14 DAY TRIAL // The IT industry has managed to give the term “rugged” a meaning almost as prevalent as the main one that people will find when looking the word up in the dictionary, and Pentax is happily introducing two products worthy of it.
Rugged means, when speaking of terrain, having a broken, rocky, and uneven surface. When referring to machines or manufactured objects, it means strongly made and capable of withstanding rough handling.
Pentax made sure the Optio WG-10 and WG-3 cameras were as fit to be called “rugged” as they possibly could.
The former is a rebranded WG-1, while the latter is an update to the WG-2 launched last year (2012).
The WG-10 is actually identical to the WG-1, but has a red finish.
The WG-3 is more than a rebrand of the WG-2 though. The item has a 16-megapixel image sensor (1/2.3-inch BSI CMOS sensor) and all it needs to record video in 1080/30p and 720/60p qualities.
The 4x lens is also the same as before, with an f/2 wide-angle maximum aperture. Moreover, it uses a LED right around said lens, allowing for lighting macro shots.
As for what makes it rugged, the ability to survive being submerged underwater at a depth of up to 14 meters would secure the title on its own (46 feet), but that is just one asset.
Pentax has also made the camera shockproof (2 meter / 6.5-foot drops) and able to survive freezing (-10 degrees Celsius / 14 degrees Fahrenheit).
Finally, the Pentax WG-3 has a 3-inch 460k-dot LCD, a secondary LCD screen (shows time, barometric pressure, a compass, altitude and underwater depth), GPS tracking and Qi wireless charging.
The cameras will be up for sale in April. The WG-1 will have a price of $180 / 133.45-180 Euro, while the WG-3 will be more expensive, with a tag of $300 / 222-300 Euro. More coverage here.
