Pentax Optio H90

The Optio H90 is one of Pentax's retro-style cameras geared for the point-and-shoot crowd. Whereas the Pentax Optio I-10 (*Est. $200) looks like a 35 mm film camera, the H90 echoes the streamlined film cameras of 1960s and 1970s, says Gavin Stoker at PhotographyBlog.com, who finds the simple, utilitarian design "oddly comforting." At about 4.6 ounces, the H90 is a bit chubbier than the wafer-thin Sony CyberShot W350 (*Est. $175), albeit with easy-to-use controls, and it comes in three colors. The feature palette includes a 12.1-megapixel sensor, 5x zoom lens, 2.7-inch LCD and HD video (720p). Editors at Pocket-Lint.com say the H90 "really is more than the sum of its parts," while Stoker deems it a "recession buster" with all of the essentials.

Experts say the Optio H90 comes with nice extras for a budget camera. Its Dynamic Range feature lets you emphasize highlights and shadows, and you can also adjust sharpness, saturation and contrast. Face detection tracks up to 32 faces in a single shot -- more than the Canon PowerShot A3000 IS (*Est. $140) -- although the H90's Pnorama mode, which stitches together a few shots into a wide-angle photo, proves challenging to use compared to Sony's more advanced Sweep Panorama, say editors at Pocket-Lint.com. Stoker says response times are "swift" and image quality "reassuringly consistent," while editors at Pocket-Lint.com report superb detail in macro mode, although HD video quality is undercut by the H90's inferior digital image stabilization. Both experts give the H90 a thumbs-up as a solid choice for a budget compact, but Stoker gives the nod to the Canon PowerShot SX210 IS (*Est. $300) as the "ultimate travel compact." User reviews are scarce, but an Amazon customer points out that the lens does not retract when you're reviewing photos, making it susceptible to damage.   

PhotographyBlog.com and Pocket-Lint.com are the sole professional review sources to test and evaluate the Pentax Optio H90. Few users have posted comments online.