As is the nature of this business the Option A20 replaced the A10 only seven months after that model had been announced (and is itself about to be replaced by the further upgraded A30). The |A10 was one of the disappointments of last year, offering typical Pentax high quality output and wealth of features but with serious performance issues that made using it frustrating to say the least. The A20 has a new ASIC (processor), two million more pixels (10.0 MP 1/1.8-inch sensor) and a handful of new features. We decided to find out if Pentax has solved the problems that stopped the A10 from being a really great camera, starting as ever with the headline features:
10.0 effective megapixels
High-performance smc PENTAX 3x zoom lens
New ASIC
SR (Shake Reduction)
Face Recognition AF & AE
Auto-tracking AF continuously focuses on a moving subject
High-quality movies with an anti-shake function
Auto Picture mode automatically determines the best settings for the shooting conditions
ISO 64-800
Shutter Priority, Manual and numerous scene modes
SDHC support
Post-shot red-eye removal... [read more]