Pentax Optio WP

Pentax OptioWP [hotlinked]

on one of my snorkel trips the other day this girl from england jumped in the water with her camera to take photos .. my colleague and I laughed as we thought she had just killed her camera .. she keeps taking photos .. so we had to take a look ... 5m 5ft depth ... not scuba diving world .. but WOW ... what a great bit of equipment.

i was impressed i didn't know anything like that existed

Yes it is a great little camera. Really handy for boats.watesports, skiing etc. It is only rated to 5ft underwater for 30minutes though ( not 5m Giles) A friend was so impressed with this one that I have just bought the new model - the Pentax Optio WPi which has similar specs but is now 6MP!

I have the newer opti WPi. It can take rain etc and go to 15 feet. I got it for wet topside shots in my boat when housings are way to much- works fine for garbage dig shots- Nothing to blow up to big. My wife got our old point and shot soaked(dead) in Indonesia at the whaling village while jumping out of the panga last spring. This one will take that and more and it's just about free for $350 us. Mark

I have an original Optio WP, and it is great for pool, snorkeling, and rafting shots. That said, the shutter lag can be horrific and the lack of a viewfinder makes shooting in bright light hit or miss; the 3X zoom is underwhelming, wide ain't wide and tele ain't tele. Still, at the end of the day, a very capable little camera -- and fun to shock others with, like the guides on a rafting trip down the Pacuare when I took this shot with my Tevas in it:

And while you're along on a wet ride, it takes decent close-ups, as of this spider in a flower:

and scenics, of the baggage raft rowing past a waterfall:

...not to mention (but there I did) casual pool shots of the nephew:

All the best,

Chris

Last year I was snorkeling in Cozumel and struggling to keep up with the group while hanging on to my Aquashot. Another snorkeler whizzed by me snapping pix with his waterproof pocket cam and I was sold! I'm going back in a couple weeks so I just bought a Pentax Optio W20 to take as my only cam for the trip. I thought I might improve on the little camera's ability to take clear shots by adapting my Aquashot strobe to it. Long story short--I did, and it doesn't work <_< So this is for anyone else who might try: The Pentax flash ALWAYS fires a preflash. You can't disable it. The strobe fires on the first flash and then the exposure is made after the strobe is exhausted. Bummer. I'm sure there are strobes that ignore the preflash but the Aquashot doesn't and I can't justify the expense of a new strobe.

Just thought I'd point that out...

For the past two years I've used a WPi as a pocket camera (fits easily in the calf pocket of the ACU). It holds up to dust, moisture and shocks very well and takes some decent snaps once you get used to working around the limitations of a P&S.

Here's a night shot of a lesser palace in the Al Faw complex outside of Baghdad. I took this from a 3rd floor balcony of the main Al Faw palace by resting the camera on the rail and using the timer. Not bad for a P&S!

For the past two years I've used a WPi as a pocket camera (fits easily in the calf pocket of the ACU). It holds up to dust, moisture and shocks very well and takes some decent snaps once you get used to working around the limitations of a P&S.

 

Here's a night shot of a lesser palace in the Al Faw complex outside of Baghdad. I took this from a 3rd floor balcony of the main Al Faw palace by resting the camera on the rail and using the timer. Not bad for a P&S!

 

Nalu,

I have posted a message on the Technology Forum of wetpixel because I have had a flooding problem with my Olympus SW 720. After two years and without any warning, sea water flooded inside last sunday.

The Olympus SW 720 very much competes against the Optio WPi. Have you encountered any flooding problem?

What maintenance do you carry out to the o-rings that seal the camera? Any other mantenance?

Thanks

My boss has a WP30. Great little camera with great macro. He also just bought a scuba housing for it (LINK) made by seatool. You can get them through Reef Photo.

Nalu,

I have posted a message on the Technology Forum of wetpixel because I have had a flooding problem with my Olympus SW 720. After two years and without any warning, sea water flooded inside last sunday.

The Olympus SW 720 very much competes against the Optio WPi. Have you encountered any flooding problem?

What maintenance do you carry out to the o-rings that seal the camera? Any other mantenance?

Thanks

My bosses WP30 did flood. We were using it to do some time lapse photog. of an experiment inside an aquarium. After about 12 hours it just stopped working, apparently due to water damage. Pentax replaced it and now we use it with the housing (or will as soon as the housing arrives - it's still in transit to Chile). According to the manual, it's only supposed to be sumerged for about an hour or so.

As far as maintenance, pretty much all we do with it is give it a good wash in warm fresh water like you would with a housing.

My boss has a WP30. Great little camera with great macro. He also just bought a scuba housing for it (LINK) made by seatool. You can get them through Reef Photo.

 

 

My bosses WP30 did flood. We were using it to do some time lapse photog. of an experiment inside an aquarium. After about 12 hours it just stopped working, apparently due to water damage. Pentax replaced it and now we use it with the housing (or will as soon as the housing arrives - it's still in transit to Chile). According to the manual, it's only supposed to be sumerged for about an hour or so.

 

As far as maintenance, pretty much all we do with it is give it a good wash in warm fresh water like you would with a housing.

How old is this camera? I understand that your boss has never changed the seals (O-rings) or done any maintenance to them?

How old is this camera? I understand that your boss has never changed the seals (O-rings) or done any maintenance to them?

It was about 4 months old at the time. The camera was rinsed in warm fresh water whenever it came back from the sea, but no maintenance was ever done to the seals. Like I said, it flooded after abouit 12 hours underwater while the spec's say to submerge it for no more than an hour at a time. All's well though. Pentax still honored the warranty & either replaced it with a reurb or reapaired it (I never got a close enough look a the first one to tell if it was the same camera that came back or not) & now the housing is on it's way from the US.

Nalu,

I have posted a message on the Technology Forum of wetpixel because I have had a flooding problem with my Olympus SW 720. After two years and without any warning, sea water flooded inside last sunday.

The Olympus SW 720 very much competes against the Optio WPi. Have you encountered any flooding problem?

What maintenance do you carry out to the o-rings that seal the camera? Any other mantenance?

Thanks

Apologies for the delay in my reply. Shortly after I my post above, my team rec'd a change of mission and were re-deployed to the hinterlands of Diyala province. Today is my first time back to WetPixel since.

I never had a problem with my Optio WPi in two years (and no maintenance done), until I lost it in a pub whilst on R&R