Introduction

Ease of Use

Since Ricoh took over the digital imaging side of Pentax products, the digital compact cameras bearing the Pentax brand name appear to have ended and now are made under Ricoh. The WG-4 variations and now the WG-20 are the first models to appear. What previously would have been part of the Pentax Optio WG series, the Ricoh WG-20 is a fully protected camera which features waterproofing to 10m depth, can be dropped from a height of 1.5m, resists temperatures as low as -10ºC and a new resistance is crushproofing to 100kg. This latter claim is difficult to compare as we can't think of another camera that specifies how crushproof it is.

It could be that all cameras have this type of resistance, we just don't know it. Still, it's good to know. Tough cameras always have waterproofing as it's arguably the most used of them all. The 10m waterproofing of the WG-20 works out at just under 33ft. It's not the best available but if you want to go deeper in the water, you have to go deeper in your pocket first. This rings true with the other protection levels as well such as the 1.5m drop tolerance which isn'tr as robust as other cameras on the market. Still, 1.5m is around waist height so will cover most accidents and children getting their hands on it.

Front of the Ricoh WG-20

To further protect the camera and its insides, any doors on the WG-20 come with a locking switch that needs to be moved before the door will open. Both doors (covering the battery/memory card slot and USB port) have rubber rings around the edges to keep moisture and dust out of the fragile inner workings of the camera.

The design hasn't changed much from the previous WG models that were Pentax branded. The WG-20 is a lesser specification than the WG-4 which we reviewed in June 2014. The WG-20 has a slightly lower 14 megapixel sensor and while offering HD video, it doesn't offer FullHD.

Rear of the Ricoh WG-20

The WG-20 does have image stabilisers, but they're the digital Pixel Track SR (Shake Reduction) which aren't as precise as mechanical varieties such as the Sensor Shift type on the more expensive WG-4.

That's not to say that the WG-20 isn't as good at taking pictures. These drops in spec are essentially to offer a more cost effective camera to users who want the extreme resistance without the price tag.

Side of the Ricoh WG-20

Thanks to the recent amalgamation, anyone used to using Pentax digital compact cameras will feel right at home with the Ricoh. Instead of doing away with Pentax completely, they've really only changed the name on the front and kept everything else the same. From the layout of buttons to the menu systems, Ricoh haven't changed a thing.

The menu system of the WG-20 only has two tabs for Shooting options and Settings. There are several pages to each tab, but it's interesting to see that there's no Playback menu available when reviewing your pictures. You can press the Mode button and bring up a screen that displays various things you can do while in Playback such as create a slide-show, add some interesting additions to each picture or edit some film footage.

The Ricoh WG-20 In-hand

Pressing the same button in shooting mode will bring up different modes to take pictures in from fully automatic to close up, underwater modes and other modes typically found on cameras of the past, such as sports, low light and pet modes.

Start up time from the powered off position to focusing and taking a photo is around 2.3sec which is a little slow by today's standards of around 1.8sec. There are two continuous modes. Well, one is a continuous mode and will take steady images at around 0.6 fps (frames per second). The other is a burst mode and will take a rapid succession of images. In fact it rattles off 19 pictures in a ten second period equating to an average of 1.9fps. That's a lot nicer to think about, but it comes at a price. Namely the resolution dropping to a modest 5 megapixel. Put yourself in a situation; you're watching a motor race and you take a rapid succession of images as a car whirrs past, you then have to wait a further 15 seconds before the camera has finished processing the photographs onto the memory card so you can shoot again. 15 seconds is nothing right? In fast paced sports, it's a life time and a lot of other things can happen while the camera is essentially inoperable.

Shooting Modes

On many digital compact cameras, playback can be operated via the Playback button whether the camera is on or off. However, on the WG-20 this can't be done when the camera is powered down. We're in two minds as to whether it's a big deal or not. You see, the only real reason why you'd want to have the rest of the camera off is to stop the lens sticking out, but then the lens doesn't come out of the WG-20 so as to ensure it's waterproofing. So given that nothing physically moves, then most of the operations would use the same amount of power. Is it a problem that you have to power the camera on first? Not really, it just goes against habits that have been around for over a decade and old habits die hard. 

Upon opening the box, you'll find a selection of paperwork including a Quick Start guide, warranty information and cleaning guide for removing dust and salt water which – in time – can erode the rubber seals. Underneath the inner lid, the camera comes with a rechargeable lithium ion battery, USB lead, wrist strap and charger with separate lead. Those of you thinking of taking the camera out on your travels might consider this a game changer as it means the charging unit will take up precious space. There's a small black plastic ring in the box which looks like a filter adapter, but is in fact a macro stand. The idea is that you enable the macro ring LED lights in the Main menu and attach the adapter. You can then rest the camera on whatever surface and it keeps the lens 1cm away from it's subject while the LEDs light up the closed area which would otherwise be black.  The CD which is also enclosed comes with Arcsoft MediaImpression 3.6.1 LE for Windows and version 2.2 LE for Mac. Presumably LE stands for Lite Edition, so will be a clipped version of a more powerful program that is available to buy.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 14 megapixel JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

Noise

Sometimes it just goes to show that any pre-judgements you have about a camera can be thwarted with the results of a few test pictures. You see, the WG-20 is a budget version of the waterproof tough series from Ricoh and generally when a camera finds itself in this scenario, it falls at the image quality test.

