Ricoh Caplio R7 Review

Review Date: November 12th 2007
Author: Mark Goldstein

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Conclusion

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	4.5
Ease-of-Use	5
Image Quality	4
Value for Money	5

Just 6 months on from the R6 model, the new Ricoh R7 arrives, at first glance with very few new standout features. The increase in resolution from 7 to 8 megapixels doesn't make a lot of difference to your photos, but thankfully the new image processing engine at least ensures that quality remains the same as the R6. The megapixel increase could have resulted in noisier images, but the R7 retains the same usable ISO range of 64-400, with only the fastest setting of ISO 1600 being a complete non-starter. Chromatic aberrations and purple fringing isn't too obvious, but there is some softness in the corners when using the wide-angle focal lengths - forgivable given the versatile range that the 7x lens offers. A more effective change than the image sensor is the slightly redesigned user interface, with the new Adjust four-way joystick in particular making the R7 even easier to use than before. The Vibration Correction system is very effective, and in conjunction with the useable ISO range of 64-400, this makes the Ricoh R7 well-suited to most photographic situations. The main attractions of the R7 essentially remain the same as its predecessors, namely a point and shoot camera that can easily fit in your pocket, with a massive 7x wide-angle optical zoom lens and speedy performance that easily beats the competition. The new Ricoh R7 doesn't improve massively on the slightly older R6 (it's certainly not worth upgrading), but if you can live without any creative exposure modes, an optical viewfinder and more advanced features like RAW images, it remains a great pocket alternative or backup to a DSLR camera.

PhotographyBLOG is a member of the DIWA organisation. Our test results for the Ricoh Caplio R7 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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