Ricoh Caplio GX100 Review
Review Date: June 20th 2007
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 10M Fine JPEG mode, which gives an average image size of around 3.5Mb.
Noise
There are 6 ISO settings available on the Ricoh Caplio GX100 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 80 and 100, as you would expect, and ISO 200 also looks pretty good. There is some quite obvious noise at ISO 400, and by ISO 800 it is very obvious, together with high blurring of 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 80 (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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File Quality
The Ricoh Caplio GX100 has 2 different 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.
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10M
Fine (3.49Mb) (100% Crop)
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10M
Normal (2.03Mb) (100% Crop)
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RAW Format
The Ricoh Caplio GX100 enables you to capture both RAW and JPEG format files. When you select RAW mode, a JPEG is always recorded at the same time in one of three quality levels - Fine, Normal or N640. RAW files are saved in the Adobe (DNG) format, a good decision by Ricoh, as it allows you to process the files in Adobe Photoshop or any other RAW software that supports the DNG format. We've provided a few samples for you to download.
Download
Example #1
Download
Example #2
Download
Example #3
Download
Example #4
Download
Example #5
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 (Sharp, Normal or Soft) if you don't like the default look.
Original
(100% Crop)
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Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Ricoh Caplio GX100 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.
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Example
1 (100% Crop)
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Macro
The Ricoh Caplio GX100 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.
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Macro Shot |
Macro Shot (100% Crop) |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Ricoh Caplio GX100 are Off, Auto, On, Red-eye Reduction, Soft Flash and Slow Synchro. 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!
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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 shots of yours truly. Both the Flash On setting and the Red-Eye Reduction option caused a tiny amount of red-eye.
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Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash - Red-Eye Reduction |
Flash - Red-Eye Reduction (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Ricoh Caplio GX100'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 8 seconds, aperture of f/5.6 at ISO 80. I've included a 100% Crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
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Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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Anti Shake
The Ricoh Caplio GX100 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, with the ISO speed set to 100. 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 definitely 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 |
Anti Shake Off (100% Crop) |
Anti Shake On (100% Crop) |
| 1/13th |
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| 1/5th |  |
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Overall Image Quality
The Ricoh Caplio GX100's image quality is good. The Ricoh Caplio GX100'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. The noise at ISO 400 was also clearly evident in a 15x10 inch print. The Ricoh Caplio GX100 handled chromatic aberrations very well indeed with limited purple fringing effects appearing only in high contrast situations. The 10 megapixel images were just a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpen setting of Normal. 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. 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 a 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 built-in flash worked excellently indoors, with little red-eye, excellent range and good overall exposure. Overall, a good performance that is only let down by the noise levels at ISO 400 and above.
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