Pentax I-10 Digital is forgotten gem with vintage style
A CCD, feature-rich point and shoot that captures beautiful garden images
The Pentax I-10 might be a tiny camera, but its classical vintage styling and feature-packed offerings make it the perfect carry-around camera for beginner photographers looking for a capable camera while sporting a very real cool factor.
Available in classic black and stylish white, the 14-year-old digital point-and-shoot camera from Pentax’s Optio line, boasts a built-in 5X, 28-140mm lens, along with a long list of shooting modes and interesting filter effects including a BW setting, toy camera, several portrait and macro modes, a soft focus effect filter and a variety of picture frames.
And, while it’s simplicity makes it ideal for beginners, even seasoned photographers wouldn’t mind carrying this stylish, yet pocketable little gem around with them at all times.
The tiny Pentax I-10 is a point-and-shoot camera with a 28-140mm equivalent lens.
There’s plenty of capability here for the average photographer looking to simply capture their gardens, flower and insect photography, kids, pets, vacation and about-town images.
Add to the already impressive feature list a total of 12 megapixels and sensor-shake image stabilization.
Oh, and did I mention that it features a CCD sensor? Yes, that same sensor that photo enthusiasts all over the internet are craving for to create a vintage look straight out of camera.
Not bad for a camera released in 2010.
It’s long out of production, but if you look on eBay and other on-line photo retailers these sweet little cameras come up for sale, often in mint condition for a very good price. I picked up mine on the day of this shoot from a lovely woman on Kijiji for $60 Canadian in mint condition complete with the original box a 6 Gig SD card and even a great little carrying case.
This tiny trio of Pentax cameras illustrates how the company perfected tiny but high quality cameras. The Pentax Q (left), the Pentax I-10 Digital (centre) and the Pentax Auto 110 film camera (right).
Vintage styling based on the classic Pentax 110 camera
If the Pentax I-10 reminds you of a camera you’ve seen before, you are probably right. The I-10 released in January 2010, was based on the vintage Pentax 110 Auto camera, released on June 23, 2011, and was the camera released just before the more modern miniaturized Pentax Q series of tiny Pentax gems.
One look at all three cameras and it’s not hard to see that Pentax builds beautiful tiny classic cameras. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and say “no one does it better than Pentax.”
The Pentax I-10's rear view shows the 2.7-inch screen.
The Pentax I-10 point and shoot is no exception. Behind its seriously good looks is a 14-year-old point and shoot camera with extremely high build quality right down to the leatherette covering the front of the camera.
When you consider this is a point and shoot from the Optio line the Build quality is even more impressive. I’ve never cared for Pentax’s Optio line of consumer cameras until I saw this one.
“To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. Actually, I was shocked with how well it performed.”
I took all three cameras – the digital I-10, the 110 film camera and the original Pentax Q – along for a walk through a rock garden on a rainy morning as part of a website post I am working on comparing the three cameras.
It was only the first time I used the Pentax I-10 but, after only a few minutes running through the menu system, I was ready to explore what this vintage-looking camera could do and compare it to my much-loved Pentax Q and eventually the Pentax Auto 110.
To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. Actually, I was shocked with how well it performed.
A weeping willow stands guard over the public garden.
Pentax I-10 goes to work in the garden
Behind the cute, retro styling 12MP sensor, 2.7" LCD with 720p HD movie shooting and a 5x zoom covering a 28-140mm equivalent range, is an impressive little point and shoot performer. Mind you it’s not going to give you poster sized prints. Because of the small sensor, its dynamic range isn’t going to blow you away, and severely cropping images might be a little risky. But if you are looking for eye-popping colour from the jpegs right out of the camera, you’ll be impressed. Especially since this camera fits into your pocket or purse with lots of room to spare.
In the garden, I set the camera to landscape mode, set the ISO to no more than 200 and went to work. The landscape mode boosts greens and blue skies and worked well for the subject in hand. I switched to macro mode for a shot I stumbled upon and was surprised with the result, but more on that later.
I’ve been a Pentax fan all my life and the results from the morning shoot gave me no reason to think otherwise. Pentax lenses have always been a selling point and this little lens punched above its class, but especially in the wide-angle range. Telephoto shots were a little soft, but nothing post processing can’t fix in a flash.
Colors were exceptional. This may have had as much to do with the shooting conditions as the lens, but I was truly impressed.
The ease of use is certainly a selling factor for me. Set it on landscape mode and let the camera do the work. I traditionally would not want the camera to make most of the choices, but the choices the camera made suited me just fine in this instance.
Being a point and shoot camera means there is little to no control over shutter speed and f-stops. The camera also shoots only jpegs, leaving RAW to more seasoned photographers. If you can live with these limitations, then this is a camera that might interest you.
For a more complete breakdown of the camera’s features, check out Photography blog’s review here .
I stumbled upon this lovely little image of a pine cone in grasses and used the camera’s macro mode to capture it. Later, I turned it into a lovely black and white image in camera. (inset)
Two macro functions and fun filters on the Pentax I-10
I was particularly impressed with the macro functions on this camera. The first macro setting, easily accessed on the back control button, gets you close-up photography that allows you to focus on a subject that is 8cm away from the camera. The super macro mode gets you even closer to true macro, mind you the camera has to be very close to the subject.
Using the in-camera filter, I was easily able to convert the coloured jpeg into B&W.
I stumbled across a lovely little image along the path of a pine cone in some grasses. The resulting hand-held image was stunningly sharp thanks to the camera’s anti-shake feature, and rendered the colors beautifully thanks in part to the CCD sensor and rainy, overcast conditions.
Once again, the toy-like Pentax came through delivering images that would please most casual photographers.
I wanted to turn the closeup image of the pine cone into a black and white but for the life of me could not find the filter settings in the menu system. It wasn’t until later that I discovered that the filters for this camera could only be used after the image was taken.
By hitting the image review button, photographers have access to a number of very impressive filters including black and white. Once you make the conversation, you can choose to save it separately, make a copy or overwrite the existing image.
This is a great way to reconsider any photograph you took on your outing. By adding a filter, or even a digital picture frame, you can create new images while still having the original.
Not only did I convert the close-up shot to black and white, I also added a frame that gives the image a more of a lomography look. There are lots of silly frames for use with family images as well.
Another image turned into a B&W, but in this image I added one of many frames available in camera.
While flipping through the available filters, I noticed the camera included colour extract filters.
I enjoy looking for images that work with colour extract filters because they can be very effective. The image below shows how effective the “extract” filter can be if used successfully. One of my final images during the shoot was of two bright red Adirondack chairs beside a massive rock overlooking the garden. It was the perfect opportunity to use the color extract filter set to red. The camera turns the image into B&W and then “extracts” only the color the photographer stipulates in the image.
When faced with a situation like the one below, the extract filter is exquisite.
The image, a perfect ending to an overcast day in the rock garden.
For more images from the same outing, check out my post on three garden design tips from a public garden outing.
The Pentax point and shoot includes an extract filter that allows the photographers to choose a color that is extracted from the scene before it is turned into a B&W image. When used successfully, the resulting image can be extremely effective.
Author Profile: Vic MacBournie is a former journalist and author/owner of the award-winning website and newsletter Ferns & Feathers. He writes about his woodland wildlife garden that he has created over the past 25 years and enjoys sharing his garden photography with readers.