There are loads of small digital cameras with a metal body . They all seem to have the same sort of features when you look at the specifications . Many now have stupidly high pixels such as 12 million or even 14 million - all on one small image sensor . The new M-60 from Pentax does not go down the silly pixel route - it has 10 million pixels ... more than enough to get pictures printed to well over 30x20 inches in size if you need to - providing the lens is good enough of course . We are amazed at how manufacturers are trying to almost con customers with this " the more pixels the better the picture " thing - this is not true & in most cases its false because the more pixels can & often does mean much worse pictures because of the amount of electronic noise generated by having tooo many pixels on a small image sensor .
Ok - enough about pixels . The new M-60 has plenty to offer . 10 million pixels . A huge 5x optical zoom ( 36 to 180 in 35mm terms ) which is wide angel to long telephoto . The lens is the M series high quality lens that gives razor sharp images . Big 2.5 inch screen that can be used in sunlight . High quality metal body - very small in size . Lithium rechargeable battery ( the M-60 comes with the battery & charger ) . Internal memory of 51 megabytes but of course it also takes SD memory cards . Good quality Video clip mode with sound . Decent Macro / close up mode for taking pictures very close in . Plenty of Scene modes . ISO ratings from 80 to a huge 6400 ( 6400 is a waste of time - miles too grainy pictures if you use anything over 800 from any camera ) . Fully automatic mode for general shooting . Its got loads of features but in reality i doubt whether most people would use many of them - the M-60 is aimed at being a quality point n shoot camera .
Picture taking is very easy . Turn it on - zoom in - press the shutter button - job done ! - picture taken . Its fast to turn on . Its very fast to take pictures with no real shutter delay . The screen is superb - big & clear . The on screen menus make changing settings very easy . The Lithium battery means that picture taking even with the flash is fast - the M-60 has a very fast flash recharge time so you can take one picture after another quickly even indoors - without the flash its very very fast ! .
Picture quality is why i recomend the M-60 - it is fabulous in just about all conditions . Most small cameras with big zooms give very poor picture quality when you use the zoom over 3x - the M-60 gives sharp pictures all the way up to its big 5x zoom range thanks to the superb M series lens it uses . Outdoors the quality of image is razor sharp . Indoors its great up to around 15 to 20 feet . I found that to get the very best out of the M-60 you need to set the ISO to 100 ... but if you just use the camera in its fully automatic mode it will give fabulous results . Ideal for home or holiday use . Great for the person who wants a small camera that is top quality in every way .
To view a picture taken with this camera please click on one of the pictures below . The pictures have been downsized to fit on this web site using Microsoft Image Resizer ( http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx ) to give a smaller file size for this web site & a resolution of 576x768 or 1024x768 . When you click on the picture a larger version will come on to your screen - it is not a full sized image but will give you a good idea of how sharp & how well exposed the camera takes a picture . If you would like to see a full sized picture taken with this camera then please click on the " Ask for more Information " link button to your left then ask for a full sized picture taken with this camera ( state the cameras full Make & Model name ) .
