The Pentax Optio M40 is another 8.0 megapixel point and shoot camera to be announced today. This one has a 3x optical zoom lens and 2.5 inch LCD screen.

The Pentax Optio M40 measures just 18mm in depth and is encased in an aluminium cover.

It features digital shake reduction and face recognition technologies (AF and AE) as well as 16 shooting modes including the new 'natural skin tone', 'pet' and 'food' modes.

The lens has an equivalent focal length of 36 to 108mm.

The Pentax Optio M40 has 21.9 megabytes of internal memory.

While the Optio M40 comes with an ultra-slim, metallic body of sophisticated sense, being equipped with enhanced basic functions such as 3X optical zoom, a large and easily viewable LCD monitor, and excellent operability, it also realizes much higher resolution. In addition, the Optio M40 also includes a face recognition function and an anti-shake function, for which there are high market needs, and has been created as a user-friendly model that can be broadly used by many people at various scenes.

Pentax Optio M40 Main Features:

An ultra-slim body with a sophisticated texture
By using an exclusive slim battery and making the circuit board smaller, it is possible to realize an ultra-slim body of just 18mm. High quality aluminum alloy is also used for the outer cover, giving the camera a sophisticated texture.

8.0 effective megapixels produce exceptionally fine-detailed photos
Optio M40 delivers high-resolution photos that look sharp even at large magnifications thanks to its upgraded 8.0 effective megapixels, which precisely captures images down to the finest details.

Digital SR (Shake Reduction)
A mode that reduces camera shakes and blurring of the subject when photographing still images. The sensitivity is adjusted automatically, to as high as the ultrahigh sensitivity of ISO3200, to match the brightness of the subjects. This enables for photography with fast shutter speeds, and images with less blurs can be obtained.

“Face Recognition AF & AE” function that is convenient when photographing portrait
The Optio M40 is equipped with a “Face Recognition AF & AE” functionthat automatically detects and focuses on faces, regardless of where the people appear in the photo frame. In addition, optimal exposure settings are automatically conducted so that the areas with faces are not darkened even if there is backlighting.
*Available when the photography mode is “Portrait”, or “Natural Skin Tone” and the camera is directed at people from the front

Diversity of flash photography possible
The Optio M40 is equipped with a powerful flash photography performance that enables for subjects in dark locations to be captured brightly and clearly at a distance of up to approximately 15.5m, due to a flash that uses a large amount of light and the ultra-sensitivity of “Digital SR”. It also comes with some functions such as “Soft Flash” function that prevents overexposure of people’s skin, when photographing at close distances by controlling the amount of light emitted. These functions allow diverse flash photography.

Auto Picture mode automatically determines the best settings for the shooting conditions
The Auto Picture mode lets the camera automatically determines the shooting conditions for Landscape, Portrait, Night Scene, and Normal mode and choose the optimum settings for each subject. This PENTAX original function makes photography a lot easier for users since it eliminates the necessity of making a number of individual settings.

Variety of 16 different photography modes that can be selected according to the purpose
Specific sense and subjects can be photographed using one of the 16 different photography modes such as new “Natural Skin Tone”, “Flower”, “Sport”, “Pet”, and “Food” that are set with the optimum exposure, white balance, etc., depending on the scene or subject. Selection of photography mode is very simple thanks to the unique “Mode Palette” icon displayed on the monitor.

3X optical zoom and 4X digital zoom for a maximum of about 12X magnification
The Optio M40 features a 3X optical zoom lens with a focal range covering angles of view equivalent to those of a 36-108mm lens in 35mm format, which is ideal for a broad spectrum of subjects from landscapes, through memorial photographs, to portraits. Such zooming power can also be combined with 4X digital zoom to achieve a total of about 12X zoom capability.

Large, easy-to-view 2.5-inch LCD monitor
Although the body of the camera is compact, the Optio M40 comes with a large, 2.5-inch monitor with an improved pixel number of approximately150,000 pixels. This enables for not only photography and playback to be done easily, but for settings and operations for the camera to be carried out easily as well, since the menu display is large and easy to view. The Optio M40 is also equipped with an “Economy mode” that promotes energy saving by dimming the backlight automatically after a certain period of time has passed.

Pentax Optio M40 Other features:

• Equipped with Movie SR (Shake Reduction) function, which enables movies to be delivered with high quality image rivaling camcorders
• Auto-Macro mode allows for close-up photography as near as 10cm during the normal focusing mode
• Auto-tracking AF continuously focusing on a moving subject
• New Date Imprint function for easier images categorizing
• World time function for 75 cities (28 times zones) worldwide
• Calendar Display function allows easier image retrieval based on the capture date
• Approximately 21.9MB of built-in memory
• FotoNation’s red-eye compensation function for flash shots
• Includes the ACDSee for PENTAX image viewer/image management software
• Support PictBridge, DPOF functions, Exif Print, and PRINT Image Matching III

Pentax Optio M40 Reviews

Steves Digicams reviews the Pentax Optio M40 where they write - 'as we stated with the Optio M20 and M30 earlier this year, Pentax has created yet another appealing ultra-compact digital model. With a street price of US$199 or less, good image quality, class average performance, loads of useful features (Face Recognition, Digital Shake Reduction, 13 exposure modes, etc.), and its stylish and durable metal body, the Pentax Optio M40 offers and outstanding value. Having 8-megapixels of resolution, allows you to create huge prints (13x19-inch or larger), just be sure you're using a lower ISO setting. That said, I feel the Optio M40 will be a very popular model during this upcoming holiday season.'

Digital Camera Info reviews the Petax Optio M40 and writes - 'A camera’s ability to reproduce accurate colors is a major factor in how good your photos turn out. Photos with dull colors can be boring, photos with oversaturated colors can look unnatural, and photos with inaccurate colors can look ugly. All cameras handle color differently, which is why we test color accuracy. We test this by photographing an industry standard GretagMacbeth ColorChecker test chart and comparing the known colors of the chart with the colors the camera reproduces.'

Trusted Reviews has posted their review of the Pentax Optio M40 and writes - 'The Optio M40 is only a marginal improvement over the M30, but it is not a bad little camera. It is well made, has good handling for an ultra-compact, and is extremely easy to use. It performs fairly well, and apart from the lens distortion the image quality is pretty good, especially its noise control at higher ISO settings. As before though, weak points are poor low light ability and lens distortion, but for the price it is certainly worth considering.'