CES 2009: Bog-standard P70 and E70 digicams from Pentax

Somewhere amidst all the gadgety madness, Pentax are at their stand showing tech lovers their latest compact digital cameras – the Optio P70 and Optio E70. Now, Pentax doesn’t exactly trigger feelings of enthusiasm from within, despite releasing a few cameras worth shouting about during the past year, and its latest line of mid-range digi cams are no different. In fact, the E70 (gold) looks a little dated, which explains its entry-level status, which then serves to further explain those large control buttons. Basic design aside, it’s a 10 megapixel camera with 3x zoom.

The P70, the slightly nicer one of the two, in a daring shade of white (alsoavailable in red and silver), packs 12 megapixels and 4x optical zoom. There’s also a 2.7-inch screen and a fancy-schmancy name given to its image stabilisation tool – Pentax calls it, “Pixel Track Shake Reduction”. As well as the above, it captures 720p video at 15fps, and has an ISO range from 64 to 6400 (only at 5 megapixels), as does the E70.

The P70 and E70 hit the US market in February for $199 USD and $139 US, respectively. We’ll keep you posted about their release in the UK – if you’re that bothered of course.

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