Pentax Optio S12

The tiny, pocket-sized, 12 megapixel Optio S12 features Face Recognition and Dynamic Range Adjustment that's ideal for portraits. For easy composition and review of images, the S12 offers a generous 2.5 inch LCD monitor with an Anti-reflective coating and Bright mode. Digital Shake Reduction automatically selects a higher ISO, up to 3200, for blur-free images. This digital beauty is available in silver or black.

Ultra-compact, Stylish Design

With a stylish, compact body, the PENTAX Optio S12 is one of the smallest and lightest models with approximately 12.0 effective megapixels.

12.0 Megapixels

With 12.0 megapixels, the camera offers high image quality and higher performance through the 1/1.7-inch CCD that features a wide light receiving area and superior tone reproduction. The high-performance image engine with excellent color reproduction and smc PENATX lens adds to the image quality.

3X Optical Zoom

The Optio S12 features a 3X optical zoom lens with a focal range covering angles of view equivalent to those of a 37.5-112.5mm lens in 35 mm format, which is ideal for a broad spectrum of subjects from landscapes to portraits.

Bright, Easy-to-view LCD Monitor

The high-intensity LCD monitor features an LCD booster function to increase the brightness of the screen. The LCD cover is coated with an Anti-Reflection coating that reduces glare. With a screen size of 2.5 inches and a high resolution of 232,000 dots, it is also easy to confirm the picture composition and the focus. Also, as the screen has a wide viewing angle of approximately 170 degrees in the horizontal and vertical directions, images may be viewed easily even from the side.

Face Recognition Function*

The Optio S12 is equipped with a Face Recognition Auto Focus and Auto Exposure function that automatically recognizes up to 15 faces, adjusts focus and sets the optimum settings. A new Face Selector function also enables users to select one person's face from among multiple recognized faces.

*The face recognition technology Face Tracker developed by FotoNation is used for the Optio S12's Face Recognition AF & AE.

New Dynamic Range Adjustment Function

The Optio S12 is newly equipped with the Dynamic Range Adjustment function that suppresses the generation of white- outs and black-outs by correcting the tones for the highlighted areas and shadowed areas of subjects with significant differences in contrast. Through a link with the Face Recognition function, this feature helps highlight subject even in backlit settings while background tones are automatically retained. In addition, it is possible to change settings in accordance with the photography conditions.

Digital Shake Reduction

Digital Shake Reduction mode reduces camera shake and blurring of the subject when photographing still images. The sensitivity is adjusted automatically, to as high as ISO 3200, to match the brightness of the subjects. This enables photography with fast shutter speeds, and images with less blur.

Movie Recording Function Enabling High-quality Recording

The Optio S12 smoothly captures movies at 30fps (frames per second) at sizes up to 640x480 pixels with image quality rivaling camcorders. Since it employs the DivX®(MPEG-4) movies format,* the Optio S12 can record long, high-quality movies. * The Optio S12 is DivX® certified. Movie playback is not supported on Macintosh operating systems

Additional Features

Auto Picture mode automatically determines the best setting for the shooting conditions
Mode palette provide quick access to 18 shooting modes and 15 playback modes
An “Intelligent zoom” function which enables images to be magnified even larger and stored, while maintaining the image quality of optical zoom
A Green button enables users to assign functions that are frequently used, and recall then in just one touch
Date imprint function for easier image categorizing
Approximately 21.0MB of built-in memory
FotoNation's red-eye compensation function for flash shots
Includes the ACDSee for PENTAX 3.0 viewer/image management software that supports Windows VistaTM
Support PictBridge, DPOF functions, Exif Print, and PRINT Image Matching III

More external Pentax Optio S12 reviews!

Sensor • 1/1.7’’ Interline Transfer CCD with primary colour filter
• 12.0 million effective pixels

Image sizes • 12M
• 10M
• 7M
• 5M
• 3M
• 2M
• 1024 pixels
• 640 pixels

Movie clips • 640 x 480 @ 30 fps
• 320 x 240 @ 30fps

File formats • JPEG (EXIF 2.2)
• AVI (DiX compatible with MPEG-4)
• WAV (mono)

Lens • PENTAX smc zoom lens
• 7.9 mm – 23.7 mm
• Approx. 38 mm – 114mm (35mm equiv.)
• F2.8 -5.4

Image stabilization No

Conversion lenses No

Digital zoom Up to 6x

Focus TTL Contrast Detection AF

Metering • Multi-field metering
• Centre-weighted metering
• Spot metering

ISO sensitivity ISO 50 – 3200

Exposure compensation ± 2EV in 1/3 EV steps

Shutter speed Approx. 1/2000s to 4s

Aperture n/a

Modes • Green Mode
• Full automatic
• Programmed automatic
• Video
• Sound

Scene modes • Nightscene
• Landscape
• Flowers
• Natural skin tones
• Text
• Portrait
• Surf+Snow
• Sport
• Kids
• Pets
• Food
• Digital “Shake Reduction“ (SR)

White balance • Automatic
• Daylight
• Cloudy
• Tungsten
• Neon
• Manual selectable

White balance fine tune n/a

Self timer 2 or 10 sec

Continuous shooting Yes

Image parameters n/a

Flash • Auto
• Forced on
• Forced off
• Red Eye Reduction

Viewfinder No

LCD monitor • 2.5“ TFT LCD colour monitor
• Approx. 232,000 pixels
• Approx. 100% coverage
• 3 levels of brightness can be selected
• Anti-reflection coating

Connectivity • USB 2.0
• AV out (PAL/NTSC)
• DC input

Print compliance • Pictbridge
• DPOF
• Print Image Matching III

Storage • SD/SDHC cards
• Approx. 22 MB internal memory

Power • D-LI68 Lithium-Ion battery
• AC adaptor (optional)

Weight (no batt) 110 g (3.9 oz)

Dimensions 87 x 54 x 21 mm (3.4 x 2.1 x 0.8 in)