Pentax X90 Preview. Bridge and Superzoom Camera

Pentax cameras have always been know as workhorses, designed to get the shot when you need it most, they offer feature packed bodies at extremely good value. Pentax’s super zoom, the X70, was the epitome of this; with a huge zoom and a respectable amount of resolution (12 million pixels) it offered an excellent camera for the money. As with all compact cameras Pentax have replaced the X70 with the X90 after a year on the market.

As with any modern camera it often proves difficult to provide a decisive upgrade to their already extensive feature set. Therefore it comes as no surprise that theX90 is a refinement, rather than a replacement to the popular X70, offering class leading optical zoom of 26x, equivalent to 26-676mm in 35mm terms, which truly stands out from the competition.

Otherwise it sometimes seems like a little hard to pin down what Pentax have done to the camera, its subtle but major; it includes a larger battery for improved performance and slightly redesigned image sensor. As a result the ISO is the only thing which Pentax have downgraded, going from 50-6400 the X90 runs from 80-1600, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it means that both you and the camera can’t select a high ISO which produces poor quality images, image which are probably unusable by most standards.

It’s not all good with all the improvements comes a slight weight gain, this is primarily down to the extra focal length (zoom range) that Pentax have built into their latest camera, this is a very minor grain adding a little under 20g’s taking the body weight to 428g.
The Pentax X90 for all its talents still lacks the style of some it’s nearest competition and doesn’t have the same glossy feel as the Sony or Panasonic equivalents; this is especially evident in the menu which is a typical Pentax and very easy to use but nowhere near as stylish as many others.

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