Ricoh Caplio GX100 Review

Announced aback in March the Ricoh Caplio GX100 is clearly the almsman to the GX8, but it could appropriately able-bodied be declared as a zoom adaptation of the flagship GR-D, as it shares a actual agnate design, affection set and interface. The GX100 has several appearance to set it afar from the majority of 10MP compacts, a lot of interestingly a 3x zoom lens with an unparalleled wideangle capability, accoutrement a ambit agnate to 24-72mm on a 35mm camera. This equates to an access in the askew acreage of appearance of about 20 degrees acreage of appearance compared to the 35 or 36mm abbreviate end of a lot of bunched camera zooms - that's a huge aberration if you're cutting interiors or landscapes. The GX100 is aswell the world's aboriginal agenda bunched to action an (optional) disposable cyberbanking viewfinder, which block into the beam hot shoe and tilts upwards through 90 degrees.

Like the GR-D the GX100 offers 'SLR like' ascendancy acknowledgment to accompanying ascendancy dials, raw abduction (using the 'universal' DNG format) and a top akin of customization options. All this, accumulated with the black architecture and finish, is advised to leave abeyant purchasers in no agnosticism that this is a austere camera for austere users absent an another to an SLR that they can blooper into a anorak pocket. On cardboard the GX100 offers a abnormally ambrosial mix of features, so let's acquisition out how able-bodied it does in practice, starting as anytime with the banderole features:

• 24 to 72 mm high-performance wide zoom lens in a compact body (25mm thick)
• CCD-shift image stabilization (Vibration Correction function)
• 10.01 MP CCD
• Smooth Imaging Engine II Processor
• 7 blade iris aperture
• Tilted and removable electronic viewfinder
• 2.5-inch 230,000 LCD panel with a wide 170° view angle.
• Twin-dial control system
• Raw & JPEG capture
• Optional 19mm equivalent wide converter
• Manual, Program, Program shift AE and Aperture Priority modes
• 1 cm macro mode
• Rechargeable Li-Ion battery or AAA cells
• 4:3, 3:2 and 1:1 aspect ratio options

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