Pentax W80 not as good as predecessor

Happens all the time. You have a good product. You need to update it, to keep up with the Jones's constant inrush of new features on the checkoff list. Everybody else has a new model, well Gosh Darn It, we need one too! So the heck with design. Forget analysis. Too bad for engineering. Marketing, what's that? Just start coding, design, etc, and we'll let you know what the heck we are doing later. At least it seems like that.

Sadly, this appears to be the case all too often with digital cameras. We passed the inflection point in the curve regarding image quality years ago. After around 3 mega-pixels, spatial resolution of the finished file no longer was the determining factor in image quality. Unfortunately, many companies have not learned this lesson. Or perhaps they just can't get off the addiction to the megapixel marketing crack.

Case in point: Pentax makes a great little waterproof digital camera, the Optio W60. It has been out for some time now. I have had it for several months. Now, mind you, it is NOT as good as conventional digital cameras, but it is arguably the best waterproof digicam for the money.

Now, enter the "new, improved" Pentax W80, with so much more! More megapixels, that is. Seems all Pentax did was shove in a higher-resolution imager, and increase the retail price. As I have said before, this can actually have the opposite effect. And in this case it does. The new W80 is actually slower, and outputs lower quality images overall, than it's less expensive sibling. All for more money.

If you don't believe me, check out the latest review here.

And remember, newer is not always better. But, most of the time, it's more expensive. And you can take that to the bank.

tom