Ricoh GX200 Review
Review Date: June 26th 2008
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 12M Fine JPEG mode, which gives an average image size of around 4Mb.
Noise
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Ricoh GX200 which you can select at any time if the camera is in the normal shooting mode. There is no discernible noise at the slowest settings of ISO 64 and 100, as you would expect, and ISO 200 also looks pretty good. There is some quite obvious noise at ISO 400 though, and by ISO 800 it is very obvious, together with loss of fine detail. ISO 1600 is in my opinion virtually unusable, looking good on the spec sheet, but terrible in reality. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
ISO 64 (100% Crop) |
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
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I decided to repeat the noise test for the Ricoh GX200's DNG RAW files, to find out if there were any significant differences when compared to the camera's JPEG images. The amount of noise at each ISO speed from 64-400 seems to be very similar, regardless of whether you shoot in JPEG or RAW, but at the faster speeds of 800 and 1600 the camera is applying a lot of processing to remove some of the noise that is apparent in the equivalent RAW files, at the expense of reducing fine detail. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting:
ISO 64 - RAW (100% Crop) |
ISO 100 - RAW (100% Crop) |
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ISO 200 - RAW (100% Crop) |
ISO 400 - RAW (100% Crop) |
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ISO 800 - RAW (100% Crop) |
ISO 1600 - RAW (100% Crop) |
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File Quality
The Ricoh GX200 has 2 different JPEG 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.
12M
Fine (4.19Mb) (100% Crop) |
12M
Normal (2.38Mb) (100% Crop) |
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12M
RAW (17.7Mb) (100% Crop) |
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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 a little soft at the default sharpening setting of Normal. You can change the in-camera sharpening level to one of the preset levels (Hard, Normal or Soft) or configure Setting 1/2 if you don't like the default look.
Original
(100% Crop) |
Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Ricoh GX200 handled chromatic aberrations excellently during the review, with very small levels of purple fringing mainly present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the example below.
Example
1 (100% Crop) |
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Macro
The Ricoh GX200 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is just 1cm 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.
Macro Shot |
Macro Shot (100% Crop) |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Ricoh GX200 are Flash Off, Auto, Red-eye Flash, Flash On, Slow Synchro and Manual Flash. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m. As you can see, the built-in flash is quite powerful, although there's obvious vignetting at the 24mm wide angle setting.
Flash Off - Wide Angle (24mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (24mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (72mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (72mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots. Both the Flash On setting and the Red-eye Flash option caused a tiny amount of red-eye.
Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash - Red-eye Flash |
Flash - Red-eye Flash (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Ricoh GX200's maximum shutter speed is 180 seconds, which is excellent news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds, aperture of f/2.5 at ISO 64. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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Anti Shake
The Ricoh GX200 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 and aperture, and the ISO speed set to 64. The first shot was taken with anti shake turned off, the second with it turned on. As you can see, with anti shake turned on, the images are significantly 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. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results.
| Shutter Speed / Focal Length | Anti Shake Off (100% Crop) |
Anti Shake On (100% Crop) |
| 1/6 sec / 24mm |  |
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| 1/3 sec / 72mm |  |
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Overall Image Quality
The Ricoh GX200's image quality is good. The Ricoh GX200 handled chromatic aberrations very well indeed with limited purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. Macro performance is also a stand-out highlight, allowing you to focus as close as 1cm away from the subject, although there is lens distortion and shadowing at such a close distance. Anti-shake is another 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 night photograph was very good, with the maximum shutter speed of 180 seconds allowing you to capture as much light as you need for the majority of after-dark situations. Note that the camera takes the same amount of time to process the shot as the shutter speed set e.g. 30 seconds processing time for a 30 second exposure, so 60 seconds in total. The 12 megapixel images were just a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpen setting of Normal. The built-in flash worked excellently indoors, with little red-eye, excellent range and good overall exposure. The Ricoh GX200's main drawback in terms of image quality is noise, with ISO 400 showing obvious noise and blurring of detail. The noise gets progressively worse as you go from ISO 400 to ISO 800 and finally the completely unusable 1600 setting. Overall, a good performance that is only let down by the noise levels at ISO 400 and above.
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