Pentax Optio WG-3

Overview

TechSpot Metascore

Based on 7 expert reviews

Excellent:

1
Good:

3
Average:

3
Bad:

0

Pros:

Eyecatching, aggressive styling, Improved ruggedness, Digital Microscope mode with 6 LED lights for illuminating subjects up close.
Rubberised body; Attractive styling; Good image quality
Sharp lens. Wide aperture. Short shutter lag. Waterproof to 45 feet. Macro LED lighting. Unique design.

Cons:

Struggles in lowlight situations despite bright f/2 max lens aperture, Soso image and video quality, User interface has steep learning curve, Poor battery life
Dark underwater performance; Screen scratches very easily; Slow zoom

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Last revision on February 5, 2015

Reviewers Liked

Eyecatching, aggressive styling, Improved ruggedness, Digital Microscope mode with 6 LED lights for illuminating subjects up close
Rubberised body; Attractive styling; Good image quality
Sharp lens. Wide aperture. Short shutter lag. Waterproof to 45 feet. Macro LED lighting. Unique design

Reviewers Didn't Like

Struggles in lowlight situations despite bright f/2 max lens aperture, Soso image and video quality, User interface has steep learning curve, Poor battery life
Dark underwater performance; Screen scratches very easily; Slow zoom
Noisy images. Slow to start and shoot. No dedicated battery charger

Expert reviews and ratings

Having recently tried other digital cameras designed for those who photograph underwater I did not expect too many surprises from the Pentax WG-3. Here in the introduction I can say that I was wrong, very wrong, as it has two features I have never...

By GadgetSpeak on October 23, 2013

The Pentax Optio WG-3 is a waterproof, dustproof and shock-resistant compact camera which can be used at a depth of up to 14 metres and can withstand a drop of 2 metres, cold to -10°C and a weight up to 100kg. The WG-3 features a 16 megapixel...

By PhotographyBLOG on July 30, 2013

A lot of thought has gone into the design of the WG-3, it looks like an outdoors camera and it certainly acts like one. You can drop it, freeze it and even go down to 14m underwater. Unfortunately image quality isn't as good as we hoped, detail isn't...

By ePHOTOzine on July 29, 2013

The Pentax WG-3 survived all our testing challenges and produced good levels of detail that rival the very best tough compacts in the market. Unfortunately, the WG-3 weakness is its performance underwater and it's not uncommon to end up lightening...

By What Digital Camera on June 12, 2013

The compact Pentax WG-3 is rugged, waterproof, and packs a fast lens. Its design is striking, but its images show quite a bit of noise at higher ISO...

By PC Mag on April 22, 2013

We had high hopes for the Pentax WG-3 when we first laid hands on it at CES this past January. An f/2 lens, a backside-illuminated image sensor, and sensor-shift shake reduction all seemed to point toward a waterproof camera with images that could rival...

By reviewed.com on March 28, 2013

The Pentax WG-3 packs in some ultra-cool features -- especially its Digital Microscope mode -- but it just didn't pack in enough image quality, performance and usability. Though the camera took decent pictures underwater and on dry land, it struggled in...

By The Imaging Resource on January 31, 2014

One of the fastest growing segments in the digital camera market is compact, rugged cameras. Five years ago you had just two manufacturers selling waterproof cameras (Olympus and...

By Digital Photography Review on January 01, 2006

Die Pentax WG-3 ist eine gelungene Outdoor-Digicam mit guter Bildqualität und vielen cleveren Features. Besonders hervorzuheben sind die Makrofunktion, das lichtstarke Objektiv, die Zeitlupenfunktion sowie die praxisnahen...

By CNET.de on July 16, 2013