Ricoh R10 Review
Review Date: October 20th 2008
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Conclusion
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Ratings
(out of 5) |
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| Design | 5 |
| Features | 4.5 |
| Ease-of-Use | 5 |
| Image Quality | 3.5 |
| Value for Money | 5 |
The Ricoh R10 builds on the winning design of its predecessor, the R8 model, by including a handful of minor new features that add up to make this the best Ricoh R-series camera yet. Taken on their own, you could probably live without the electronic leveler, ability to change the flash intensity, the customisable Function button, better hand-grip and Easy mode for beginners, but collectively they make the R10 even more intuitive and simply enjoyable to use than ever before. It may be just a humble point-and-shoot camera, but there are lots of advanced features that will appeal to more serious photographers, as well as the main family target market. Even better, all of these extra improvements are available at the reduced price of �199 in the UK - and as with most cameras these days, you should be able to buy an R10 at a lower price shortly after its launch.
So why, you may well ask, has the Ricoh R10 still only earned our Recommended award, despite now scoring 5 in three areas? There's still one big problem with this camera which there's no getting away from - noisy images. We thought the R7 had finally cracked Ricoh's long-standing problems with noise at slow ISO speeds, delivering good results between 64-400. Sadly the R8 and now the R10, with their increased resolution of 10 megapixels, have both taken a clear backwards step, with noise and blurring of detail evident at the relatively slow speed of ISO 200. I'd hesitate to use ISO 400, never mind 800, making the Ricoh R10 a camera for sunny, outdoor days only, unless you're happy to live with the noise (black and white shooters may even like the effect) or clean it up afterwards with third-party software. Chromatic aberrations and purple fringing are a bit more obvious too, and there is still some softness in the corners when using the wide-angle focal lengths.
Which leaves us in something of a quandary. While the R10 is undoubtedly a lovely camera to use, the pictures that it produces are not so great. Most of Ricoh's main competitors have recently made big strides in the image quality arena, with less noise at higher ISOs being the common theme. On the R-series at least, it seems that Ricoh are falling behind in this key aspect. Take a look at our full-sized image samples - if they look and print OK for you, then by all means you should seriously consider the Ricoh R10. Just be warned that there are now a lot of other cameras out there which produce better looking images...
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