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We clicked with:
The 7.1x optical zoom
Fast start-up times
Easy to use interface
Grain-free images in good light
Shots in the dark:
Flash is unreliable
Barrel distortion when lens extended
Competition is often cheaper
Price Comparison:
Ricoh Caplio R7
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Ricoh may not be one of the biggest names in digital cameras, but the brand has spent many years producing very solid compacts. Its cameras tend to be packed with useful features, and while they are generally far from the cheapest around, they always look good in relation to the aforementioned features. The Ricoh Caplio R7 is the latest of these cameras, and it yet again scores highly in the all-important features-to-price-ratio challenge stakes.
It seems increasingly hard for a manufacturer to differentiate its more up-market cameras from the multiple megapixel masses, so the inclusion of a 8.15 megapixel CCD in this £200 plus camera won't raise many eyebrows among the casual buyer - who has probably seen a couple of £100 snappers that offer the same.
But what may cause a stir is that this compact piece of kit boasts a 7.1 optical zoom lens - which in old money means the 35mm equivalent of 28 to 200mm, thereby covering everything from extreme close up and wide-angle landscape photography to some serious long lens zoom. Okay, so the Ricoh Caplio R7 doesn't quite go to the extremes of the 24mm-capable GX100 - but this is a very different beast that is aimed more at the style conscious market with its good looks and solid build quality.
Around the back are a selection of well-positioned control buttons, which prove to be responsive, making the on-screen menu system a doddle to navigate. This allows you easy access to the R7's plentiful tweaking options such as two different kinds of vibration control and face recognition technology - the current buzzwords in compact cameras. We particularly like the 'adj' button, which allows easy access to a host of useful control options such as exposure compensation, white balance control and ISO settings - up to ISO 1600 - although in all honesty it probably stops being useful at around ISO 400.
There's no optical viewfinder, but the 2.7inch LCD screen is impressively clear and offers good framing and reviewing options. All of this provides a solid base for this Ricoh to build from, and in operation it's as easy to use as you could want a compact to be. We particularly like the rapid start up and response times, which is fantastic news if you are the type of person who's always missing the shot of a lifetime while the ageing compact powers up - there's no waiting here!
The R7 lens is equally responsive and goes from in your face to the distant horizon in no time at all. However, as is often the case with supped-up compacts, the image quality tends to drop off a little when it's fully extended, with some barrel distortion and less detail towards the edges of the image.
This is a shame, because apart from this the R7 is capable of some very fine shots, with a particularly good grasp of colour reproduction. The new Smooth Imaging Engine III processing engine is obviously working wonders inside that neat black exterior; there's little in the way of grainess to the shots either - particularly those taken in bright sunlight, even when facing into the sun.
The white balance controls also perform well, even, and this is unusual on compacts, when left to their own devices on automatic mode. The only other major fault with the Ricoh Caplio R7 is the flash settings, which seems to have a mind of its own at times, going off full in someone's face one shot, leaving a party of people shrouded in total darkness the next - all very odd, but may have been something to do with our sample being an early review model.
Still, minor issues aside, Ricoh's R7 is yet another solid device from a growing stable of top-notch cameras. If you are in the market for a reliable, fast compact, that comes with the bonus of a limited-space defying zoom lens that is capable of getting you right up to the action without weighing you down, then the Ricoh Caplio R7 is well worth checking out.
