Strengths: Waterproof, Compact

Weaknesses: Pictures aren't the greatest; NO VIEWFINDEWR!

Summary: Bought it to use on our cruise, takes average/above average pics as a regular camera, compact enough to take anywhere, not too small to "shake" when depressing shutter. Underwater pics were good, and yes it is waterproof, but it is hard to see what you are taking picture of without a viewfinder...especially with a snorkelling mask. I have to quafify this as the water where we were was not the clearest. Would I buy it again? Yes, meets the purpose that it was purchased. Will not replace my digital SLR.

Strengths: Waterproof, durable, fixed lens, compact ease of operation

Weaknesses: Not many, if you want more camera buy an SLR.

Summary: Reliable camera, compact lightweight durable metal case, fixed lens(no mechanicals to foul, good closures on hatches, great battery life even at very cold temps, easy, logical menus, fast boot up, quick recycle times, with a high speed card camera has very fast high speed shutter shooting about 8 pics before a full buffer. Great for action photography. Large screen viewable in all but the brightest of conditions. Good picture quality; I'd rank some of my shots with this camera as good as my Nikon D70. If you really push the iso it'll get grainy, but, it's a point shoot design. Boat, beach, skiing, fishing, hiking camping, etc., it can't be beat. I own a W10 (still use it for work) and I bought the W30 about 6 months ago. I wish Pentax had not changed the battery design as I can not interchange batteries between cameras, but the new battery style has an even longer life.

Strengths: Underwater capability. High ISO. Fairly good pictures, strong flash.

Weaknesses: Good exposure, but grainy pictures indoor because of high ISO, UNLESS flash is used.

Summary: I bought this camera because of the waterproof capability, although I have yet to take it on my cruise to test the underwater performance while snorkeling. From the few times I have used it, the pictures seem to be very good if there is enough light. It is nice that it has the higher ISO so that you can take pictures without the flash, but it seems to make the pictures too grainy if there is insufficient natural light. The problem with this is that the camera tends to try bump up the ISO to avoid using the flash, which means a lot of grainy pictures, even though it seems to have a very strong flash. It takes great indoor pictures with very little light indoors if the flash IS used, which is a great advantage over the Canon TX1 I use as my main camera. I am excited to take it on my snorkel trip and hope it performs well underwater.

Strengths: Product is great for outdoor use, wonderful detail in the pictures, and nice underwater performance

Weaknesses: Video uses Quicktime-MOV files, which is good (potentially), but it's a bit grainy, and the compression is not great.

Summary: The Optio W30 is a good investment for a basic point-and-shoot camera with the waterproof feature. But it isn't for the professional photographer that wants some of the other advancements you'll find in a straightforward digital.

Strengths: Water-proof, battery life

Weaknesses: Slow auto-focus, bulky, non-flash photo, focus and zoom noise on movie mode

Summary: Compare to my Optio W10, this camera only upgraded the water depth and extended submerging time. Otherwise, it still has the same weakness. On the contrary, the auto-focus is slower than the W10.

Strengths: Seals on seams and chambers allow this cam to get wet work underwater WITH SOUND. Extra "skins" shock resistance. Internal zoom safer than protruding types. SDHC. 30fps movie speed. Focus @ 1".

Weaknesses: Limited colors. Compact size is awkward if you have big hands. A bit pricey for 7MP unless you value "waterproof."

Summary: Pentax is known for their quality pics at affordable prices. I used to have a 35mm and loved it.I no longer worry about water splashing the camera when the kids and I take pics at the beach, pool, Disney, Busch Gardens, etc. Now I can even take a pic while a flume ride hurls thousands of gallons into us standing on a bridge at Busch Gardens.I suggest that the shock/waterproof features definitely offsets the slightly higher price for a 7MP. Lastly, I recommend adding a "skin" for more shock resistance and grip - especially for bigger hands (less than $15).

Strengths: waterproof, small size, 7.1MP

Weaknesses: a lot of noise at high ISO, above 1600 ISO is not usablelarge movie files

Summary: I had another great camera, Canon powershot pro1 which has L-lens, manual focusing and lots of near DSLR options. Sadly I never felt safe to use it: I live by the beach. Any beautiful moment worth taking picture of is mixed with sand and sea water. Eventually I sold the old one and got the waterproof Pentax Optio W30. The expectation wasn't high: Canon powershot pro1 was a $600 DC, and I paid $234 for the Pentax W30. I though I would see a great deal of astigmatism, fuzzy pictures and silly scenic modes that won't get anything right. Still, a camera usable on the beach is better than one that sits at home. At first I tested the W30 on my pet, a cat which does not settle in front of a camera. Once she notices the presents of a camera, she gets restless. W30 has a short start-up time which helps in this manner. Besides, there is dedicated scenic mode for "pet". This mode disables the flash and avoids the red-eye. The outcome was amazingly good, except a little out of focus problem: the focus was on the cat's neck instead of its face. But one cannot spot that without blowing up the picture 8 times. I also tried the camera in daylight, in the night and in well-lighted rooms. In general, its auto mode produces acceptable pictures. I cannot say they are perfect, if zoom-in enough, you can always spot something. But they are perfectly clear and well-balanced pictures if printed out on 4x6. The close shots are awesome, I tried to cover the camera with a sheet to see how its noise increases. The camera focused on the fabric and gave a clear picture! The one aspect I never expect it to achieve is the ISO 3200 advertised. I manually pushed it up to ISO 1600, the noise was horrifying and rendering nearly half of the total pixels. I won't even try the 3200. The *.mov format movie files produced by this camera are large. I did a 2-minute movie at high quality setting. The outcome is a 86MB file. The quality is very good though. And although I read from other reviews that the sound recorded by W30 can be noisy, I have not experienced such problem myself. There isn't much to say about its waterproof ability: it works. I put the camera in the shower with the water running. It works. I would recommend others to buy this camera for the waterproof capability. It is a camera I will actually take out to the beach.