PhotographyBLOG Review: Ricoh Caplio RX

#1 Josh

Great review - it looks (physically) like a nice camera, and the speed makes it very appealing, but the image quality looks pretty poor, they actually all look a bit fuzzy to me (surely they should be much crisper - without necessarily having to sharpen them yourself), plus it looks like they become darker in the corners (visible in the 1st picture). It's a shame really.

9:51 pm - Wednesday, May 19, 2004

#2 David Lau

I really like the 28mm and ease of use of this camera. It is a pity that the quality of the images is not very good. I hope the higher resolution GX is better.

1:19 am - Thursday, May 20, 2004

#3 Gaijin

I was very interested in this camera because of its fast autofocus, but it disappointed me - although it usually focuses in a moment for a half-press, there is a considerable delay until the image is actually taken after you full press the shutter release. At least in the shop the AF lock confirmed by a green dot could be reached pretty fast, but the half to full press lag was unacceptable in comparison with my vintage Olympus C2040Z.

11:45 am - Thursday, May 20, 2004

#4 Prognathous

At last, a Caplio RX review! Thanks for taking the time to test the camera and write this nicely detailed review. I promise to check the site frequently in wait for the GX review...

There are, however, several points that aren't covered in the review which I'm quite curious about:

1. How would you rate the usefulness of the RX LCD screen in bright daylight?
2. Is the metering system accurate? I found the Caplio G3 to be a mixed bag with an tendency to underexpose by 0.3 to 0.7 stop most of the time.
3. Does the viewfinder include AF sensor markings?
4. The 0.12" lag is impressive, but does the camera actually bother to focus if you don't half-press the shutter release? With the G3 it seems that a full-press simply skips the AF - this is not necessarily terrible if one uses the the "street-shooter technique" of pre-focusing the subject in advance (or use the Caplios' Snap-Focus mode)

Prog.

2:33 pm - Thursday, May 20, 2004

#5 Mark Goldstein

The LCD screen didn't give me any problems in bright sunlight.

The metering system exposed correctly for 90% of the time during the review period.

No, there are no AF sensor markings on the viewfinder.

You have to half-press the shutter-button as you describe.

8:47 am - Saturday, May 22, 2004

#6 Prognathous

Thanks for your comments Mark.

I noticed something odd in this picture: http://www.photographyblog.com/images/reviews/ricoh_caplio_rx/sample_photos/RIMG0008.jpg

The right half of the picture significantly blurrier than the left part, though both are at the same distance from the camera. This is very evident in the green foliage behind the cars. Could it be that the lens was not perfectly clean?

Prog.

6:38 am - Sunday, May 23, 2004

#7 Mark Goldstein

No problem

Hmmm, I see what you mean!

It's definitely not the lens being unclean, as I made sure to clean it before shooting.

8:51 am - Sunday, May 23, 2004

#8 Clive Sterling

Very disappointing, I'm looking for the digital equivalent of the Ricoh GR1 and thought this might have been it. Any suggestions?

12:40 pm - Sunday, May 23, 2004

#9 Rik van Bentum

Good review.
Pitty Ricoh didn't get their act together on pic quality.
Besides being unsharp and very bad on fringing, their is moiré here and their as well.
They really got it wrong here on almost all points.
I am looking for an easy to use quick wide-angle compact.
The G4 Wide didn't do it for me (poor pic quality), but neither does the RX.
Come on Ricoh! Why do so good in most areas and so bad with pic quality.

10:13 pm - Sunday, May 23, 2004

#10 Gallois

Thanks for the review ;=)
Being a wide angle and pocketable camera, it might be interesting to "see" the RX results indoor (party, familly).
Do anyone experiment, and think it could be acceptable for a supplemental camera, intended for those circumstances(*) only (flash, low-light focus capability,...) ?
Michel.
"I'd like I go to a party with so little a camera, and come back with good shots"!
(*) example of those circumstances : http://www.pbase.com/papy/helen_jasonwedding

5:57 pm - Saturday, June 12, 2004

#11 Wendel

Let me comment on the picture quality issues mentioned during the review. I suspect the reviewer simply had a bad production run model because mine is sharp throughout the whole frame.
Check these:
http://galerie.digitalkamera.de/showgallery.php?mcats=all&si;=&what=allfields&name=txer&when;=&whenterm;=

Though the zoom controller is somewhat slacky for the price I paid (340 Euros) I was not able to find a better performer on the market. Since I have as well a digital contax with a very good lense at least I can report theat the Ricoh Caplio GX is doing quite well. Yes, there some CA's but not excessive.

3:30 am - Monday, June 14, 2004

#12 Julian Tan

Hi, I've posted a detailed review of teh Caplio RX if you're interested in a second opinion.

http://www.shuttertalk.com/reviews/ricohrx/index.php

7:54 am - Monday, June 21, 2004

#13 Jim

Does the new firmware for the GX solve the problem?

10:59 pm - Tuesday, July 27, 2004

#14 Stephan Dütting

Hallo, in your review on Ricoh RX you showed a picture RIMg008 wich is very unsharp on the right side. Can you explain that?
How is the picture quality in comparison to the R4 wide?
Thank you for your comments and your helpful review.
All the best
Stephan

4:26 pm - Tuesday, August 17, 2004

#15 Mark Goldstein

Compared to the Caplio G4wide, the RX isn't really any better or worse i.e. it's still not particularly good.

1:22 pm - Wednesday, August 18, 2004