Pentax M90 Review

Pentax Optio M90 Overview

Posted: 04/28/2010

The Pentax Optio M90 couples a Pentax-branded 5x optical zoom lens with a twelve megapixel, 1/2.3"-type CCD image sensor in a compact body. The Optio M90's lens provides 35mm-equivalent focal lengths ranging from a useful 28mm wide angle to a moderate 140mm telephoto. Maximum aperture is f/3.5 at wide angle, and f/5.9 at telephoto. The Pentax M90's body is crafted from aluminum alloy, coated in a soft rubber layer to provide a better grip.

The Pentax M90 lacks any form of optical viewfinder, instead opting solely for a 2.7-inch LCD display with 230,000 dot resolution. The M90's display features an anti-reflective coating, to help with framing and reviewing images outdoors. Most features of the M90 are aimed at keeping things simple, with shutter speed, aperture and focus all kept under automatic control. ISO sensitivity can be controlled automatically or manually, and ranges from ISO 100 to 1,600 equivalents.

A range of twenty scene modes provide a modicum of control over the look of images. The Pentax M90 also includes face detection and recognition capabilities, as well as both smile capture and blink detection functions. The face detection feature is linked to both the camera's autofocus and autoexposure systems, allowing the location of your subjects' faces to be taken into account when determining these exposure variables.

As well as still images, the Pentax Optio M90 can capture standard definition video at either VGA (640 x 480) or QVGA (320 x 240) pixel resolution. Movies are captured at a rate of 30 frames per second, and include audio. The Pentax M90 is also compatible with the DPOF print ordering standard, but like other recent Pentax models, is not compliant with the PictBridge standard, which would allow direct printing by attaching the camera to a printer.

The Pentax M90 includes 32MB of internal memory, as well as a Secure Digital slot that's also compatible with SDHC cards. There's no compatibility with the latest SDXC cards, however. Connectivity options include both standard-definition NTSC / PAL video, and USB 2.0 High-Speed data. Power comes courtesy of a rechargeable D-LI108 lithium ion battery pack that's included in the product bundle, along with a charger. Pentax also includes a software CD containing ArcSoft MediaImpression 2.0 for Pentax.

The Pentax Optio M90 goes on sale in Europe from mid-June 2010, with two body color choices -- black, or red. Pricing in the United Kingdom is set at around £120. Plans for sale in other markets, if any, have not been announced at this time.