Introduction

Ease of Use

The first thing that strikes you about the WG-4 is its toughness. Sure, it hasn’t got the deepest waterproof rating in the class and it’s not quite top dog in terms of shockproofing, but the WG-4 feels more substantial than many of its similarly-specced rivals and it easily shrugged off the abuse we inflicted on it. The Tonka toy styling leaves you in no doubt that this is designed for extreme environments, however such pumped-up looks don’t exactly make this a subtle snapper.

Despite its added toughness, the WG-4 is no harder to use than a regular compact camera. Buttons are kept to a minimum in order to minimise possible water and dust entry points, with the top panel containing only the power button and shutter release. The zoom controls can be found on the rear in the form of two buttons, with playback and video record buttons directly beneath. There’s the usual four-way navigation dial too, which also controls the self timer, macro and flash, as well as accessing the WG-4’s various shooting modes. Lastly there’s a menu button, plus a green button alongside it to delete files in playback mode and also enlarge the display preview when shooting.

Thanks to waterproof seals, the buttons themselves are a bit stiff and spongy to use, requiring more of a prod than most cameras. An obvious alternative would be to use a touch screen controls, however the WG-4’s 3.0” monitor isn’t touch-sensitive. That’s no bad thing though, as capacitive touch screens won’t work underwater or if you’re wearing normal gloves and hence aren’t a great idea for action-orientated cameras. What is irritating is the monitor’s widescreen format. This works well when recording widescreen HD video. However, when shooting stills at maximum resolution in the usual, squarer, 4:3 image format, you’re left with two black bars on either side of the image preview. Consequently what’s technically a 3.0” screen ends up displaying roughly a 2.5” image. Thankfully the screen’s colour reproduction and viewing angles are very good, though it could do with a little more brightness when shooting under sunlight and the 460k-dot resolution is only average.

Front	Rear

Underneath the WG-4 sits a double-locked door protecting the battery, SD card slot, data and charging ports from accidental exposure to water or dust. The tripod mount is located in a slightly odd position at the extreme end of the camera. This isn’t the most stable location, however it’s unlikely this action-orientated camera will be spending much time tied down.

Move to the front of the camera and you’ll find a couple of nifty features. Six small LEDs encircle the lens, providing subtle illumination for extreme close-up subjects. Selecting the WG-4’s Digital Microscope mode activates them so subjects as close as 1cm won’t be cast in the camera’s shadow. The lights can also be used as a torch by pressing and holding the green button on the rear panel.

Go for the GPS-equipped WG-4 and you’ll also get a front-mounted LCD screen. It’s not here to help you snap selfies, but it will display the time, even when the camera is turned off. The screen can also be configured to show your height above or depth below sea level, as well as the surrounding air pressure.

Using the GPS function in the WG-4 GPS is a doddle and enables location data to be stored alongside each recorded image so you can map your subjects on a program like Google Earth. The system works well but can struggle to find a satellite signal in built-up areas and is rather power hungry, continuing to work even when the camera is turned off. Considering the rather average 240-shot CIPA rated battery life, you’d be wise to use the GPS function sparingly.

Top	Side

The camera’s internally-focussed lens protects it against water and shock, but it also means you don’t have to wait for the lens to extend on start-up. Consequently the WG4 is ready to roll in around 1.5 seconds and the autofocus system wastes no time in findings its mark, locking on to your subject almost instantly in good light. Darker conditions can cause things to slow a bit, but rarely does the camera take more than a couple of seconds to focus.

Now, keen followers of the Pentax/Ricoh camera line-up may have noticed that the WG-4 bears more than a passing resemblance to the old WG-3 GPS. In fact externally they’re identical, and not a lot has changed under the skin either. The only new addition to the WG-4 is a shutter priority mode to help you blur moving subjects like waterfalls, or create car light trails at night.

A new range of optional mounting accessories has also been introduced alongside the WG-4 though. Choose from an adhesive mount to stick the camera to flat objects, a clamp for attaching to handlebars or a suction cup system that’s perfect for mounting the WG-4 to a canoe or kayak. These accessories are great for making the most of the WG-4’s Full HD video capture and can also be used with other WG-series cameras. Other accessories worth noting are the lens adaptor ring that enables an optional DW-5 wide-angle lens to be fitted, plus the included carabiner clip strap for attaching the WG-4 to a bag or belt. This does a great job for its intended use, though it’s not much use as a conventional wrist strap.

Front	Battery Compartment

The WG-4 may not have gained much over the WG-3, but it has lost a feature; namely wireless Qi charging. This allowed the WG-3 to charge from an inductive charging mat and consequently reduced the number of times you’d need to open the battery/charging port door and risk water or dust intrusion. Granted, no Qi charging mat was included with the WG-3, hence the WG-4 only loses the potential to charge wirelessly, but it’s a pity that the new model is a step back in this respect.

On the subject of omissions, the WG-4 still has to make do without a panorama capture mode and the dozen Digital Filter effects you do get are edit-only processing features which can’t be applied whilst shooting.

Lastly the WG-3’s menu system remains unchanged for the WG-4. It is fairly clear and easy to navigate, but low resolution icons and fonts make it look distinctly dated compared to the competition. It’s not short on gadgets though and the useful twin-axis level on the shooting overlay makes it a breeze to compose level shots.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 16 megapixel Best JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

The Ricoh WG-4’s 16.0 megapixel, 1/2.3” CMOS sensor is carried over from the WG-3 so it should come as little surprise that the new camera’s image quality is much the same as its predecessor’s.

