Digital Home Thoughts: Pentax Announces Optio RZ18 Travelzoom Camera

"Guess what, amateur shooters? The superzoom just got shrunk. Pentax has just outed a new compact that touts a downright impressive 18x optical zoomer (25-450mm equivalent), with the snooping lens married to a 16 megapixel sensor..."

Pentax has a new compact travel zoom out, the Optio RZ18, which packs a 18x optically stabilised 25-450mm f/3.5-5.9 lens, a 16 megapixel sensor, 3" HVGA LCD, and 720p video at 30 FPS. The camera looks nice and compact, but Pentax's recent compacts have been pretty dismal of late. Any roundup that includes a Pentax camera tends to have the Pentax placed among the last. 16 megapixels in that tiny sensor is not going to help either. Available in October for US$300.