I bought one and have regretted that purchase over and over. IMHO the Pentax Optio W30 sucks big time. I sent the first camera back for repair because of the loud clicking sound the camera made while trying to focus in movie mode. It made so much noise that it would drown out any audio you were recording at the time. I asked if this was a problem they had heard of before and the tech on the phone said “No, you will have to send the camera back so we can check it out”. Spent $34.17 sending the camera back overnight shipping because I was heading for the Grand Canyon in about 2 weeks and I bought this camera specifically for the trip. I found out later that this is a problem that goes back to the W10, continued through the W20 and is still a problem with the W30. A different tech I talked to later said “That was supposed to be fixed with the W30". They WILL lie to you. They will not reimburse you for shipping even though the problem is with their camera design. None of the techs would let me talk to a supervisor or anybody else in their food chain. There were many other issues I had trying to get the camera shipped back before I left on vacation. Made a bunch of phone calls and sent a bunch of emails trying to get my questions answered. Pentax has the worst customer service I have ever encountered in my life - period.
The camera ingested a large amount of water about halfway down the Grand Canyon run and quit working altogether thereby depriving me of the pictures I would have taken had I bought another camera.
After leaving the Grand Canyon, I was heading to northern Colorado to do some paddling so I called Pentax and told them that I was on the way to their headquarters in Golden and I wanted my money back. They could keep this water filled hunk of junk and use it for a fish sinker. I called them again while I was in their parking lot to let them know that I was there. I sat in their reception area for nearly an hour before anybody, besides the receptionist, would talk to me. I thought about getting arrested while I was there, then decided against it. Finally, two guys came out with a new W30 and after a half hour of talking I finally figured out that there was no way I was ever going to get my money out of these jerks - so - like a moron I took the new camera. It has the same problem as the first camera with the video.
As to the ability to see the screen, nothing you can do will make it were you can see the screen in bright sunlight. You will be reduced to pointing the camera in the general direction of what you want to photograph and pushing the shutter button.
If you own a Pentax, I wish you the best of luck. If you don’t, I would recommend that you keep it that way. I don’t like the camera and I really don’t like the people that work for Pentax. There is a lot more to the story but I don’t need to sit here and type up another couple of pages, just let me reemphasize - the worst customer service I have ever encountered. As a matter of fact - I think I’ll take another stab at getting my money back today. I’ll let you know how it works out.
