Pentax Optio RS1500

The Pentax Optio RS1500 'Chameleon' camera has the same system of interchangeable, customisable skins that first appeared on the RS1000. The tech specs haven't changed a bit, as this camera still has the same 14-Megapixel sensor and non-stabilised 28-110 mm lens as its predecessor. The only change is that the screws previously used to hold the perspex front plate in place have now been replaced with a circular clip around the lens.

Handling

The RS1500 is a super-small camera that has an all-plastic body. The design and the quality of the plastics used leave a lot to be desired, as the RS1500 feels almost like a disposable camera or a toy. You may therefore have trouble taking this camera seriously. The buttons barely stand out from the smooth camera surfaces, and only the protruding lens ring adds any kind of interesting feature to its endless flat planes.

The RD1500 has a low-definition TN screen with tight viewing angles, especially from below, and the lens wobbles slightly.

Responsiveness

We got a bit of a nasty surprise when using this camera in low light, as the autofocus refused point blank to focus on a subject. The RS1500 was kind enough to take a photo, but since the autofocus refused to play ball, this inevitably came out blurred.

Apart from this slight setback, the autofocus does a good job in decent light, particularly at wide-angle settings. Plus, as it's fairly quick to save photos, the RS1500 does a decent job for a basic camera.

Picture Quality

The Pentax RS1500 takes OK pictures at wide-angle settings, which are very sharp in the middle of the frame and still hold up relatively well towards the edges. Chromatic aberration is, however, visible in the corners of pictures. At telephoto settings, picture quality takes a nosedive, and photos aren't sharp anywhere across the frame.


The RS1500 doesn't come off very well in our ISO tests. Although the shots are slightly under-exposed to help mask digital noise, the image is heavily smoothed to limit granularity from 800 ISO upwards. This setting can still feasibly be used for small-sized prints, but 1600 ISO should definitely be avoided—not to mention the pretty pathetic 3200 ISO and 6400 ISO settings, in spite of the fact that the resolution is reduced to 5 Megapixels.


The lack of stabilisation is only too visible on the Barbie shot without flash, as the RS1500 pushes up to 800 ISO in order to take a clear shot. Even then though, the picture only becomes even and consistent in quality from 1600 ISO.

Video

The Pentax RS1500 films 720p HD video with mono sound that's prone to picking up whooshing air noises. There's a harsh and largely ineffective digital zoom, lots of fuzzy noise when filming indoors and transitions are really quite brutal when the lighting conditions change quickly. All in all then, the video function is nothing to get excited about.