Ricoh Caplio R4

Opinion: I have owned this camera for over a year now and I have to say I still love it. It is not a point and shoot, you have to learn the camera to get the best out of it, but once you do, you will love it.
On a recent trip to Greece the pic I took with the R4 were as good or better than my H9 with a polarizer!
I have printed as large as 11 x 14 and they look great. The one complaint is the display is less than stellar but the pics always look so much better when I download them than I thought they would, so I live with it.
this camera makes you want to go out and take pictures!!

Opinion: I have had this camera for a few months and it takes awesome outdoor shots in full light! The Macro is just insane, crystal clear, zoom is also fantastic. I am so glad I bought this little gem.

Opinion: Great features in a small camera. I guess that is what everyone is attracted to
by the R4.

Here's what I like about it:

It's quick. No shutter lag to speak of. Snap focus mode makes a quick camera
exceptionally quick.
Wide angle - on it's release there weren't that many small digicams with such a
wide end and a big ol' zoom.
Macro is superb. One of the best I've ever used in this respect.

It's a great little camera, and in my opinion the R4 is better than than it's
immediate successor the R5.

It works pretty well on full auto, although I've found twiddling with it a bit,
like restricting the ISO to 100 and changing the WB to cloudy often helps.

Image quality? Pretty good for a small sensor camera. I have a Canon S3,
which received superb reviews in various magazines on it's release, and the IQ
of the R4 is no less than the Canon's. Native Black&White mode is also very
good, especially at higher ISOs.

Opinion: Ricoh's R-range of cameras are unique in offering a 28-200mm (35mm equiv') zoom lens range, with vibration correction technology, in such a small and reasonably priced digital compact. It was this spec that drew me to the R4, and I've been delighted with it. It's such an all-rounder, and nicely sized for constant carrying in my pocket. Some comments have been made about image 'noise' particularly at higher ISO settings, but I find the pictures to have a very 'film like' grain, which maintains the image sharpness. By contrast another brand digicam I own, produces slightly mushy 'grain/noise' at higher ISO which loses the noise, but detail sharpness too.
The R4 battery life has proved excellent too. I've yet to see it go flat and easily lasts me a day out shooting.
I'd say this is the best all-round small digicam on the market, particularly at the price, and I really enjoy owning and using my R4.

Opinion: The R4 produces excellent images - much better than might be expected from its size. It is an ideal complement to my fixed-focus Ricoh GR-D. For the price of two tiny cameras I get a highly portable wide range of lens utility and quality results. If the ultimate quality of a top-range dslr/lens combination is not there then the bulk, weight and price advantage means that most images will be caught with the smaller outfit as it will always be there.

The R4 has 7x optical zoom and image stabilising built in - it will run to 800 ISO without the grain being ugly but switch to b&w for high ISO and find yourself enjoying the good old days with quite acceptable images.

The construction feels a little flimsy but it has proved to be quite robust even with significant use. Even when it gets sad and worn it is not such a big deal financially to replace it when the time comes. I feel no need to upgrade models - I will just use it until it is ready to be put in a glass case.

Tom Caldwell

Opinion: Very fast, good resolution, good colours,
sometimes a bit too sharp.
But: no manual operations, no A-Mode,
no + and - settings for exposure

Opinion: A constant companion due to its' small size , photographic versatility, and very clear colorful pictures generated . After a month of ownership and about 1000 shots later , I have become very attached to the Ricoh R4 . Mine is the black version , and while not really a glamor cam , is quite esthetically acceptable . For ease of use ,it betters my Panasonic DMC-FZ20 and my Fuji E510 . Now to the positives :
1) the 28mm to 200mm zoom range is a real winner .
2) the clear,richly colored photos produced .
3) the quick access to Exposure Control and to White Balance via the Adj button . This button allows for adding two more contols , so I added ISO and Photometry. Very very handy .
4) the ability to set the cam to step-zoom positions of 28 , 35, 50, 85,105, 135, and 200 mm is sometimes very nice to have .
5) the feature of being able to set the cam to return to the user's desired default settings on restart is super .
6)So too is the on-screen warning that settings have been changed upon re-start ; if in fact new settings were used in an earlier shoot session .
7) The flash location far from the lense helps reduce Redeye . Since it projects out somewhat from the front of the cam , there is no excuse for fingers to get in the way . Simply feel it there !
8) The slight right-side curve to the body definitely helps to grip the camera .
9) The camera is fast on start-up and has minimal shutter lag .
10) I mostly use spot focus , and find it fast and accurate .
11) I find the entire array of buttons and controls
placement to be ergonomically ideal . The vertically oriented zoom lever is perfectly placed for ease of use and fast action .

Opinion: I've chosen this camera with great care, being used to SLR.
So I knew the flash is very very poor.
Unfortunatly my camera has quite often problems with banding.

But for the rest the camera is as expected: small, good zoom range and a surpricingly marvelous macro.
The IS works fine and the camera powers-on quickly.
Picture quality is high: normally the pictures are sharp and well exposed.

I must say that the high ISO pictures are not that bad: the noise reduction isn't strong so still clear pictures. With PP the noise can be reduced if needed.

I'd to learn not to worry about the almost impossibility to have control over aparture (speed can be influenced by manual ISO settings) but to be honest: FOD is rather big ("thanks" to the small sensor).

So my conclusion is that it's a good P&S camera, apart from low light situations (and that terrible banding issue).

Opinion: Had the camera 3 months now. I’m a keen amateur photographer, with a 35mm DSLR, and I spent many months looking for the “perfect” compact camera, for those occasions when you go for a stroll and don’t expect to need a camera but just might. You don’t want to drag the SLR with you, but if there IS a photo opportunity, you want to get a decent picture.

I wanted Image Stabilisation and a good zoom range, in a small camera. I wanted wide angle AND telephoto. I favoured a “big brand” camera such as Canon, but couldn’t find a model which ticked all my boxes. Then the R4 came out.

The R4 is everything I wanted. It fits in my trouser pocket. It takes wonderful pictures, with enough user control if you want it. It takes superb pictures at night in very low light (eg floodlit buildings when on holiday). It has not taken a single blurred photo so far. When I review my holiday snaps on screen, I really can’t tell the difference between my SLR and my compact, apart from the different aspect ratio. I now take it with me without hesitation, much more often than I expected to.

I thought I wanted more manual control than the R4 gives, but I realise now that there is very little point having extensive manual control over a compact camera, because the lens characteristics make aperture control (my favourite) pretty pointless. You can control the ISO speed if you want, and there is a good selection of “program modes” should you want them. I’m more than happy.

If I have any complaints, they are that the flash is not very powerful, and I would prefer an optical viewfinder. But they are minor complaints – I wouldn’t swap it for any other model, before or since. Except perhaps the R5 !

Not had a bad picture - certainly no banding etc, in over 400 shots.