The new Pentax V20 digital camera comes with an impressive face detection technology that warns you if your subject/s blinked.

This is a great addition to a compact comsumer-level camera where many, if not the majority of shots will be of friends and family.

The Facial Recognition feature includes auto exposure and auto focus functions to automatically focus on faces and set the best exposure. A function called Smile Capture releases the shutter automatically upon recognition of a smile and Blink Detection alerts you if anyone in frame blinked so that you can retake the shot.

As far as design goes, it is slim and attractive but doesn’t really look much different to many other current offerings. It measures 97.5 x 56.5 x 23.5mm and weighs 145 grams including memory card and battery.

It has a large 3 inch LCD screen which is big and bright and takes about five seconds to power up and ready itself for the first shot. It includes Digital Shake Reduction to help eliminate blurring when used handheld.

Two other impressive features are the Auto-Macro mode which allows you to take photos as close up as 4 inches and a Panorama mode for linking multiple shots together to form a Panoramic photo.