Pentax (http://www.Pentaximaging.com) has announced the eleventh generation Pentax Optio waterproof digital camera (US$329.95). It offers enhanced waterproof, shockproof, dustproof, and coldproof performance and features a Digital Microscope mode with LED lighting to capture small subjects.

Designed with the look of mountaineering equipment, the Optio W90 kit includes a woven web fabric strap complete with a carabiner to attach the camera to a backpack and other outdoor gear. The 12.1-megapixel Optio W90 with a 5X optical zoom (28-140mm equivalent) is waterproof to 20 feet and shockproof to four feet. Other features include: Eye-Fi wireless SD memory card connectivity; a 2.- inch LCD with 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio; movie capture in widescreen 720p HD video at 30 frames per second; and an HDMI por.

Pentax also announced the latest model in the manufacturer’s megazoom digital camera line: the Pentax X90, which has an extra-wide zoom, longer battery life than its predecessor and an electronic viewfinder. Its key feature is the 26X megazoom, super-telephoto lens (26-676mm equivalent) also designed with a Macro mode that focuses to less than one inch away to capture images of subjects that are near or far.

Other important features of the $399.95 Pentax X90, due in April, include: a 12.-megapixel sensor; 2.7-inch LCD with anti-reflection coating or electronic viewfinder with new diopter adjustment for composing and playback of images and video; Triple Shake Reduction technology that includes a high quality mechanical sensor-shift SR mechanism, Digital Pixel Track and high ISO SR, and Movie SR; high speed continuous shooting up to 11 frames per second; Eye-Fi connectivity; and an HDMI port.