A go-anywhere camera that’s perfect for the outdoors, the Pentax W90 can be operated not just in rain, but submerged to depths of up to 20 feet for as long as two hours — complying with the JIS Class 8 waterproofing standard, and besting the previous W80 model by a further four feet. The W90 Pentax Camera Charger is also JIS Class 6 dustproof, and is designed to withstand a drop from four feet onto 5cm-thick plywood. That earns it a MIL-Standard 810F Method 516.5 rating. Winter sports enthusiasts will appreciate its ability to function in temperatures as low as 14 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Pentax W90 has a 12.1-megapixel sensor and a 5x optical zoom lens that spans the range from a healthy 28mm wide-angle to a 140mm telephoto. Maximum aperture varies from f/3.5 to f/5.5 across the zoom range, and as part of the shock and waterproofing the lens zoom mechanism is internal, meaning that nothing protrudes from the front of the camera. The internal lens zoom has the added benefit of meaning the camera is ready to slip back in your pocket or camera bag the moment you turn it off.
The Pentax W90’s LCD has a wide viewing angle, and includes an anti-reflective coating — two features that should help make it easier to view in difficult conditions. There’s no true mechanical image stabilization offered in the W90 Pentax Battery Charger, likely due to the potential fragility of mechanical systems with their reliance on moving parts. Instead, Pentax has opted for what it calls “Pixel Track” Shake Reduction, which essentially uses software algorithms to analyze and attempt to correct for blurring caused by camera shake.
The W90’s face detection can recognize up to 32 individual faces in a scene within 0.03 seconds, and both Smile Capture and Blink Detection functions are included to ensure your portraits look their best. The upgraded face detection system now also recognizes dogs and cats, and can be pre-programmed with up to three pet faces. Both focus and exposure systems are linked to the face detection functionality. Focusing is possible to as close as just one centimeter in Super Macro mode, which locks the zoom towards the middle of the zoom range. In the standard Macro mode, focusing is possible down to four inches across the entire zoom range.
The Pentax W90 draws power from a D-LI88 lithium-ion rechargeable battery Pentax Optio Charger, which is included along with a charger in the product bundle. Images and movies are stored on SD or SDHC flash cards, or in 26.7MB of built-in memory. The Pentax W90 also offers Eye-Fi wireless SD card support which can be configured via the camera’s own menu system, and is compatible with a new waterproof infrared remote control.

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