Pentax Optio Z10 problems at high ISO

[gubak]

This camera is one of the few P&S cameras that sports a longer than usual 7x optical zoom within the body of the camera rather than extending outside of it. Image quality outside is decent when used at ISO 64 and 100. Indoor flash pictures are good as long as you shoot from ISO 64-200. Above that, noise is quite apparent. There are the usual preprogrammed scene functions for different shooting conditions, including a novel digital wide shot that allows you to shoot two vertically held shots and blend them together into one wide shot a la mini-panorama. The 7x zoom is quite useful and the fact that the lens does not extend beyond the camera makes it one of the smallest with this capability. Here are the complete feature list: Pentax Optio Z10 overview

Problems:

The only problem I've seen is the marginal image performance indoors at ISOs higher than 200.

[AlexM]

This has been well-documented in reviews by the different photo magazines and online photo websites. The other gripe I have about the Z10 is the "digital stabilization" which bumps up the ISO in order to get that fast shutter shot to simulate stabilization. Again you get a noisy shot. You'd think that Pentax would have CCD sensor shift in order to get real optical stabilization like their competitors.

Alex