Pentax Optio M50 (2008)

The Pentax Optio M50 is a compact point-and-shoot digital camera announced for March 2008 shipment at a US list price of $229.95. It sat in the lower-middle of Pentax's consumer Optio line. Gizmodo called it a "pleasantly mainstream" and "mostly vanilla" offering. The 10-megapixel Optio M60 replaced it. The M50 came in silver, light blue, and pink, with an 8-megapixel sensor behind a 5x optical zoom lens. The body measured under four inches wide and just over two inches high.

The headline feature was Smile Capture, which Gizmodo described as distinguishing smiles on a subject and automatically releasing the shutter. The camera also had a digital shake-reduction system that boosted sensitivity up to ISO 6400, plus a Panorama mode for stitching images together. A Woot listing noted that the Panorama mode was included but "doesn't work quite as good as we'd hoped." An Amazon.de listing praised the overall feature set, particularly the large zoom range for successful telephoto shooting, and also said the panorama stitching fell short of expectations.

The M50 used the Pentax D-LI78 rechargeable battery (680 mAh, 3.7V). The M60, V20, W60, W80, L50, and S1 share the same cell. Documentation on the model is thin. What survives is mostly retail listings and manual aggregator pages. The ManualsLib entry for the M50 is actually ancillary to the Optio M40 page, where the M50 appears only as a related manual. No sensor type, aperture range, focal length, storage media, or weight figures are confirmed in the available record.

Today the M50 circulates mainly as a budget retro-digital pick. Listings show examples sold as-is for parts or repair, and working units with chargers turn up on resale sites. No consistent failure point or collector market has been documented.

Known specs:

- 8.0MP sensor

- 5x optical zoom

- 2.5" LCD

- Digital Shake Reduction (up to ISO 6400)

- Smile Capture auto-shutter

- Panorama stitch mode

- PENTAX D-LI78 battery (680 mAh, 3.7V)

- Colors: silver, light blue, pink

- US $229.95 at launch (March 2008)