Ricoh Caplio R30

#1 GARY POGODA

It would have been nice if Ricoh had listened to our R3 complaints
(i.e., noisy CCD, low resolution LCD, no AAA battery compatibility,
no 2GB SD, flimsy casing parts, etc.), but nooooooooo !!! Instead,
they crippled the R30 by limiting its zoom range and leaving off the
R3's image stabilization.

2:05 pm - Tuesday, January 10, 2006

#2 nick in japan

It's almost like there is some-kind of rule that all manufacturers must follow.. keep the pocket cameras at an inferior level of image quality, one way- or another. There is NO camera out there that has the things we want! Seems like the morons would have figured out by now that we would, indeed, pay a bit more for something that would be virtually noiseless, and alot more for something that included that, and, features to be creative. I love the LX-1, but dislike it's noise, I LIKE the Pentax S6 but, again struggle with the noise, one sized picture and inability to get to the EV tweak instantly. From what I see, there is nothing that will change until CMOS gets installed.

8:45 am - Wednesday, January 11, 2006

#3 Mario

rofl
Ricoh, we arent going to purchase the R3, so what makes you think we are even going to consider the R30 or R3000.. add as many zeros as you like, its not making any difference.
Hellooo Ricoh? Anybody home?

2:06 pm - Wednesday, January 11, 2006

#4 GARY POGODA

The fact that Ricoh added a ZERO to the R3 model, speaks volumes.

7:17 pm - Wednesday, January 11, 2006

#5 nick in japan

In all fairness to Ricoh, I own a few Richoh cameras and absolutely love them, unfortunately they are from 1976, and earlier,mostly half-frame 35mm, little beauties that have alot of nice features and have never caused any complaints.
The continued production of unacceptable pocket cameras may cause a re-evaluation of breaking out the trusty old Canon, Nikon ,and, or, Olympus, buying some new film and going the scanner route for our digital fun!

10:24 pm - Wednesday, January 11, 2006

#6 athiel

Is there a AF Light integrated?

Movies are still only 320x240, correct?

6:05 am - Friday, January 13, 2006

#7 GARY POGODA

As a rule of thumb, the R30 adds ZERO to the R3. As for an AF assist
lamp, the R3/R30 do not have one, per se. Instead, they use the flash
to fire briefly before the shot (similar to a red-eye reduction pre-flash)
in order to illuminate the subject for auto-focusing.

10:29 am - Friday, January 13, 2006

#8 athiel

Is it possible to disable "firing the flash before the shot"?
In some areas flash is not allowed (church, museum...)

5:24 am - Saturday, January 14, 2006

#9 GARY POGODA

Yes, there is a flash OFF setting.

5:48 pm - Saturday, January 14, 2006

#10 rui

Gary and Nick, I've been reading your comments/dialogues trough the last few days.
Great source of investigation (and fun) because I'm searching the right camera (for me)
The wide lens and the great features make me jump into Ricoh, first the R2, the energy question… then, the R3. By the way, its impossible to read so much “noise” about noise, no one remembers shooting 800 or 1600ASA? But that’s a different question…
I have a budget issue, I don’t want to go up or I’ll be starting to flirt the DSLR… not yet please, I’m a film user and I still have a lot to explore and learn with my F80. And I’m not searching the perfect camera either, just a small convenient P&S, the right one for my needs.
Wide makes my day so, thanks to Ricoh for cutting the other end and to make the R3 a little bit more affordable.
But I have to agreed with you, zero adds to the R3… “speak volumes”… should I wait a few more weeks to see some improvements? R4, R30s? R30v4s****??
With so many “similar” models in a short time, why not to always wait a little bit more? Dangerous this commercial strategy, isn’t it?

8:52 am - Thursday, February 9, 2006

#11 nick in japan

rui..I only have this to say, set your needs before your wants, don't vary, be patient. Noise is a real issue in all compacts if you care about ever doing enlargements. If you can wait, as Gary is trying very hard to do, please do! I suspect breakthroughs are soon to happen.
Personally, I would need 28mm on the bottom end, IS and improved noise up to ASA 400. The long end of the zoom is really not that important if you have low noise, zooming in Photoshop is alot of fun, combined with resizing, great images can be had, gotta have pixels and quality to begin with, thats the secret. Best of luck!
Semper Fi!