Photos taken at ISO400 and below stand up well to fairly close scrutiny, with vibrant yet natural colours and decent detail. Shoot a landscape scene with distant foliage and things can get slightly smeary thanks to overzealous noise reduction processing, but the remaining amount of detail is on a par with many other cameras packing the same pixel count and sensor size.

Ramp the sensor sensitivity up to ISO800 and detail takes a marked turn for the worse though, and by ISO1600 colour speckling and blotchiness are plain to see. The noise levels aren’t terrible at this sensitivity, but these days many compact cameras with similar sensors are capable of cleaner results.

You won’t have to worry about getting accurate exposures though, as the WG-4 invariably strikes a good balance between highlight and shadow detail, even if the overall dynamic range is nothing special. It’s a pity the auto white balance isn’t so dependable, being occasionally prone to producing an overly warm colour cast in high-contrast lighting.

The WG-4’s 4x zoom lens is also a little disappointing. Sure, its impressive f/2.0 maximum aperture allows for faster shutter speeds without the need for high sensor sensitivities, but less impressive is the obvious amount of chromatic aberration (purple fringing) visible in high contrast areas. Corner sharpness is also somewhat lacking when compared to detail levels in the centre of frame.

Noise

The WG-4 and WG-4 GPS have seven sensitivity settings available at full resolution ranging between ISO125 and ISO6400. Auto ISO can be capped at lower sensitivities if you’d rather avoid the high level of image noise at higher ISOs.

ISO 125 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

File Quality

Three JPEG compression quality options are available to accompany all image sizes: Good, Better & Best. The ‘Best’ setting produces images 4-5MB in file size. ‘Better’ will drop this to between 2.5MB and 3MB, whilst the ‘Good’ option reduces images to around 1.5MB at maximum resolution.

16M Best (4.34Mb) (100% Crop)	16M Better (2.62Mb) (100% Crop)
16M Good (1.58Mb) (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The camera’s 4x internally-zoomed lens boasts a focal length range of 25-100mm when converted into a 35mm camera format. The lens is also capable of a maximum aperture of f/2.0 at wide-angle.

25mm	100mm

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 a little soft at the default sharpening setting. You can change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't like the default look.

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

Chromatic Aberrations

The Ricoh WG-4 GPS handled chromatic aberrations excellently during the review, with very limited purple fringing present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the example below.

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

Macro

The WG-4 will macro focus down to 1cm and in Digital Microscope mode six LEDs around the lens illuminate extremely close subjects.

Macro	Macro (100% Crop)

Flash

Five flash settings are available: Auto, Flash Off, Flash On, Auto + Red-eye, Flash On + Red-eye. Our testing showed the flash produces some vignetting at wide angle from a distance of 1.5m, but the camera successfully eliminates any trace of red-eye.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (25mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (25mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (100mm)	Flash On - Telephoto (100mm)

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

The Night Scene shooting mode holds the shutter open slightly longer than normal to capture brighter shots in low light. ISO sensitivity is still kept high so a tripod isn’t essential, however you’ll need a very steady hand. If you’d rather a longer exposure with less noise, the new Tv Shutter Priority mode is a better bet but is more likely to necessitate using a tripod.

Night	Night (100% Crop)

Digital Filters

The WG-4 and WG-4 GPS contain 12 effects filters: B&W/Sepia, Toy Camera, Retro, Color, Extract Color, Color Emphasis, High Contrast, Starbust, Soft, Fish-eye, Brightness, Miniature Filter. However, these can only be selected and applied to saved images in playback mode.

B&W	Sepia
Toy Camera	Color
Extract Color	Color Emphasis
High Contrast	Starburst
Soft	Fish Eye
Brightness	Miniature

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Ricoh WG-4 GPS camera, which were all taken using the 16 megapixel Best 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-4 GPS

Side of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS

Side of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS

Rear of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS

Rear of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS / Turned On

Rear of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS / Main Menu

Top of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS

Bottom of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS

Side of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS

Side of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS

Front of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS

Front of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS

Memory Card Slot / Battery Compartment

Conclusion

There’s no doubt that the Ricoh WG-4 makes a very good rugged camera. Its toughness credentials may not be the best on paper, but in the hand the WG-4 feels like it’ll survive almost anything you could throw at it.

But exactly the same could be said of its predecessor, the WG-3, which is a virtually identical camera. That means image quality is unimproved and shows more detail loss and colour speckling at higher ISO sensitivities than you may expect from a ‘new’ camera.

And it’s not as if the WG-4 only has the WG-3 to worry about. The Olympus TG-3 is just as tough but adds even more features, whilst Canon’s new PowerShot D30 raises – or lowers – the waterproof bar to a 25-metre depth rating and packs a 5x zoom lens against Ricoh’s 4x optic.

Features-wise, the WG-4 can still just about keep pace with the competition thanks to its excellent digital microscope mode and large-aperture lens, whilst the GPS-equipped version is quite the adventurer’s companion with its digital compass, height/depth gauges and geolocation abilities.

This all helps make Ricoh WG-4 and WG-4 GPS good tough cameras capable of producing pleasing images below ISO800, however whilst the Pentax WG-3/WG-3 GPS is still available at reduced-to-clear prices, there’s no benefit in paying the extra for a WG-4. Once the old WG-3 stock has dried up, the WG-4 does make a tempting buy, providing its price tag undercuts its more evolved competitors.

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

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS.

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Ricoh WG-4 GPS from around the web.

Specifications

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