Ricoh R8 Review

Ricoh is a camera architect that tends to bathe adjoin the stream, not alone in agreement of artefact ambit but aswell in the way it schedules its artefact announcements. While all the big boys appear their new toys just afore or appropriate at PMA in Las Vegas, Ricoh absitively to delay a brace of weeks best and let the apple apperceive about the new accession to its bunched camera ambit at a rather chaste columnist event.

The R8 comes as an advancement to the R7, itself launched a simple six months ago. The new archetypal constitutes alone a adequately accessory upgrade. The key changes are the new, hardly boxier design, the assured access in megapixels (from eight to ten) and a beyond 2.7" awning which now has an absorbing resolution of 460,000 pixels. The 28-200mm equiv. zoom and 3rd bearing Smooth Imaging Engine accept been agitated over from the predecessor.

In accession the R8 comes with a amount of absorbing appearance which are rarely apparent on the big manufacturers' cameras. The affection account includes a adaptable AF/AE ambition area, 1:1 angel arrangement advantage and levels and white antithesis acclimation in analysis mode, amidst others.

In the exchange the Ricoh R8 will be up adjoin such accustomed opponents as the Panasonic TZ alternation or Canon's SX100 IS. We got one of the aboriginal R8 specimens on the barrage day and accept put it through the affliction that is the dpreview analysis process. See how it managed all the corruption and how it shapes up adjoin the antagonism on the afterward pages. As accepted let's alpha with the banderole features:

• 10.0 million effective pixels
• 7.1x (28-200mm equiv.) zoom, step zoom selectable (28, 35, 50, 85, 105, 135, 200mm)
• ISO 1600
• Optical Image Stabilization (sensor shift)
• Smooth Imaging Engine III
• Face Detection
• 2.7" LCD screen (460,000 pixels)
• Levels and white balance adjustment in review mode
• 1cm macro mode
• AF/AE target shift