However, the low ISO image results from the WG-20 are very good, if not excellent. Images are super sharp, finely detailed and have no noise showing through whatsoever. The lowest setting is ISO 80 so pushing the setting to ISO 100 isn't going to make any difference with it only being around a third of a stop difference in exposure. The test image confirms our suspicions as well, with identical results. This is great news as it will allow you to select a slightly faster ISO for that low light shot without the need for stabilisation, such as a tripod. In fact, ISO 200 has such a minuscule drop in image quality that you have to be really going over the image with a fine tooth comb to see it.

ISO 400 sees the biggest drop in quality with a loss of detail in the darker area of the bellows on the vintage camera. Edges are still satisfactorily sharp though. From this point, the quality sees a sharp decline with the camera really not coping well with high ISO. The noise reduction software seems to be weak as it can't cope well with the interference of noise at all. It begins to knock down colour at ISO 800 to try and sedate the colour noise invading the images but it can still be seen happening.

ISO 1600 sees a large drop in bright colour. Noise strikes with a pincer movement of colour noise in the darker areas and salt & pepper noise in the mid tones destroying edge detail. At ISO 3200, Ricoh have programmed the camera to drop its resolution to 5 megapixels in order to try and stem the noise that's invading the image. With that, ISO 3200 looks like a lower resolution version of ISO 1600. By ISO 6400, green noise has invaded most area and all but high contrast detail is lost.

ISO 80 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The camera’s 5x internally-zoomed lens boasts a focal length range of 28-140mm when converted into a 35mm camera format.

28mm	140mm

Sharpening

Pictures on the WG-20 do seem sharp, but put them into an editing suite, such as Adobe Photoshop and they definitely benefit from adding even some standard sharpening.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)
Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

We had some real trouble finding chromatic aberration, which is great as it signifies a good lens. In all honesty, we expected more than what we got because of the price point and that the lens has a piece of glass over the front of it and no-one seems to know if this glass is any good or not. Or whether its close proximity to the lens will affect it at all. We thought maybe not. But that doesn't matter, because the reality of chroma is so slight and only appears at really high contrast edges right at the edge of the frame.

Chromatic Aberrations 1 (100% Crop)	Chromatic Aberrations 2 (100% Crop)

Macro

There are two macro functions; Macro and Supermacro. In macro you can get to around 5cm while the Supermacro gets to 1cm but the zoom is limited to 1.8x.

Macro	Macro (100% Crop)
SuperMacro	SuperMacro (100% Crop)

Flash

When displayed on the back of the camera, the pictures don't appear to suffer from any vignetting when the flash is off, but view them on a computer and it's a lot more noticeable. It disappears as the zoom is used and isn't present at full 5x optical zoom. Using the flash makes the vignetting worse at wide-angle and is also seen slightly at full zoom.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (28mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (140mm)	Flash On - Telephoto (140mm)

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, both the Flash On or the Red-eye-Reduction settings caused a tiny amount of red-eye.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red-eye Reduction	Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

If you like night shots, you can select the Night scene mode in the Mode menu of the camera. This mode will allow the camera to take longer shutter speeds to allow more light to pass. So if you shoot at ISO 80 in Program, the images will likely come out darker.

Night Scene	Night Scene (100% Crop)
Night ISO Auto	Night ISO Auto (100% Crop)
Night ISO100	Night ISO100 (100% Crop)

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Ricoh WG-20 camera, which were all taken using the 14 megapixel JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Ricoh WG-20

Side of the Ricoh WG-20

Side of the Ricoh WG-20

Rear of the Ricoh WG-20

Rear of the Ricoh WG-20 / Image Displayed

Rear of the Ricoh WG-20 / Turned On

Rear of the Ricoh WG-20 / Shooting Modes

Rear of the Ricoh WG-20 / Main Menu

Rear of the Ricoh WG-20 / Main Menu

Top of the Ricoh WG-20

Bottom of the Ricoh WG-20

Side of the Ricoh WG-20

Side of the Ricoh WG-20

Front of the Ricoh WG-20

Side of the Ricoh WG-20

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

When producing a camera at this price level, the manufacturer has a tough decision to make. You see, the camera has to be able to perform in low light or it's no good as an extreme camera. So they add on the high ISO settings. But the noise is so bad from the small sensor with all those pixels crowded in together, that they have no choice but to lower the resolution so that the pixels in use are spaced further apart. This in turn reduces a certain type of noise that is created by heat from neighbouring pixels being so close together. But what of the other types of noise that are still present and causing a nuisance. The manufacturer could introduce a better noise reduction system but that would invariably raise the price. So they do what they can and for all intents and purposes, the WG-20 doesn't give a bad result.

We really need to look at the bare facts. It's a budget tough camera that will allow you to take pictures of fish and your snow boarding chums without breaking the bank. The trade off is that you get noise if you don't – or can't – use the flash. Most people don't bother with noise these days, or mobile phones wouldn't be half as successful as they are at replacing cameras. So we think it's a fair trade.

For a fully waterproof camera that can be dropped and generally abused, the WG-20 offers good value for money. It doesn't proclaim to be the best in tough cameras and it's a good job because there are other cameras out there that can go deeper and be dropped by taller people. The real drawback is the separate battery charger that could put off people looking for a camera to travel with because of the extra space.

However, if you're looking for a budget tough camera that produces decent enough pictures at mid to high ISO, then take a look at the Ricoh WG-20.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	3.5
Features	3.5
Ease-of-use	4
Image quality	3.5
Value for money	4

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Ricoh WG-20.

Specifications

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