Rating: 
Summary: It is not what one expects from 4MP camera
Review: 1. The most important, end point - picture qulity is disappointing. For 15x10cm size pictures it is still OK (then rather buy 2MP camera and save). Digital noise is high esp. when max resolution is used. Noise is easily seen even on pictures taken under direct daylight, never mind lesser light. Compared picture quality with 2MP Nikon Coolpix 2500 - no comparison.
2. Flash range 2 meters. Focus light <1 meter range.
3. Auto white balance recognises only daylight, the rest must be done manually.
4. Picture freezes while camera "slowly" adjusts focus. As the result your object might be gone. Poor light sensitivity (ISO"max"-200), ie. slow or no focus if light is poor.
5. Strange JPG compression system - files are mutch large then taken with other cameras with the same resolution and compression degree. Higher capacity CF card required (but where is the quality for a bigger file size?).
6. Features like "3D pictures" and "Colour filters (to make yellow, blue etc. pictures)" ... Who needs it???
7. No TV/AV output, no sound recording, no speaker, battery needs to be removed for charging, charging time 2hrs.
8. The rest is OK.
Rating: 
Summary: Small enough to carry running; acceptable picture quality
Review: Cons: Image quality is acceptable, but the inability to write tifs or raw image data hurts. Battery life is good for about 80ish pictures w/ no flash. It is very easy to scratch the screen (I did so on its first trip down a trail) so a PalmPilot screen protector is a must. The movies have a nifty old-school 8mm family movie look to them. Pros: the big win for this camera is that I can carry it one hand when I run trails. I've taken it along on 1.5 hour runs and it has performed admirably. The camera is lighter than the water bottle I carry in my other hand. Well-exposed 8x10s look good at arm's length (HP DeskJet 970, glossy photo paper). 5x7's look just fine. On a recent trip to Brno, Czech Rep., the camera was very convenient for being a tourist without standing out as a tourist (as much). Context: I've had the camera for 2 months now and shot about 400ish frames. I've shot tripod mounted, slow film, landscape stuff for 8 years.
Rating: 
Summary: Why I chose 430RS
Review: Easy to use, good pix. But some of the settings were a problem: using autofocus makes this camera very very slow. Manual focus works fine except for stuff closer than one meter, so I set it permanently on MF. Now it's fast. Tons of features, most of which I won't ever use. (The 3-D photo thing is a weird gimmick...) But there are plenty of things to like, such as the color filters and the (rather crude) in-camera image cropping. Overall, very pleased.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent camera once you get the right settings
Review: Easy to use, good pix. But some of the settings were a problem: using autofocus makes this camera very very slow. Manual focus works fine except for stuff closer than one meter, so I set it permanently on MF. Now it's fast. Tons of features, most of which I won't ever use. (The 3-D photo thing is a weird gimmick...) But there are plenty of things to like, such as the color filters and the (rather crude) in-camera image cropping. Overall, very pleased.
Rating: 
Summary: This is an excellent 2 megapixel camera!
Review: Frankly, I bought this camera thinking that I had found the perfect camera featuring 4MP, a 3x zoom, metal casing and all this in a very small format. The price was also really competitive, only the HP 812 was cheaper but it was made of plastic... (I think they share the same optics/CCD) I found this camera extremely easy to use! The learning curve was almost inexistant. Althought there is only 6 exposure modes on the dial, I found that it was much easier to use than other cameras with 10-15 modes. You can set it with just a glimpse. The 3D mode is especially cool, it permits to create a picture made of 2 frames shot 3-5 inches apart. This stereogram when printed in the proper size can be viewed with the special glasses (included) (or without, if you are able to "see" them...) However, the honeymoon ended when i looked at the pictures upclose. Even when taken on a bright sunny day, pictures never achieved 4 megapixels of sharpness, more like 2 megapixels. Under lower lighting conditions (cloudy day), you could easily see noise. Also JPEG were a rather big (usually around 2600 KB) considering their lack of detail, but that was a lesser problem. In the end, i had a really hard time deciding whether i should return it or not, but i finally did. There's no point in buying a 4 MP camera, if it produces 2 MP worth of quality at twice the price and more than twice the filesize (twice less pictures on a flash card), no matter how cute and easy to use it is... So i went ahead and bought a top of the line (but still compact) Canon Powershot S45. Althought it isn't has userfriendly, it give you 4 MP worth of picture.
Rating:
Summary: Using the Pentax 430rs
Review: I really like this camera. I have been using digital cameras for several years now and this one is easy to use and takes great pictures. The most important thing for me was size - I found that unless I could put the camera in my shirt pocket I rarely took it with me. This on is only slightly bigger than a pack of cigerettes. You need to buy a compact flash memory for it if you are going to take high resolution pic's as you can only get something like 8 of the highest res pictures. The battery is a strong one and will run for a long time, and one ought to have a extra - but finding one of these new lithium ion batteries has not been easy. You can even zoom in on a picture you have taken while reviewing it.
Rating:
Summary: Using the Pentax 430rs
Review: I really like this camera. I have been using digital cameras for several years now and this one is easy to use and takes great pictures. The most important thing for me was size - I found that unless I could put the camera in my shirt pocket I rarely took it with me. This on is only slightly bigger than a pack of cigerettes. You need to buy a compact flash memory for it if you are going to take high resolution pic's as you can only get something like 8 of the highest res pictures. The battery is a strong one and will run for a long time, and one ought to have a extra - but finding one of these new lithium ion batteries has not been easy. You can even zoom in on a picture you have taken while reviewing it.
Rating:
Summary: It is not what one expects from 4MP camera
Review: I've had this camera about six months now, I've taken it half way around the world. Picture quality is great, and setting are easy, very user friendly. From Rome to Slovania, Greece and the middle east. Hot cold didn't matter, worked great everytime and downloading the pictures is a breeze. The camera is tiny, fits in your shirt pocket. I recommend buying a large memory card, cause your gonna want to take a lot of pictures with this one.
Rating:
Summary: Best camera I've ever had
Review: I've had this camera about six months now, I've taken it half way around the world. Picture quality is great, and setting are easy, very user friendly. From Rome to Slovania, Greece and the middle east. Hot cold didn't matter, worked great everytime and downloading the pictures is a breeze. The camera is tiny, fits in your shirt pocket. I recommend buying a large memory card, cause your gonna want to take a lot of pictures with this one.
Rating:
Summary: Best compact 4MP digital camera
Review: Most high-feature cameras are too large to carry with me all the time. The Pentax Optio 430, on the other hand, fits EASILY in a shirt pocket, yet includes every feature I wanted, plus its quality matches Canon and Nikon. Interestingly, smaller size and matching features and quality was also the main virtues of the Pentax I used 30 years ago over the same competitors.
I've just returned from a two week trip to Northern California, during which it took over 300 pictures. I consider many of them great...
4MP means you can crop without losing visible detail. I added a Sandisk Ultra 512 Meg Compact Flash card and a spare battery, allowing me to take as many pictures as I wished each day, deleting bad ones each evening.
This camera replaced two Canons that still work well. Compared to both, I find it easier to use.
One suggestion: 1) cover the LCD with a plastic Palm screen cover. I once damaged a Canon for lack of that.
After 9 months of use, I still consider this the best small digital camera at any price. Highly recommended!
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