10:03 am - Thursday, February 9, 2006

#12 GARY POGODA

Rui, your point about waiting is well taken but the argument to wait
makes the most sense at least until after the PMA show starting on
February 26. I'm pretty much looking for the same features as Nick
but with the addition of greater than 3x zoom and easily pocketable.
My main contenders, to date, are the Panasonic LX1, Ricoh R3, and
Kodak V570. The only show stopper for any of these is image noise,
so I am hoping something better will be announced at PMA.

We'll see if it was worth the wait.

10:24 am - Thursday, February 9, 2006

#13 nick in japan

Amen, my current selections are only the LX-1 and the Kodak 570. I expect both of these models will be improved upon, maybe not this month, but soon. There is one other camera that I guess I should recommend, the Sony H1. A friend in Canada sends me images daily, he and I are very impressed!! It is a breakthrough model, "beta", experimental I guess for Sony, the attachment lenses to go wide or long are very reasonable compared to other similar cameras. A VERY nice camera!

10:47 am - Thursday, February 9, 2006

#14 rui

I hope nick is right about those breakthroughs, my needs are the same , well, a 24mm would be my bottom end goal…
The Kodak V570 as only one problem for me, the digital zoom between the 23mm lens and the 39mm on the other. Not that good, as I read at: http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/V570/V570A.HTM
The LX1 as a good but big lens to fit in the “pocket”, and don’t fit in my budget either.
The Sony DSC-H1 seems really nice, but bigger than I need. When I’ll move in that direction (size) it will be to the DSLR… not now, I keep saying to myself…
Is there a possibility that Ricoh R30 could be a “theatrical” move, maibe to give more emphasis to any little improvement prepared to PMA?
You know, the real breakthrough for me would be to keep my SLR, with the possibility of changing the media support, film or digital, on the same compartment. Like the disposable camera, should we see one day something like a disposable sensor/disk??
I know, don’t say, just dreaming…

11:55 am - Thursday, February 9, 2006

#15 GARY POGODA

I hear you, Rui. It's always something.

12:22 pm - Thursday, February 9, 2006

#16 nick in japan

rui... I dont understand what you are talking about concerning the " digital zoom between the 23mm lens................."
A long time ago there were 3 or 4 manufacturers that had a digital insert that dropped into a few selected cameras, like a roll of film. I was very interested at the time and thought that it was the perfect solution to those of us that invested alot into SLRs. It didn't pan out and the project went away, I haven't heard anything about that for a long time. Digital went in different directions. The closest thing to perfecting that dream of yours is a system that, I think Contax has, an entire back that attaches to their top-of-the-line 35mm camera. Of course the medium format backs are really a big thing now, but real pricey, I'd love to be able to afford that digital back for my Zone VI and Nikkor SW120mm F8 !
Digital advancements are hitting the news almost DAILY!, be patient and listen to what the resident guru has to say, follow his choice and I don't think you will go wrong! According to him, Kodak has the edge on image quality with the V570, I am anxious to see what Kodak will do with the next upgrade to that system, I'm addicted to 16X9 aspect, come-on kodak!!

1:39 pm - Thursday, February 9, 2006

#17 GARY POGODA

The digital zoom Rui was talking about has to do with the V570's two
lenses. The fixed lens is 23 mm, while the zoom lens starts at 39 mm.
If you are at 23 mm and start zooming, the camera will use the digital
zoom up to 39 mm, at which point the second lens will seamlessly kick
in to provide a total zoom from 23 mm to 117 mm. The problem is the
digital zoom is very pixelated. You can turn it off, but then you are left
with a jump from 23 mm to 39 mm, followed by the all-optical zoom to
117 mm. This is preferable to the digital/optical zoom combination.

