn't mess with the line of the suit), etc. Be careful though, it scratches easily. Get a 256mb memory card with it. Use an Altoids mint box as your camera case. 29% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
weihsu
- Dec 12, 2003
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: good service Weakness: none humm.....I think this product is good enough to recommon to others who want to buy a small digital camera. And this is my first time to but goods at internet. I think this is a good experience to purchase in internet. I will try to find what I want on the website again. Now I prefer to shop by internet than in stores! 20% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
fun4vons
- Jul 23, 2004
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: size,weight,zoom Weakness: none Very happy with this camera. Used it on my vacation at Hershey Park and got great shots 0% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
By member:
ag0120
- Jan 1, 2005
Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact CameraStrengths: So small you will always have it with you. Really! I've owned many cameras, digital and film SLR, and this is the first one that you won't feel weighed down with. Weakness: Retracting lens cover sticks half open sometimes. If you touch it, it will close. An accident waiting to happen. 4 megapixels is good. Colors are good in daylight, OK with flash. Flash range about 12 feet. Capture button next to on/off button - a pain!! Battery is unique and poops out after about 20 flashes, so buy two extras. Video fairly bad. Controls and menus are thorough, which means a novice may be confused. Main thing, for point and shoot, you will be happy. Buy a 1 gig card and two extra batteries. Use a small metal candy box to pack it and accessories together. A great alternative for a trip. Handle with care! Dents easily or you will break lens cover! Makes cute sounds. Good image quality. Good color accuracy. If looking at the new 5 meg. models, consider that they are 35% wider and may not slip so easily into your shirt pocket. Great camera for trips and family functions. You'll be happy. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful? Top
TopTenREVIEWS.com - Jul 16, 2008
pentax optio s4 digital camera
Pentax Optio S4 Digital Camera receives an overall TopTenREVIEWS score of 2.29 out of 4.00. It is ranked the #428 Compact digital camera of all time. The overall rating represents an intelligent balance of features, value as a function of price to features, and a summary of reviews from a variety of sources. The TopTen REVIEWS' formula gives a picture of important consumer features, market value,... Top
Imaging Resource - Oct 31, 2003
Pentax Optio S4
The Optio S4 updates Pentax's "fits in an Altoids tin" subcompact camera with a full 4 megapixel sensor and a few interface improvements. Like the Optio S before it, the new S4 is also surprisingly full-featured, for such a compact camera model. Check it out! Top
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Pentax Optio S4 4 Megapixel Compact Camera
Strengths: Super small yet has more than enough functions, takes great pictures. A true pocket camera.
Weakness: Battery charger not self-contained (requires separate cable), LCD does not display exact image color as the photo taken, small 4-way controller.
It's amazing how Pentax squeeze so many function into this small package. I took some test images and was shocked to see how great the pictures looks despite it's miniature size. Now my Canon S400 looks and feels bulky, time to get rid of it.
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?