2004, my first digital camera... It was time to take the plunge! No more two Canon bodies, one for black and white, the other for color, with three or four additional lenses and the weight of the bag with all that gear.

2005, Peru, Guatemala with a camera no bigger than a handful of credit cards, slipped into any pocket, a dream! A Pentax lens (identical to that of the Optio S) and a choice of twenty-one pre-programmed scenes would do the job.

First digital camera and first online printing of an album with 13 x 18 photos: beautiful saturated colors and perfectly satisfactory sharpness, it was a success.

However, the enthusiasm was tempered by limitations that quickly became apparent, especially after years of using high-performance film cameras:

- The startup was slow and the delay between pressing the shutter button and capturing the image was too long. Candid portraits were impossible.
- The sensitivity, which did not go beyond 200 ISO, made almost all shots unachievable if there wasn't sufficient sunlight. The flash was weak, and there was significant noise in low-light conditions.
- The focal length range, from 35 to 102 mm equivalent to a traditional SLR, was limited.
- The battery discharged quickly, always requiring a spare, and recharging could only be done on the specific USB dock. However, this dock could also be used to view the saved photos as a slideshow.

Nevertheless, it still enjoyed its days during a trip to Egypt where the light was plentiful! This camera received good scores in tests of its time, especially thanks to its Pentax lens, which oddly yielded better results than on the Pentax Optio S, even though they were identical. It also performed very well in macro mode. Additionally, it was possible to take a few shots on the internal memory if the SD card was full. Fifteen years later, its electronics still work flawlessly.