The medium-sized A40 has a 3x zoom, a 12MP rating and digital and mechanical shot stabilization. Coolest is its ability to record in DivX, which I guess is neato for distributing your home movies on BitTorrent, but maybe won't result in high quality movies once you run 'em through iMovie or Windows Movie Maker for a second pass of squishing. Ah, like many of the cameras in this tier, it has face recognition with Natural Skin Tone mode (which turns your skin into the tone of a band-aid, regardless of race), and Half-Length Portrait mode which uses the spare pixelage above to autocrop a photo to shoulder length.

The 12.0 megapixel CCD and 3x optical zoom assure high resolution images

The triple Shake Reduction technology includes SR, Digital SR, and Movie SR

Enhanced Face Recognition Auto Focus and Auto Exposure assure properly exposed portraits

With Dynamic Range Adjustment, highlights and shadow areas will be properly exposed to show more detail

The 2.5" LCD monitor, with Bright mode and wide field of view, makes sharing images easy

High-quality movie captures MPEG-4 DivX® (640 x 480) at 30fps with anti-shake and editing functions

Wide range of automatic and manual exposure modes includes manual exposure and shutter priority modes

Intelligent zoom function enhances the digital zoom

Ultra compact and lightweight design

CAMERA HARDWARE

MODEL: Optio A40
TYPE: Ultra-Compact Digital Camera
PRODUCT CODE: 19361, UPC: 027075130135

SENSOR
Type: 1/1.7" Interline Transfer CCD w/ primary color filter
Effective pixels: 12MP
Total pixels: 12.4MP
Recorded resolutions
Still: 12M (4000x3000), 10M (3648x2736), 7M (3072x2304), 5M (2592x1944), 3M (2048x1536), 1024 (1024x768), VGA (640x480)
Movie: VGA (640x480), QVGA (320x240)
Quality levels:  (best),  (better),  (good)

LENS
Type/construction: smc Pentax Zoom Lens (7E, 5G, 2 dual aspheric lenses, 1 single aspheric lens)
Optical zoom: 3x, 7.9-23.7mm
Focal length (equiv.): 37-111mm
Intelligent zoom: approx. 3.3x (10M), 3.9x (7M), 4.6x (5M), 5.7x (3M), 11.4x (1024), 17.9x (VGA)
Digital zoom: approx 6x
Combined zoom: approx 17.9x
Aperture: f/2.8-5.4

LCD/VIEWFINDER
LCD screen: 2.5" TFT color LCD with LCD Bright Mode, 50 FPS refresh
LCD resolution: 232,000 pixels
Wide angle viewable: YES, 160° horizontal and vertical
Optical viewfinder: n/a

FOCUS SYSTEM
Type: TTL contrast detection autofocus w/ AF assist lamp
Autofocus: 5 point AF, spot, tracking, and face recognition autofocus modes available
Manual focus: YES
Macro focus: YES, macro and super macro
Focus lock: YES, by pressing the shutter release button half way
Focus range: normal 1.15' to infinity, macro 0.39-1.31', super macro 0.20-0.49'
FLASH
Type: built-in series-control auto flash
Flash modes: on, off, auto, redeye, soft flash
Effective range: wide 23' auto ISO, telephoto 11' auto ISO

STORAGE MEDIA
Internal memory: 21MB
Removable memory: SD, SDHC
INTERFACES
Ports: USB 2.0 hi-speed, AV out, DC in
Video out: NTSC and PAL
Printer interfaces: PictBridge
POWER SUPPLY
Power source: Rechargeable D-LI68 lithium ion battery
Recordable images: approx 240
Playback time: approx 250 min
Movie recording time: Approx 80 min
Audio recording time: Approx 210 min
AC adapter available: optional
PHYSICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Dimensions (W x H x D): 3.6 x 2.2 x 0.9"
Weight
Without battery or removable memory: 4.6 oz
Loaded and ready: 5.3 oz
Construction material(s): aluminum alloy
Operating temperature: 32-104°F
TIMING
Startup: approx 1.8 sec
Release lag: approx 0.005 sec
Shot to Shot: approx 1.25 FPS

LANGUAGE SUPPORT
English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Turkish, Russian, Thai, Korean, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese

IMAGE CAPTURE

IMAGE STABILIZATION
Still: sensor shift shake reduction, Digital SR Mode (ISO 3200 at 5MP)
Movie: Movie SR
METERING SYSTEM
Type: TTL
Multi-segment: YES
Center weighted: YES
Spot: YES
Exposure compensation: +/- 2 EV in 1/3 steps
ISO SENSITIVITY
Auto: 50-800 (3200 in Digital SR, 5MP), auto range selectable
Manual: 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 (3200 in Digital SR, 5MP)
WHITE BALANCE
Auto preset modes: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Tungsten, Fluorescent
Manual mode(s): YES
SHUTTER
Type: Programmed AE electronic lens shutter w/ CCD electronic shutter
Shutter speed: 1/2000 to 4 sec
CAPTURE MODES
Mode selection: Auto Picture (Normal, Night Scene, Landscape, Portrait), Program, Shutter Priority, Manual, Natural Skin Tone, Half-length Portrait (3MP), Night Scene, Movie, Voice Recording, Landscape, Flower, Portrait, Kids, Digital SR (5MP), Surf & Snow, Sport, Pet, Text, Food, Frame Composite (3MP), Dynamic Range Adjustment
Green simplified mode available: YES
Face recognition available: YES, recognize up to 15 faces in all capture modes
P/A/S/M/B: P, S, M
Date stamp: YES (not available in Green Mode)
Digital filters (capture): n/a
DRIVE MODES
Mode selection: one shot, self timer (10s, 2s), continuous, remote control (3s, 0s), multi-exposure (5MP)
Continuous shooting: approx 1.25 FPS
Self-timer: YES, 10 sec, 2 sec
Remote control: infrared, 3 sec, 0 sec (remote optional)
PLAYBACK MODES
Mode Selection: one shot, index (9 thumbnails), magnification, movie playback, sound playback, histogram, select/delete, calendar
Mode Palate: slideshow, resize, trimming, image/sound copy, image rotation, color filter, digital filter, brightness filter, movie edit, redeye edit, voice memo, protect, DPOF, startup screen, frame composite
Magnification: up to 8x, scrollable
Digital Filter Effects: color filters (13), digital filters (5), brightness filter
Movie edit: save as still image, divide movies, extract movies
FILE FORMATS
Still: JPG (EXIF 2.2), DCF, DPOF, Print Image Matching III
Movie: AVI (DivX with MPG-4), 30 FPS w/ sound, movie anti-shake
Sound: WAV (PCM), monaural

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