Hi, I had the Ricoh R5 and returned it because of its poor autofocus in low light (indoors) and the poor flash performance (flash did not adjust to distance, near faces were white). Could you pls tell us if there is any improvement for focusing and flash with the new R6?
I've not had an R5 to compare to directly. However, I did have the R6 in some fairly low-light conditions (*cough* down the pub *cough*).
The autofocus performed adequately - not as good as daylight, but I didn't find it troublesome. Occasionally it would fail to lock focus, but no more so than most other cameras I've tried.
The flash performance can be variable though. Nearby faces were pretty harshly lit, though this is to be expected to an extent. But in general I would say the flash exposures are on the rough side - usable, but there's a fairly specific distance to get the best results. If the venue had moderate lighting though, I might be tempted to shoot at ISO800 with the stabiliser on and no flash.
thanks for the response! Sounds a lot like my old R5. Not too bad at all, but compared to the "Intelligent Flash" of my Fuji (which guarantees perfectly lit pictures even in macro mode) and its accurate focus (with focus light even in the dark) ... not really that good. It's a pity that such a well equipped cam like the R6 (or R5) fails in basic issues.
1.is the live histogram RGB. Red channel usually blows out (overexposes) before the others: color histogram
2. How well does the manual focus work, is it easy to manual focus, better than auto?
3. Too bad there is no aperature or shutter speed mode
4. Low-light noise/loss of detail performance may be dramatically worse than 'normal levels', notice the differences for example on the hybrid Canon TX1 which looks fair @ISO400 in the studio, but worse in low light-going over 400 in low-light would be awful in video mode on the TX1 I should think, http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_tx1-review/index.shtml,
Thank you for your reply. I wasn't able to find the exact reference I was thinking about as far as highlight control with the live histogram, yet it is worth nothing the validity of Ken Rockwell's point about the RGB live histogram on the Casio compacts. Better to get a good exposure without clipping red channel, than the extra step of trying to correct in PP.
Press release was somewhat vague about these features "* A new function has been added to prevent white saturation by highlighting and flashing in quick review and playback areas with high luminance values when photographing.
This reviewer shows noisy ISO400 shot which is well lit. Which does not bode well for poorly lit areas in any images taken by the R6. If only the R6 had the Fuji F30 sensor :( (but then we could say that about most compacts).
Manual focus is quite useful for macro/flower closeup shots where the autofocus fails to get the exact portion of a flower you intend to be in focus when DOF is so limited. There will always be situations where the AF doesn't get the exact focus point correct, multipoint selectable AF like on dSLR's helps, but even there you'll find some situations where you want MF to get that exact point as sharp as possible.
Last point, I wasn't aware the shuttle lag was that much of problem with the R6, perhaps a defective sample in this mini-review:
I see your point on the red channel clipping, and vibrant reds could be an issue, but I've never really found it to be a problem, even with some of my models that have bright red hair (and I do mean really bright). Maybe I'd feel different if I was trying to photograph a field of poppies, but otherwise I've not been bothered. Unless you're photographing very bright reds all the time, I'd not worry about it too much. If you adjust exposure to keep luminance just off the top end, in most normal cases the reds won't be an issue.
Regarding: "* A new function has been added to prevent white saturation by highlighting and flashing in quick review and playback areas with high luminance values when photographing."
What it means is that in image review, areas that clip the top end of the histogram (for luminance) will flash black and white. This provides a very easy visual indication of overexposed areas. This can be pretty useful and most DSLRs have had this feature for ages. It's slowly being adopted by the compacts now.
Regarding the image noise, there is some noise at low ISO in a similar fashion to many of the Fuji bridge cameras - that is to say, there is some "texture" in large expanses of colour caused by luminance noise. (I used to use a Fuji S7000 which suffered from this.) If this is only moderate, I don't consider this to be a problem in a compact - you won't notice it if you print, nor if you resize the image for screen use. If it was RGB noise I would worry, but the luminance noise is more like film grain. Notably, as you increase the ISO you get more RGB noise, which looks ugly.
I see your point about manual focus. One feature I didn't mention in the review for space reasons is that in macro mode you can move the focus point around the picture. So you could compose the shot then focus off-centre to make sure you get the right effect. That said, at 1cm range you'll need to be tripod mounted otherwise the slightest movement will push your focus elsewhere.
