Ricoh CX1

Opinion: I bought this camera when it was too expensive, now having said that it is the camera that really helped me learn about photography again, so it was a very good investment. It is a great camera limited only by it's very small sensor. This is my choice if I want a small zoom camera for daylight shooting. My only issue is that you cannot turn Noise Reduction down and it has no RAW.

Opinion: Good for bright outdoors high contrast situation. Downhill in low contrast shade. Very bad for hi iso indoor no flash situation. The noise reduction blurred important details when the whole chin smeared with facial details joined to the neck. Useless for people shots. My old Fuji FD30 and FD31 beats it hands down. Listen to Ricoh fanboys at your own peril unless you are solely into B/W. Bought it thinking that P&S cameras are all in similar IQ range and playing premium should get me the extra X. Sharp lens and great user interface though. Interval shooting is fun.

Opinion: I've been looking for years for a good point and shoot camera, one
comparable to my old digital camera from 4-5 years ago. I haven't had any
luck, because the newer cameras tend to be blurry, unsaturated, noisy - too
many pixels, I think. Picture quality seems to go only downhill as
megapixels increase.

So, looking for camera amusement, I purchased the Ricoh CX1 solely for it's
two shot dynamic range mode ("DR"). That feature turned out to be a
disappointment, because it's not very dramatic/effective, and the minor
result tends to blur without a tripod.

BUT, the camera itself surprised me! The dynamic range captured is very
good in normal one-shot mode, even without the disappointing "DR" setting.
The colors are great, and contrast, color, sharpness, and other settings are
user changeable. The automatic white balance is the best I've ever seen.
Although not capable of going fully manual, there are plenty of features to
keep me amused, including "Interval," which takes pics in user definable
increments from five seconds on up, and goes on until the battery drains
away or the card gets full. Also, "Step zoom," which allows you to zoom to
predetermined focal lengths, which helps to avoid the overly fast zoom dial. It
also comes in handy when saving your settings to "My 1" or "My 2," as you can
dial in 50mm for example, and know exactly what state your zoom will be in
when you power on. The macro mode is great fun - I've never found a better
macro in any point and shoot.

Opinion: I'm very happy with my CX1. The high quality of design and construction is obvious. Everything about it is fast and responsive. The LCD screen is super sharp and the control buttons are solid, easy to use and understand. The layout of advanced settings and menus and they way they are remembered or not remembered as appropriate is very natural. It is hard for me to use anyone else's small camera for anything other than "set to full auto, point, half-press and shoot" (then pray). With my big hands, I especially like the thumb-joystick rather than the 5 button mandala type on most small cameras. As far as image quality goes, the color accuracy and wide dynamic range are good and I don't have to think about if a picture will "work" or not as long as I think about lighting and shadows and background a little bit. The pictures get a bit noisy at high iso or full zoom, but that's to be expected. And I know I will never get a good hand held shot in low light with a moving subject. But I love the super easy and fast compensation of exposure and flash, as well as the snap and infinity focus and excellent macro ability. I must qualify my glowing review by saying than none of my photos will ever win a contest, but the ready availability of an easy to use and reliable pocket camera like this has enabled me to see and capture events and memories that I would miss otherwise. All of my pictures are for family albums (with a few portraits), landscapes and nature for web, email and small to medium size prints, so this is plenty of technology for that.

Opinion: I'm a Nikon DSLR user but am not impressed by their Coolpix range of cameras so
when in the market for a 'point and shoot' camera I had a good look around the
whole market.
The CX1 had received excellent reviews (here in UK) and I was attracted by the
styling and that amazing screen!
RAW shooting didn't interest me with a P&S so that was not a barrier.

It's a personal, subjective thing , sure, but I just love the whole interface and the
images produced are first rate - for the price I think that the spec and quality are
first class.

I've been so impressed by this camera that I've become a big Ricoh fan and decided
(eventually!) to also buy the GRDIII which I am similarly delighted with.

In fact I now carry the above two cameras around far more frequently than the
DSLR rig!

Opinion: I bought the CX1 mainly for it's 120 frame per sec. speed. It had become my favourite camera, replacing the Pana LX3.

The construction is excellent - would have been a 5 had the tripod socket been metal.

Features, a 4.5 because I'd still wish I can set the shutter speed directly. The MY1 and MY2 are very convenient for pre-setting certain parameters - like a BW or zoomed to the long end, faster this way than holding the ring around the shutter. The DR is useful on some occasions. The high speed is as advertized - just wish it's 2 or 3 MP instead of just 640x480. I don't really care about the scene and easy mode. Come to think of it - hadn't used these two modes at all in 6 months and 4000 pictures.

Image quality... for small sensor, you can't expect much better, really. The LX3 does take better pictures, but not by much. The image stabilization also not quite as good as the Pana. Macro, though is excellent and very convenient.

Ease of use : The short-cut menu is probably the best implementation among compacts. I've put the EV +/-, WB, ISO, Flash +/- to go along with the AF/AE so these five can be reached easily with a simple push of the toggle. I also like the WB adjustment after the shot is taken. One can compare the pic to the real thing right there and adjust color accordingly, and the automatic WB was quite good to begin with.

Value... not quite a 5. I'm spoiled - I got a brand new Fuji F31 at half the CX1 price.

Opinion: This is the first Ricoh consumer model (previous R, now CX) that can produce consumer-good pictures with consumer-handling. Just dial in the Easy mode, press the button, and enjoy.

If you don't like the always glossy well-sharpened, well-saturated, face-focused result, you can still take control over this beast and produce pictures with that little extra edge, and with this camera it is both fun and easy (if you understand what you are doing). It's still a consumer-grade camera though, so it doesn't offer full control, or smashing image quality at wall paper-sized print outs. But it's a really good bang for the buck, and a slim versatile companion on your road to explore they joy of photography!

Opinion: Same limitations as any small sensor camera, once you accept that though the CX1 shines. Its feature set, custimizations, and general usability are top notch. Combine that with great build, speed, and a best in class LCD its hard to beat as long as you don't want HD video.

Opinion: Bought it to replace a R8 which was to slow focussing compared to the R3. Overall very handy, fast, interesting high iso b&w, simply fun to use. Set wheel to EASY if you give it to s/o for p&s, and be prepared that there are A LOT of things to play and try, so it will need some time to tweek all for your needs. Gigantic screen quality! Excellent manual.