Gearing Up For The Shitty Camera Challenge: The Pentax Optio I-10

Gearing Up For The Shitty Camera Challenge: The Pentax Optio I-10

I'll be the first to admit it: I'm easily led. The Pentax Optio I-10 wasn't even on my radar until I saw a collection of lovely trichromes from Chad Hill on BlueSky. It's also a camera that by design is an homage to one of Pentax's classic cameras from the 1970s, the Auto 110 SLR, and from that moment on, my interest was piqued.

Checking on that well known auction site, my interest was temporarily dashed as the prices for this 12MP camera from 2010 were well in excess of 100€. Then I stumbled across a few listing's for 'parts only' I-10s for about 30€, including a French listing which described an I-10 as, 'Pentax Digital 1-10, sold in working condition Includes memory card, battery, and charger Very clean camera, including the rear screen'.

I added the camera to my watchlist, and when the seller reduced the camera by 10€ soon after, I knew that this I-10 had to be mine. About a week later it's in my possession, and it's lovely! Not only was the camera complete with its accessories, it even came with the original box and a nice little pouch. The battery was fully charged, and I was up and running in no time.

Since we had to make a trip to Oiã, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out the I-10. We were in a part of Oiã that I don't often visit, near the park and outdoor swimming pool, so I spent a few quiet minutes photographing the ducks in the pond and the many electricity poles for a little pole-arity. There was also a lot of green and blue, from the clear blue sky and the lush vegetation, so that was also a good test for the camera.

On the whole, it performed admirably. It boots up very quickly, though I need to amend the zone focusing to get the spot focusing that I like. The I-10 features face recognition, which I never use, has a digital zoom, that I turned off straight away, and image stabilization, which I think works but aren't sure. The images were lovely and vibrant, though if I'm going to make trichromes (#TrichromeEverything, eh, Chad?), I need to figure out how to get monochrome mode. I tried most of the features, the zoom function (excluding digital zoom, of course), close-up, etc. and was really happy. 

It's just as well that the I-10 arrived today, since it's definitely coming with me on holiday. I'm travelling light this year, with just the Ilford Pixie 35-II and a couple of rolls of expired film. I also wanted to take a simple digital camera, so what could be better than the Pentax Optio I-10? Incidentally, on our way home, the weather took a turn, and the sky was filled with dark grey rain clouds. It didn't rain, but it was a good test of the I-10 in dull conditions. I liked it. If you're interested, I’ve posted the whole series in an album on my PhotoWebCloud (formerly Joomeo) (https://public.photowebcloud.fr/albums/6a59e5183c06c) if you want to see the rest of the images. 

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