Quite soon after Pentax had introduced the first Optio WP camera, the Pentax Optio WPi was born. The Pentax WPi at first glance seems to be a compact digital camera for the day to day 
photography if it weren’t for its ability of photographing underwater. This feature is still quite unique on current digital cameras; few manufacturers offer this enhanced creative possibility. When making the step in taking the Pentax Optio WPi as your companion underwater you can count on a functioning camera to a depth of 1.5 metres for a maximum time span of 30 minutes. The Optio WPi is waterproof conform JIS Class 8 and dustproof conform Class 5 (IP58) which means that the camera is excellently suitable for all types of weather conditions including marine sports, skiing etc. If you do want to photograph underwater for a longer period of time and deeper than 1.5 metres you’d have to look for a separate underwater case.
Pentax WPi - Optical zoom lens & Waterproof
While the previous model, the Optio WP, offers 5 Megapixels of resolution, Pentax equipped the WPi digital camera with an image sensor of 6.36 Megapixels offering 6.0 effective Megapixels. The built-in lens features a 3x optical zoom with a range of 38mm to 114mm, rather standard I’d say. Thanks to the internal optical zoom lens Pentax was able to make the camera waterproof. The lens is protected by a glass element that has to be kept clean thoroughly to prevent smudgy photos. Striking is the fact that the tiny zoom lens consists of 11 elements in 9 groups, 3 of which are aspherical elements which is certainly great. Pentax Optio WPi Digital Camera Review