Pentax added the Optio E60 to its digital camera lineup this morning. The camera will have a 10.1 megapixel resolution, 3x zoom lens, and a 2.4-inch LCD.

The digital camera is exceptionally lightweight, weighing in at just 6.2 oz. with 2 batteries making it an excellent camera choice for consumers who want a small camera they can take along with them on their travels that’s not going to weigh them down.

The Pentax Optio E60 is going to come with a variety of pre-set picture modes to help users adjust their camera to different lighting conditions. In addition to the picture modes it will also have Pentax’s face detection technology that will allow the camera to detect up to 10 faces, and in-camera photo editing options.

On the manual side the Pentax Optio E60 will have a white balance setting as well as a manual focus option. The camera isn’t going to have any sort of manual exposure controls, shutter-priority or aperture-priority options, all of which have become pretty common place in small consumer cameras.

It’s pretty obvious that this camera is geared toward consumers who aren’t looking to get very much out of their digital camera, and are instead looking for something that’s going to take high resolution pictures for not a lot of cash. The Optio E60 is expected to retail for less than $140 when it hits stores in October, which is pretty cheap for a camera with a 10.1 resolution.

By skimping on the manual controls, Pentax makes the camera pretty unattractive to people who are looking for something a little more than your typical point and shoot camera. The Optio E60 also takes AA batteries, which while convenient are also not very efficient and are going to require users to switch out batteries constantly during their travels.

Other digital camera makers who’ve recently announced new compact consumer cameras include Panasonic and Samsung.

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Entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 8:08 am under Compact cameras, Digital Camera, Pentax.

Read more entries by Emily Price.