Review: Pocketable Pentax Optio WS80 Waterproof Camera Dampens Enthusiasm With Marginal Performance

In a sea of bulky, boxy waterproof cameras that do little to encourage stashing them in a pocket and bringing along for the ride, the Pentax Optio WS80 is a refreshing change — it’s tiny, and practically begs to be stuck in a pocket and brought on the next romp. But that scaled-down size is at least in part responsible for scaled-down performance.

First Impression: The WS80 is even smaller than I’d imagined, and extremely light. It’s also somewhat garish; camera product designers seem hell-bent in making waterproof point-’n-shoots resemble poison-dart frogs or congealed blobs of automotive fluid; and while the WS80 isn’t nearly as bad as some, it doesn’t escape completely unscathed either.

User Interface: For such tiny buttons, the WS80’s are surprisingly usable. The big (for the camera’s size) 2.7-inch screen is bright and easy to read, even in direct sunlight.

Features: The WS80 — which is waterproof to five feet — also has the ability to shoot video in HD 720p at 30 frames/second, a nice bonus for an underwater camera in this range. It also has 5x optical zoom, which is again above par for this class. Pentax also added a slew of cool features like image stabilization, face recognition (the camera will focus on what it thinks is a face), smile recogntion (the shutter snaps when the subject smiles) and underwater video and still  shooting modes.

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Performance:  Image quality doesn’t exactly impress. Whether due to the tiny lens, the protective cover over the lens or the camera’s sensor, for some reason images just aren’t as sharp as I’d like. Also, the little guy isn’t a fun of low-light: Noise is noticeable even at an ISO of 250, and it gets worse from there. As can be expected from this class camera, anything taken at ISO 800 and above is going to be riddled with noise to the point of being more-or-less useless for printing. Finally, the WS80’s image stabilization feature doesn’t seem to work as well as others I’ve tried in this price range.

Another bummer is the camera’s battery life: Its tiny lithium-ion battery crapped out while reviewing results after a day of biking in Phoenix’s South Mountain Preserve (with admittedly aggressive video/still shooting).

Conclusion: The WS80 isn’t a serious underwater camera for the Paul Nicklens of the world; it was designed not as a diving companion, but to be taken along on a hike, snowboard outing or day at the beach and record the trip’s hilarity. Unfortunately, it falls somewhat short even of this modest mission due to inadequate battery life and lackluster image performance.

A thrilling underwater shot of my arm in a swimming pool, using the WS80's "underwater" mode.

The WS80's massive manual — and those pages are all English — is almost thicker than the camera.

In the box: That tiny battery is probably a key reason for the WS80's lack of endurance.

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