Finally, I don't understand that webpage on shutter lag. Maybe they have higher expectations, but I found the R6 shutter lag to be minimal once the camera was focused. It's not DSLR fast, but it's not far off. Compared to my old S7000, or the Kodak V803 I reviewed, it's blindingly fast.
I was bought R6 on 3 weeks ago. And, now the camera is not working properly. Once I press half to focus an object, the camera "hang", LCD black-out and it can't be turned off and on. I thought it was battery died, but it wasn't. Therefore, I'll need to take out the battery and put it in again until it able to off/on.
Actually, at first I bought R4. But when shoot at a specific angle, it will have a dark shadow at the Left-Top corner. And then, I was told to upgrade to R5 by the distributor. Then, the problem came from the LCD screen. When the camera charging (press half to focus or after shot photo with flash), it show shock wave on LCD screen, and it was getting worst and worst.
That's why now I'm using R6. Unfortunately, Caplio R4, R5, and R6 gave me a lot of problems. I'm going to ask for refund from the distributor. Bad experience for Ricoh Caplio models.
If you want to see the sample photo taken by R4, please reply me here. I will email to you once I see your comments.
Mr R6 Caplio - feel free to post images here in the threads - would certainly be extra informative for those who wish to see the type of problems that you've had.
Re the flash performance - it takes a bit of experimentation to get this right.
Luckily you have 6 flash options, 8 iso setting options as well as 12 exposure setting options. You can save your favourite settings for easy access as well as creating enough shortcuts to quickly change each of these.
Thankfully there is a lot of control on this camera as the scene controls aren't as comprehensive as on my pentax. Not exactly manual control but more than plenty for my needs.
The only real competitor lacks the level of control on the Caplio and is huge in compaarison.
I have now had the Ricoh for 3 weeks and have taken a lot of photos. I particularly enjoy the 7x optical zoom lens and even with an additional 2x digital zoom the photos still look good. The image stabalization certainly helps in most situations and a stand would help even more.
I get better picture quality by customizing the options and saving these as a shortcut rather than by using the default scene modes. I am very pleased so far with this camera and the level of detail it reveals.
I've found the flash too powerful indoors and have got better results by turning up the iso setting to 400 without the flash. I've not experienced noise to be an issue with these photographs. The video quality is good and smooth.
I carry the camera with me all the time - not in my shirt pocket as with my pentax optio s4i, but in my jacket pocket. It is a few milimiteres thicker than the pentax and about 3/4 of an inch longer. The camera certainly bursts into life and has a very short start up time. It also has a very good burst mode and there is a useful burst function that takes 3 quick snaps at different white balance settings - +1, 0 and -1, so that you can choose the best image. This is particularly useful at parties where you wont get a second chance to a shot and lighting conditions are not ideal.
Battery life has been excellent. In macro mode the detail I have got is amazing, allowing me to see details I cannot see with the naked eye.
I had the R4 and I found it to be a noisy camera, especially in startup, zoom, and focusing. Do you find the R6 to be noisy as well? I've had people give me startled looks when I powered on my R4 sometimes.
I don't find it a noisy camera although because start up is very fast there is a whizzing sound.
Re problem with camera locking - this happened to me once whilst on holiday. I though I had sand in it or knocked it hard once too often (whilst in its protective padded case). I tried everything mentioned above, including taking the battery out and fully charging it.
Eventually I took it back to the shop, but all they did was keep the on/off button for a few seconds, a few times, and it started working again. I did the same and more and it did not want to work for me.
Anyway it is working fine once more.
It can take excellent photos and has a decent video mode. The macro mode is fabulous. Because I don't use the flash I have saved a macro setting so that it can ake 3 consequetive shots - in case one or 2 don't come out that well.
Another useful facility allows you to take one full size shot and it then automatically generates another suitable for web publishing. It saves a bit of effort.
Well now the casio exilim v7 is out this is the only other 7 mp 7x optical zoom camera in ultracompact format. It reviews have been mixed.
I have bought the R6 a month ago and i am quite disappointed with its flash. The auto flash mode seems useless and the pictures turn out to be too bright at the front and dark at the back of the images. I need to turn off the auto flash mode every time I shoot indoor. The quality of the image taken outdoor is far more better and what I really like about the camera are its macro function and wide lens. Can anyone tell me how to take better indoor pictures with the R6? The camera will be perfect when it can take beautiful indoor pictures as well. Thank you to whoever that replies me..
