Wootalyzer's Pricing Post! - The price of today's woot item is saved here for future reference
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PENTAX 16MP Optio 18X Optical Zoom
$109.99 + $5 Standard OR $9 Two-Day OR $11 One-Day Shipping
Condition: New

*DISCLAIMER* Wootalyzer! is in no way affiliated with Woot!, and this post may not always be here!

Cheapest price on Google Shopping is just under $150 dollars



Here is a Home Shopping Sales pitch!

Make sure you check out that big, hard, powerful zoom

Hit this one last time, and am in again. I love this camera.

Me no sees 2 for Tuesday Camera Non-Phones. Did me miss dat special from Olden Woots?? :'(

Camera looks retro-ish. I like it.

If you head over to Amazon there are about four reviews on the black model of this product, one of which looks to be a fairly long report on the camera.

It looks well like as well, if that helps.

Good little pocket point and shoot. Bought one 2 months ago for $30 more. Get 'em now while they are hot!

thehead71 wrote:Me no sees 2 for Tuesday Camera Non-Phones. Did me miss dat special from Olden Woots?? :'(

Well... I don't know if it counts, but the blender-cup-thingies over on sellout.woot! are a twofer.

How's the menu navigation/controls? I'm always wary of that with the older school companies

This is the easiest point and click camera I have used. The menu actually tells you what the camera setting does. The video is good and the camera seems to take good pictures too. I bought it last time it was woot. I am enjoying the camera. The down side is the battery doesn't last super long & you need a 8gb sd card minimum. Still with this size of a card if you use video it will eat up space fast. We took the camera to a wedding and I got good pictures and even good video. Basically this camera is great for the price. But consider it kind of a disposable camera. The camera seems like if dropped it will break. The plastic is super light weight and feels very fragile. The camera might be sturdier than it feels but I really don't want to test that.

Irregularcog wrote:How's the menu navigation/controls? I'm always wary of that with the older school companies

I think the controls are easy & self-explanatory. I didn't read the instructions and was able to use the camera and figure it pretty quickly. I have played around with it and am figuring some of the more advance options of the camera. But when you open the box, you will be able to use the camera immediately.

Irregularcog wrote:How's the menu navigation/controls? I'm always wary of that with the older school companies

Will the manual help?
http://www.pentax.jp/english/support/man-pdf/optio-rz18.pdf

Blergh. Got this the last time it on woot, and I am utterly disappointed. Biggest complaint: the white balance sucks big time. It's almost useless in anything other than daylight unless you manually set the white balance. Other complaints include: no manual shutter speed or aperture control, user interface is hard to use, and there are a zillion "auto" functions, none of which are all that useful. I would happily trade in the "pet" function for decent color balance, and the "face recognition" for some shutter override. On the plus side, it has a crazy long zoom, and a pretty decent macro.

jjai wrote:Blergh. Got this the last time it on woot, and I am utterly disappointed. Biggest complaint: the white balance sucks big time. It's almost useless in anything other than daylight unless you manually set the white balance. Other complaints include: no manual shutter speed or aperture control, user interface is hard to use, and there are a zillion "auto" functions, none of which are all that useful. I would happily trade in the "pet" function for decent color balance, and the "face recognition" for some shutter override. On the plus side, it has a crazy long zoom, and a pretty decent macro.

Can sneak one more in: last woot $139.99, so $30 less
http://www.woot.com/forums/viewpost.aspx?postid=4948690
bye

Bought the same camera a couple of months ago and I have already had to send it back to the manufacturer. Not sure what's wrong with it, but it would not stay on.

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PENTAX 16MP Optio 18X Optical Zoom
$109.99 + $5 Standard OR $9 Two-Day OR $11 One-Day Shipping
Condition: New


WHATEVER HAPPENED TO 2 FOR TUESDAYS ?!?!?

In the market for a new camera for vacation, but the rechargeable battery pack (and no AA option?) is a deal killer. I'm not always near an AC outlet.

Here we go again. Before you ask, this kind of camera is NOT meant to catch super indoor action shots of your kid making the scoring shot in the high school gym. The lens aperture is too small to allow a really fast shutter speed, the AF is not designed to to be that responsive, and using the external screen is not great for following action. You need to spend more money to get the right tool for the job.

And, while you're at it, invest some time in learning the basics of photography and how digital cameras work so you can make the most of your camera.

There is not yet a Magic Fairy Dust camera that will do it all for you. Maybe in a few years.

Very good camera and I promised myself next time one of these compact high optical zoom cameras came on sale @ woot I’d get one. So I did get one of these almost 2 months ago. (wish I could pay the $30 less now).
Outstanding camera.

Easy to operate out of the box. Reading the manual shows you even more. Tons of functions, and the OPTICAL ZOOM is amazing.

1 draw back in replacing my older digital. It will only take 2gb video files. So only 10 minutes at high res. I used to use my other camera as a video recorder at weddings and such. No such luck with this one.
Otherwise I highly recommend the camera.

