Ricoh Caplio R4

Opinion: I have owned the R4 for a week now, and found it very likable. Although it is not fully manual, you can store and use your own tweaks/settings each time you turn it on.

Noise reduction is minimum, which can lead to visible noise at above ISO200, but there is no smudgyness or plasticky look of over done noise reduction, and noise removal software or PP easily cleans up.

The lens has an incredible range for a small camera and the wide angle 28mm looks like it become very handy, while the 200mm zoom coupled with IS, is able to sharply catch very distant scenes.

But for me the small size is what makes all this special. It fits easily into a unobtrusive belt bag and due to its fast speed of turning on and focussing, is ready almost instantly. The low shutter lag make it even possible to catch images like birds landing etc.

This looks like an ideal travel or touring camera.

My R4 album: http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/showgallery.php?ppuser=7787

Opinion: I found it difficult to decide between R4 and Panasonic LX1, a choice based on my requirement for a decent wide-angle. I wouldn't consider a 35mm widest angle - much too restrictive! 28mm is much more important than extra tele at the other end. Frankly, I would have preferred the LX1 lens but the fact that the lens protrudes too far when switched off was a big factor for true 'pocketability'. I was concerned about the reported noise on the LX1 at modest ISO settings and was reassured by the Ricoh forum that the R4 was certainly no worse.

I am very happy with my choice of R4. Excellent outside and acceptable inside - the anti-shake effectively gives me an extra couple of stops and I have had some good zoom shots without flash inside (during piano recitals where flash would be unacceptable). Speed of response is excellent.

Battery life is excellent - in a different league from my previous Nikon 4500. I didn't need my spare battery during a 250-shot weekend which included a lot of flash and a lot of on-camera replay. Response times are a massive improvement on the 4500 (which always counted to 10 before responding after hitting the shutter).

Great size, excellent zoom. Good quality package for the money (and in UK it is a lot cheaper than the LX1).

Opinion: It's just over a year since I reviewed the R2. Then I said -

"I like this camera. It fits in a shirt pocket, has good zoom range (28-135 35mm equivalent), 5 AF points (not selectable), very fast startup and negligible shutter lag, good WB selection plus manual, writes to SD card fast, 3 saturation levels selectable, 3 sharpness levels selectable, 3 metering choices, AF/AE lock, shortcut button for 4 most-used menu items, excellent macro mode, ISO 64-800.

Pictures at the "normal" settings are less sharp and saturated than most p&s cameras at this price level which is a good thing. You can set vivid colour and Sharp if you want, or neutral and soft as an alternative. The focal length range of 28-135 is excellent and zooming is quite fast. You can set "stops" for zooming at 28, 35, 50, 85 and 135 for quick step-zoooming. At w/a there is understandably some barrelling but it's not too bad.

Although there's no viewfinder, the monitor is large and clear and has 4 display modes, one of which shows a live histogram which probably isn't telling us much. Another has a grid for horizon alignment and "rule of thirds" fans. All user settings are clearly displayed"

With the R4 Ricoh has increased the zoom range to 28-200mm, the sensor has been augmented to 6 megapixels with better noise control, the camera is smaller and lighter, battery life is better, there's spot autofocus and three new "scene" modes, vibration correction that works and saves 2 stops, the LCD is better, manual focus is now usable.

Opinion: The camera has many great features such as automatically taking 3 pics at different exposure or white balance, powerful zoom, antishake that allows the zoom to be used without tripod or in low light, good battery life, great pictures in bright outdoor conditions, and excellent macro. However the camera lens is noisy when it extends, and the focus whirling sounds and shutter sounds will be a problem for those wishing to use it in quiet enviroments like games tournaments, theatres etc. I also miss some of the manual features in my last camera (Olympus C40) such as the ability to set shutter or aperture, and the option of saving TIFF. I have had nonoticeable banding mentioned in the forums, but the is a slight purple fringing noticeable only when one examines bright and high contrast parts of a picture at the pixel level.