5:56 pm - Thursday, February 9, 2006

#18 rui

That’s right Gary. This digital zoom between the two lenses must be improved. No doubt this a great concept, lets see the way it goes. And that 180 degree panorama, amazing performance for a camera, but I would love to see it with a landscape, not with all those perspective distortions inside a house.
Nick, I had no idea that it existed once. But that concept only would be viable with the generalization to the major part of the industry. 3 or 4 manufacturers, working to themselves can’t support it, and if it was so long ago, the digital didn’t had that quality and market either. Lets hope someone looks back…
About the 16:9 aspect, ok, if it doesn’t mean cropping a 4:3, like the cropping of the 16:9 to the 4:3 and 3:2 on the LX-1. Why not only one ratio? The larger one, anyone can crop afterwards… ok, I don’t print directly from the camera…

7:57 pm - Thursday, February 9, 2006

#19 GARY POGODA

Multiple ratios are so you can see the desired framing when shooting.

They should make the image sensor 3:2 aspect ratio. That way you'd
only have to crop a little bit off the top and bottom to get 16:9 or crop
a little bit off the sides to get 4:3.

9:05 pm - Thursday, February 9, 2006

#20 nick in japan

After you start doing shots in the wide format, suddenly 4:3 and 3:2 start looking odd! The entire visual industry is slowly moving to 16:9, especially the camcorder/TV area! The original formats will stay a big part of tradition, but, there is something very pleasing about a horizontal 16:9 aspect (more so than vertical). I seldom print in the KG size (4x6) anymore, preferring the "High Vision" wide APS print format, on a mat paper ( I dont know what terms are used in America, Japanese use alot of their own terminology, usually a bastardization of English )
I tend to like the Idea of a wide sensor, the misgiving being space, altho, Panasonic didn't seem to be worried about that factor and did a neat job of the cropping idea with the manual control on the lens barrel.
Thanks for the clarification on the Kodak zoom thing, Digital zoom has it's uses, but NOT in picture taking!!

9:33 pm - Thursday, February 9, 2006

#21 rui

16:9 format seems to be the best one for those who prefer the wide lens, horizontal I agree, it’s a more natural vision. And the history of image, still or moving, his full of technical improvements to get wider formats… I wonder why?
But we can crop freely, the same way with film, but with a much quick and easier technology. Personally I think we shouldn’t stick to the standard formats, the image will ask the right crop, if we just can “listen to her”...
In Portugal we call it mat paper too. Portuguese also have a lot of forein words, most French and English adaptations.

5:19 pm - Friday, February 10, 2006

#22 nick in japan

Standard formats are kinda like... well, "Tunnel Vision".
My new model is from Brazil, of Japanese and Italian lineage, and, of course, speaks Portugese, no English, yikes!
I gave you a wrong impression when I mentioned I had prints done in the High-Vision and on mat paper, the shop I deal with prints only the 4X6 (KG) size on mat paper, they dont use it for anything else. I suspect this is because the mat paper is so thin and is maybe intended for the picture application to a Japanese postcard, which is KG size.
I have tried , in vain, to get them to print other sizes, no luck. I love mat prints! Picture frame glass slightly frosted give a similar effect, ,very nice indeed!!

11:00 pm - Friday, February 10, 2006

#23 Emyr Williams

I am looking to buy a decent compact digital camera for up to £250 - had thought of a Ricoh. Its main use would be to take decent shots of my studio paintings at different intervals and to make it easier to put images onto a website (as mine is unfinished and clunky at the moment)Though I also want it for snaps/ hols etc - any thoughts (the Ricoh's Macro 1cm interested me as I would like to get some close up surface grain/ canvas weave shots with good colour.
Any thoughts??

2:31 pm - Thursday, February 23, 2006

#24 GARY POGODA

If you're not concerned about Ricoh's excessive image noise, then the
R3 or the new R4 would be better because of their vibration correction
function, that is, unless you plan to use a tripod.

However, you probably do not want to be using a flash for your studio
paintings, so you may want to think about a camera having low image
noise at high ISOs. For an ultra-compact, that would mean the Fuji F10,
F11, or the new F30, but I'm not sure if they would fit into your budget.
Again, if you plan to use a tripod, high ISOs is not such a big concern.

6:39 pm - Thursday, February 23, 2006

#25 Harvey Howard

I own a Ricoh XRP and for some reason the shotter pn the lens won't open up .What could cause this problem,and since I'm not a camera buff I don't know if certain settings have to be a certain way. It also has a fast
picture attactment on the bottom so so i can take lets says pictures of a fast moving object. please help a rank amature.

Thanks

5:00 pm - Tuesday, October 10, 2006