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PENTAX Optio VS20
An all-purpose digital compact camera, featuring a high-power 20X optical zoom lens and extra shutter-release button, zoom lever and tripod socket for effortless vertical-position shooting
Mississauga, ON – January 25, 2012
PENTAX RICOH IMAGING CANADA INC. is pleased to announce the introduction of the PENTAX Optio VS20 digital compact camera. In addition to an extra-powerful 20X optical zoom lens featuring broad focal-length coverage from wide angle to super-telephoto with a macro mode, this versatile model offers a second shutter-release button, zoom lens lever and tripod socket to facilitate vertical-position shooting.
Within its compact body, the Optio VS20 incorporates a full array of advanced functions and user-friendly features, including approximately 16.0 effective megapixels to produce sharp, high-resolution images, a powerful 20X optical zoom lens with a 1cm macro mode, sensor-shift PENTAX Shake Reduction image stabilization and an extra-large, easy-to-view 3.0-inch colour LCD monitor. The new Handheld Night Snap mode captures beautiful images with minimal blur and noise, even in poorly illuminated locations. The PENTAX Optio VS20 is a high-performance, all-purpose camera that can flawlessly respond to a greater range of subjects and scenes than most conventional models — from casual snapshots to travel pictures and sports photos.
The Optio VS20 will be available in Canada February 2012 in a choice of black or white.
Major Features
1. 20X optical zoom lens with 28mm wide-angle coverage to handle a variety of subjects and scenes
The Optio VS20 features a high-performance, extra-powerful 20X optical zoom lens covering focal lengths from 28mm wide angle to 560mm super-telephoto (in the 35mm format). Thanks to its extra-wide zoom range, the Optio VS20 can capture beautiful pictures in a wide range of subjects and scenes — from landscapes to sports events. It also offers other advanced features, including: high-quality macro shooting down to just one centimeter from the subject; and the Intelligent Zoom function to further extend the zoom range to approximately 144 times to cover the focal length of an approximately 4032mm super-telephoto lens (in the 35mm format) without compromising image quality.
2. Effortless, comfortable vertical-position shooting
The Optio VS20 features two shutter-release buttons and zoom levers on its grip to assure natural posture and comfortable hold of the camera during both horizontal and vertical shooting. The camera automatically adjusts its on-screen display by detecting vertical alignment with its orientation sensor, allowing the user to effortlessly capture images of vertically extended subjects, such as high-rise buildings. The Optio VS20 even offers dual tripod sockets, allowing the user to securely set the camera up on a tripod for either vertical or horizontal shooting with ease.
3. Exceptional image quality
Thanks to the combination of approximately 16.0 effective megapixels, the state-of-the-art imaging engine, a high-performance smc PENTAX zoom lens and the sophisticated CCD-shift-type SR (Shake Reduction) mechanism, the Optio VS20 delivers well-defined, high-quality images with extra-fine resolution. Even when images are enlarged to large sizes, the user is assured of sharp, high-resolution prints with edge-to-edge sharpness.
4. Triple anti-shake protection for sharp, blur-free images
(1) CCD-shift-type SR mechanism
The advanced CCD-shift-type SR (Shake Reduction) mechanism produces sharp, blur-free images even under shake-prone shooting conditions, such as when using a telephoto lens, or when shooting a sunset or indoor scene with incident light only.
(2) Digital SR mode*
During still-image shooting, the Optio VS20 automatically raises its sensitivity to as high as ISO 6400 by detecting the subject’s brightness level. This user-friendly feature allows the user to capture the subject at faster shutter speeds to minimize the risk of camera shake and subject shake.
(3) Movie SR mode**
During movie recording, this digital shake-reduction mode effectively compensates for camera shake to produce beautiful, blur-free movie clips.
* When the Digital SR mode is selected, the recorded size is fixed at five megapixels (2592 x 1944 pixels).
** When the Movie SR mode is selected, the angle of view becomes narrower than normal shooting.
5. Automatic selection of the most appropriate shooting mode
The Optio VS20 features the PENTAX-developed Auto Picture mode, which automatically selects the most appropriate shooting mode for a given subject or scene by accurately assessing various photographic conditions over the entire image field. This user-friendly mode instantly and reliably selects one of 15 shooting modes (including Blue Sky and Sunset) and optimizes various camera settings (such as sensitivity and shutter speed), to assure the best results .
6. New scene modes for greater creative options
With the user-friendly scene modes, the user can effortlessly capture beautiful images simply by selecting a desired scene mode for a given subject or application. With the addition of three new modes (Handheld Night Snap, Fish-eye and Sketch), the Optio VS20 offers an even greater range of creative options. Visual-effect modes, such as Fish-eye, allows you to take pictures while confirming the level of filtering effect on the LCD monitor, making it easy to produce more personalized visual expressions.
7. Upgraded auto face recognition function with a new face recall function
The Optio VS20’s Face Recognition AF & AE function offers a new face recall function, which puts priority on a pre-registered face when optimizing focus and exposure settings. Since the main subject’s face is always captured sharply and brilliantly, this function comes in handy when taking group shots. To assist in capturing beautiful, lively snapshots, the Optio VS20 also provides other user-friendly features, including the Smile Capture mode that automatically releases the shutter the moment the camera detects the subject’s smile, and the Blink Detection function that warns the user when the subject’s eyes close at the time of shutter release.
8. High-quality HDTV-standard movie recording with pushbutton start
The Optio VS20 captures beautiful, high-definition-TV-quality movie clips (1280 x 720 pixels).*** The camera provides an independent movie recording button on its back panel, so the user can instantly start recording movie clips from any shooting mode. It also features three new digital filters (Fish-eye, Miniature and Sketch mode) to allow the user to experiment with more diversified visual expressions.
*** When the Optio VS20’s AV output terminal is used, movie clips are output as normal image-size data. If the user wishes to play back movie clips at high-definition TV proportions (1280 x 720 pixels), the data must be transferred to a personal computer for playback.
9. Large 3.0-inch LCD monitor
The Optio VS20 features a high-resolution 3.0-inch coluor LCD monitor with approximately 460,000 dots. This extra-large monitor provides a clear view of images and menus, allowing the user to quickly and efficiently check captured images and menu settings. The monitor is treated with AG (Anti-Glare) coating to constantly keep the screen clear and spotless by minimizing reflections and blocking stains such as fingerprints.
10. Other features
- Digital level and 48-segment grid display functions for easy confirmation of horizontal and vertical alignment
- Wireless remote-control shooting using an optional PENTAX remote controller
- Newly added Stretch filter to extend a particular portion of an image for an eye-catching visual effect
- 13 digital filters, including newly added Sketch mode, to add creative visual effects
- Choice of three image ratios (4:3, 16:9 and 1:1) to accommodate different applications
- D-Range setting to prevent whitewashed (overexposed) and blacked-out (underexposed) areas in an image
- Digital Panorama mode to effortlessly create a single panoramic picture from as many as three images
- Image viewing, editing and filing software included: MediaImpression 3.1 for PENTAX (Windows version compatible with Windows 7) and MediaImpression 2.1 for PENTAX (Macintosh version compatible with Mac OS X 10.7)
PENTAX RICOH IMAGING CANADA INC. is a wholly owned subsidiary of PENTAX RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD., with headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario. PENTAX RICOH IMAGING CANADA INC. markets digital SLR’s, compact cameras, lenses, camera accessories, sport optics and closed circuit television lenses. PENTAX on the web at www.pentax.ca.
