Pentax XG-1 zooms in on the action with 52x lens

Pentax XG-1
That's a 52x zoom lens giving an effective focal length range of a staggering 24-1248mm

Ricoh has announced the launch of the Pentax XG-1, a bridge camera with a 52x optical zoom lens.

It also features a 16 million pixel back-illuminated 1/2.3 inch CMOS sensor, and finds inspiration for its appearance from the Pentax range of DSLR cameras.

The 52x optical zoom gives a 35mm equivalent focal range of 24-1248mm, which should get you very close to the action. There's also a digital zoom available of 4x, which boosts that reach up to 208x. At its widest point, the lens has a maximum aperture of f/2.8, rising to f/5.6 at the furthest reach of the lens.

On the back of the camera is a three inch 460k dot screen, while there's also a 200k dot electronic viewfinder for those who prefer traditional means of composition.

Pentax XG-1

Get close

A macro mode allows you to get as close as 1cm away from the subject, while continuous shooting of 9fps is offered for sports and other fast moving subjects. A super high speed continuous shooting mode with a maximum speed of approximately 60 images per second is also available (image size is reduced to VGA format), along with a standard high speed shooting mode of 30 images per second (image size is reduced to four million pixels).

Pentax XG-1

Full HD video recording is possible and there's a choice of digital filters, such as black and white. A range of shooting modes, including Program, Face Beautifier and Scene Mode are available.

Although it doesn't have inbuilt Wi-Fi connectivity, the X-G1 is compatible with Wi-Fi cards if you wish to add that functionality to the camera.

The Pentax XG-1 price will be around £279.99 / approx US $478 / approx AU $509 and it will be available from mid-August.

Amy Davies

Amy has been writing about cameras, photography and associated tech since 2009. Amy was once part of the photography testing team for Future Publishing working across TechRadar, Digital Camera, PhotoPlus, N Photo and Photography Week. For her photography, she has won awards and has been exhibited. She often partakes in unusual projects - including one intense year where she used a different camera every single day. Amy is currently the Features Editor at Amateur Photographer magazine, and in her increasingly little spare time works across a number of high-profile publications including Wired, Stuff, Digital Camera World, Expert Reviews, and just a little off-tangent, PetsRadar.