You can get 2 spare batteries and a portable charger off of ebay for $12-$15, and a 32GB class 10 sdhc cards on amazon for $20.

Can I send mine back in and get the $30 cheaper one?

I just added a good alternative camera at Deals Woot -- a more basic Pentax for $85.99, plus $5.99 shipping. Very highly rated at Amazon, and like this one, not nearly as popular as Canons, Lumix, etc...

I bought an earlier version of this basic camera for my daughter at Woot 2 years ago - and after working with it, realized hers upstaged my Sony. Very impressed with the user interface and quality of pics.
One change that's unfortunate is my camera (I mean my daughters...) uses 2 AA,this comes with a rechargeable Li-Ion

Can you see the LCD screen outside or is it nothing but glare? Also how quickly will it take shot after shot?

I bought one of these last time and am pleased; it packs a great optical zoom into a small package and does take good pictures. Yes, indoor pictures in some areas (low light, apparently lit by incandescents) were yellow, but good white balance under fluorescents. And it is small!

I WAS very pleased to see it can use the same battery as my Sony so if it ran out I could switch 'em. And I only had to bring one charger.

Somewhat disappointed in focal distance for close-ups - no detailed flower-interior shots - though at 16MP I could crop mightily and still get these, IF the focus was just right.

How is the rear display in sunlight? With many cameras, you can't see the object you want to shoot.

I wooted a pentax point & shoot a couple of years ago, and it was a *complete* disaster. Within a month or two, the camera would not start. The issue was that the motor that drove the autofocus couldn't open the lens. So I returned it to pentax and they replaced it. Then it happened again, after a couple of months. Again, I returned it and pentax replaced it. And it happened again. By this time I was out of my warranty period.

I'm not buying another pentax point and shoot. That experience was pretty terrible.

ParadiseDave wrote:In the market for a new camera for vacation, but the rechargeable battery pack (and no AA option?) is a deal killer. I'm not always near an AC outlet.

You might check on additional batteries. I have a cannon and picked up some more batteries off eBay. It was $10 for two. They have been great.

I have a Canon and the biggest advantage is that it has a viewfinder so you don't have to use the screen (and suck the batteries). The viewfinder shows the zooming and all. I've noticed the cameras woot! has had lately have been lacking that feature.

I wouldn't buy one that doesn't have it.

As an aside, if you're in the market to replace your mobile phone anytime soon, and all you're looking for is point-and-shoot, my Samsung Stratosphere takes remarkable photos and has several different modes, including panorama. (no, I don't work for Samsung *or* Verizon!)

cltmhorn wrote:I wooted a pentax point & shoot a couple of years ago, and it was a *complete* disaster. Within a month or two, the camera would not start. The issue was that the motor that drove the autofocus couldn't open the lens. So I returned it to pentax and they replaced it. Then it happened again, after a couple of months. Again, I returned it and pentax replaced it. And it happened again. By this time I was out of my warranty period.

I'm not buying another pentax point and shoot. That experience was pretty terrible.

Wow ... That is some bad luck. Maybe they were sending you the same camera back over and over again.

Just noticed the Square Trade 3-year warranty is only $17.99 for this camera.

Not a bad deal for the warranty!

Does anyone know how the image stabilization feature is on this camera?

gouldsite wrote:Does anyone know how the image stabilization feature is on this camera?

Yup ... Right in the Woot description:

Multiple PENTAX Shake Reduction (SR) image stabilization options, including sensor-shift SR, for sharp images in any lighting

I picked up a Pentax model similar to this one a while ago here on Woot. The camera is great for point and shoot. The feature I liked the most was the panoramic shoot option. Sadly though, the camera is NOT water proof. I dropped it in the bath tub
#dontask

I picked up one of these the last time around, and I have to say that for anything other then bright outdoor or indoor using an off camera flash with optical slave this camera takes really GRAINY pictures.

Total bummer ..added orange.. now I get server error and orange is no longer an option.. anyone else having the server error issue?

I was puzzling over the focal length specs: "EFL: 25-450mm (35mm equivalent: 4.5-81mm)"

I think this is actually saying, Literal focal length: 4.5 - 81mm; 35mm equivalent focal length (EFL): 25-450mm.

In lay terms, very wide-angle to very telephoto.

testboy69 wrote:Total bummer ..added orange.. now I get server error and orange is no longer an option.. anyone else having the server error issue?

Yes--last night, repeatedly, and again this morning. It's getting old.

marymcg wrote:Yes--last night, repeatedly, and again this morning. It's getting old.

Oh, nice. I never got anything but error messages from the website--no confirmation ever there--so I kept trying to place the order. Now I have two emails saying that at least two of the orders actually went through. I only wanted ONE camera. I wonder how much of a pain in the butt this is going to be to straighten out?

Not cool, Woot. You're shaking my confidence.