In the compact Pentax Optio S55, Pentax has included a 1/2.5-inch 5.36 total megapixel CCD and 3x optical zoom lens, equivalent to 35.6 - 107mm in 35mm format. Available online for as low as $212 (USD), the Optio S55 offers point-and-shoot consumers an economic, fairly nondescript alternative with some advanced features and some strong limitations. The camera is packaged in a stylized silver body and designed for ease of use. Marketed as a digital camera with “no experience required,” Pentax has applied a large 2.5-inch LCD with a magnified-text setting for increasing visibility of on-screen menus and a “Help” function in the “Auto-select” mode to help guide less knowledgeable users through the photographic process. Cased in a 3.5 x 2.5 x 1.1-inch aluminum alloy frame, the Optio S55 extends a bit thicker than some of its direct competitors. This will provide more stability than many of the S55’s counterparts, but sacrifices a bit of pocket-portability. The Optio S55 joins a dense pack of sub-$300 point-and-shoot offerings and looks to a combination of ease of use, solid build, and extra features to set it apart from the rest.
Many fundamental aspects of the Optio S55 – its size, 5 megapixel CCD, 3x optical zoom lens, 115,000-pixel LCD, $250-or-so street price – are decidedly middle-of-the-road. There are loads of cameras with those specs, because many, many snapshooters will get the results they want with cameras like that. The camera is easy to use in automatic mode and built well enough to survive rough handling – if you forget about it in the bottom of your backpack for a while, it will probably emerge okay. The on-screen help features should be useful to casual users as well. Unfortunately, the S55 also contains some glaring flaws that will frustrate even the most complacent snapshooter. Pentax heavily markets the camera’s large LCD screen, omitting the fact that its quality is extremely substandard, making it difficult to accurately perceive the frame and review images. There is also no manual mode included, forcing those beginner users looking to grow into the medium to look elsewhere or buy multiple cameras. Furthermore, the S55 eats through batteries faster than any other camera that we have reviewed, and for those who like the freedom of AAs, the seemingly affordable point-and-shoot will soon become a constant cash-consumer. Therefore, those users looking to learn more about photography should look at other cameras that offer more manual control, but for the snapshooter on a tight budget, with a slight decrease in price (below $200), the S55 would be a reasonable choice.