new pentax Optio W60

a new compact camera from pentax, which is

• waterproof to 3-4m (13ft) for 2h
• dustproof and freezeproof to -10C (13F)
• wide lens (28mm equivalent)
• manual focus
• 1cm macro focus
• 9 point TTL contrast detection AF (9 point, spot, auto tracking, macro, super macro, infinity, pan, manual focus)
• ISO up to 6400
• High-Quality Movie mode with HD resolution up to 1280 x 720 pixels
• 10mp, internal optical zoom 5x
• available in July 2008 for US $329.95

if only pentax would make a proper underwater housing for it. i like the idea of having (possibly as a second camera) a waterproof compact camera in a waterproof housing.

my first underwater camera was a pentax optio s30 in a pentax housing, and i was very very happy with it. especially the super macro mode. using just the camera's internal flash and super macro mode the photos (sometimes) were very good. i still cannot get such photos with my canon g7, two inon strobes, and an inon wet macro lens, after thousands of photos. some examples from my old pentax camera: one, two, three, four. a problem with my old pentax was that it was very very slow to focus and take a photo.

more info about the new pentax w60 on dcviews.com or the h2ocamera.com site.