One thing worth mentioning is Pentax’s new Pixel Track SR for helping minimize the effects of motion blur. Turn it on and it will track motion blur at the pixel level, determining in real time the amount of blur. Once you’ve taken a shot, it filters the effect motion has on each pixel to sharpen them and remove blur (all of this takes a few seconds after the photo is captured). In my tests it worked better than the traditional method of electronic stabilization of boosting ISO and shutter speed, as Pixel Track doesn’t introduce more noise. However, in some of my shots it sacrificed sharpness in order to remove a slight blur. So it’s not perfect, but it would be worth turning on if camera shake is unavoidable.

Joshua explains the before-and-after example images:

With Pentax’s Pixel Track SR off (left) you can see some motion blur caused by handshake. When turned on (right), the blur is gone but the rest of the photo isn’t as sharp.

We’ve established that the Pentax Optio E70 is aimed for a user who doesn’t want much control. Without being able to adjust basic settings like white balance, the E70 is at the very bottom of the camera learning curve. It offers the ease of hands-off shooting, but it doesn’t provide any room to learn either. The lack of manual controls aside, the E70 is just a slow camera. After capturing a shot, the camera will spend up to three seconds processing the image with a black screen displayed.

There are full-resolution ISO noise performance test shots and other example pictures, from macros / close-ups to still life, in the review.

Nice feature sets, wide-angle lenses, big LCD screens, and top-notch image quality are all available in new point-and-shoot cameras around the $200 mark.

The comparison pits the Pentax E70 vs nine other cameras:

1. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS25
2. Nikon Coolpix L20
3. Pentax Optio P70
4. Canon PowerShot A1100 IS
5. Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W230
6. Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS85
7. Olympus FE-5010
8. Canon PowerShot A480
9. Fujifilm FinePix Z30