Its newly designed, large-aperture, 4x optical zoom lens (with the maximum aperture of F2.0 at wide-angle end), high-sensitivity, back-illuminated 16 megapixel CMOS image sensor, and sensor-shift Shake Reduction system ensure sharp, high-quality, low-noise images.

ENGADGET: Pentax expands ruggedized series with Optio WG-3, Target-exclusive WG-10

The lens' wide F2 maximum, 9-bladed circular aperture enable beautiful background defocus ('bokeh') effects to rival or exceed professional-class DSLR camera lenses.

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In addition to daily use as a "pan-focus" lens featuring a wide angle, fixed f8 aperture and shallow depth of field, it is compatible with manual focusing using a lever and capable of close-up shooting as close as 30 cm.

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The PENTAX MX-1 features a 4X optical zoom lens offering a large maximum aperture of F1.8 to F2.5 and 28mm wide-angle coverage (in the 35mm format).

ENGADGET: Pentax launches brass-bodied MX-1 point-and-shoot: 12MP with 4X zoom (update: now with hands-on photos)