Pentax's 2005 budget 6MP compact - 1/1.8-inch CCD, 3x 36-108mm equiv zoom, AA power, SD storage.
The Pentax Optio 60 was a 6-megapixel budget compact announced in July 2005 and on sale that August at around 200 US dollars. It sat in Pentax's affordable AA-powered Optio strand, and is a different camera from the slimmer Optio S60 announced the same year - the S prefix separates two distinct models.
It combines a 6-megapixel 1/1.8-inch CCD - larger than the sensors in most budget rivals - with a 3x optical zoom equivalent to 36-108mm. The rear screen is a 2.5-inch 115,000-pixel LCD, and images save to SD cards alongside 12MB of internal memory. Unusually for the class it offers aperture-priority, shutter-priority and metered manual modes plus a movie mode, and it runs on two AA cells; weight is about 130g.
The Optio 60 suits beginners and students after a cheap early-CCD compact with room to learn: priority and manual exposure modes are rare at this price, and the larger sensor helps image quality against 1/2.5-inch rivals. It is slow by modern standards and best treated as a good-light camera.
AA power makes revival easy - a set of NiMH rechargeables is the practical fix - and SD storage is still current, though stick to small pre-SDHC cards. Check the zoom barrel extends straight, the LCD is free of bright spots, the battery door latch is intact, and the CCD output shows no lines.