Ricoh Caplio R4 Review
Review Date: July 13th 2006
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using
the 6M Fine mode, which gives an average image size of around
2Mb.
Noise
There are 5 ISO settings available on the Ricoh Caplio R4
which you can select at any time if the camera is in the normal
shooting mode. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise
levels for each ISO setting:
The Ricoh Caplio R4 improves slightly on the noise performance
of its predecessor, the R3. There is no discernible noise
at the slowest settings of ISO 64, as you would expect, and
ISO 100 also looks good. However, there is some noise at ISO
200, and by ISO 400 it is very obvious, together with blurring
of detail. ISO 800 is in my opinion virtually unusable.
Anti Shake
The Ricoh Caplio R4 has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows
you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other
digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of
the same subject with the lens set to the same focal length,
with the ISO speed set to 64. The first shot was taken with
anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here
is a 100% crop of the image to show the results.
As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are
definitely sharper than with anti shake turned off. This feature
really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing
a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality
50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening
applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are just
about perfect at the default sharpening setting of Normal.
You can change the in-camera sharpening level to one of the
preset levels (Sharp, Normal or Soft) if you don't like the
default look.
File Quality
The Ricoh Caplio R4 has 2 different image quality settings
available, with Fine being the highest quality option. Here
are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various
options, with the file size shown in brackets.
Chromatic Aberrations
The Ricoh Caplio R4 suffered badly with chromatic aberrations
during the review, with many images showing purple fringing
present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations,
as shown in the examples below.
Macro
The Ricoh Caplio R4 offers a Macro setting that allows you
to focus on a subject that is just 1cms away from the camera
when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows
how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact
flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.
Flash
The flash settings on the Ricoh Caplio R4 are Off, Auto,
On, Red-eye Reduction and Slow Synchro. These shots of a magnolia
coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
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Auto Flash - Telephoto (200mm) |
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And here are some shots of yours truly. As you can see, both
the Flash On setting and the Red-Eye Reduction option caused
a tiny amount of red-eye.
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Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100%
Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Ricoh Caplio R4's maximum shutter speed is 8 seconds,
which is fairly good if you're seriously interested in night
photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed
of 8 seconds, aperture of f/4.8 at ISO 64. I've included a
100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
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100% Crop |
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Overall Image Quality
The Ricoh Caplio R4's image quality is below average. The
Ricoh Caplio R4's main drawback in terms of image quality
is noise, with ISO 200 showing obvious noise, particularly
in shadow areas. The noise gets progressively worse as you
go from ISO 200 to ISO 400 and finally the completely unusable
ISO 800 setting. The Ricoh Caplio R4 did not handle chromatic
aberrations very well at all, with obvious purple fringing
effects appearing in high contrast situations. The 6 megapixel
images were quite soft straight out of the camera at the default
sharpen setting of Normal and either require some further
sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you
should set the in-camera sharpening to Sharp. The night photograph
was OK, with the maximum shutter speed of 8 seconds allowing
you to capture just enough light for most situations, and
the resulting images not showing too much noise. Macro performance
is the stand-out highlight, allowing you to focus as close
as 1cm away from the subject, although there is a lot of lens
distortion and shadowing at such a close distance. Anti-shake
is a feature that sets this camera apart from its competitors
and one that works very well when hand-holding the camera
in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of
the zoom range. The built-in flash worked OK indoors, with
little red-eye and good exposure.
 PhotographyBLOG
is a member of the DIWA
organisation. Our test results for the Ricoh Caplio R4 have
been submitted to DIWA
for comparison with test results for different samples of
the same camera model supplied by other DIWA
member sites.
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