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We clicked with:
Excellent build quality
Responsive performance
Lens quality
Vivid images to ISO 400
Overall ergonomics
Shots in the dark:
No hot shoe
No viewfinder
High ISO better than before, but not by much
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Unlike most tests, this one created several specific requests. This is in many respects tribute both the Ricoh and its loyal following - most £250 cameras pass relatively unnoticed compared to DSLR on review sites. The R8 is clearly Something Special.
First, an apology. In our rush to get the camera review out as fast as possible, schoolboy-grade errors went into the main review. Part of this is due to reviewing the Ricoh R8 only seconds after its battery charged up. It also proves that even consumer electronics journalists sometimes suffer RTFM errors.
However, having Read The F-ing Manual, it's clear that there's no Manual exposure mode. Instead, we have Programmed AE, with a useful degree of exposure control, through a combination of ISO control, evaluative, centre-weighted and spot metering, exposure compensation (the usual -2EV to +2EV, in 0.3EV steps) and - which is where the on-the-fly confusion came about - an ability to fix the AE, AF or combined AE/AF point on the screen. You also have options to fix to the minimum aperture (akin to AE-override on programme mode, but without the finesse of being able to use a specific aperture setting) and lock out long exposures, although these are actioned from the Ricoh R8's menu only.
Familiarity breeds niggles, and one of the points that continued use throws out is the up-adjustment on the little thumb button at the back of the camera. To access the exposure comp., ISO adjustment, manual/autofocus and AF/AE positioning options, you press the little thumb button upwards. In the process, you go into the first option (exposure comp); we defy anyone to do this without also adding +0.3EV exposure compensation. You soon learn to go into the adjustment screen and reset exposure compensation before moving to whatever it was you originally wanted to adjust. Nevertheless, it can prove annoying. Fortunately, that was one of the few operational hang-ups; in every other aspect, the Ricoh R8 remains rugged (it shrugged off an accidental drop from waist height onto a paving slab without even a scratch) easy to grip (accidental drops not withstanding), easy to use and nondescript.
The battery life of any camera is hard to test in many respects; lithium ion batteries tend to improve after a few charges and the difference between someone who never uses flash and never previews their images and someone who is an inveterate chimper who uses the flash every single shot could radically change the number of pictures per charge. However, the Ricoh R8's 270 shot average seems to be conservative and we'd guess many R8 users will report far better numbers than this. The green battery bar in the bottom right corner of the screen does end to tell you the battery is fully charged even when it's not, rapidly falling away into low battery indication, but in all it's a good battery system.
The screen is a boon. The 460,000 pixels do allow you to view your images in up to 16x close up if you want or up to 20 thumbnails on screen. It's not colour faithful (few LCD panels are) and although it's good - but not outstanding - in strong sunlight (it has a brightness boost mode) it's still no match for a good optical viewfinder. A shame then that the empty expanse of top-plate has neither a hot or even cold shoe socket for a finder (or better still a flash). We reckon this is because that might mean the Ricoh R8 would undermine sales of more upmarket Ricohs in the process.
We retested the camera running side by side with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX33, because a) it has a similar 28mm wide angle lens and b) it was still to hand. This might not be a particularly fair comparison as the FX33 is cheaper and the Ricoh R8 has the edge in both resolution (the FX33 is an eight megapixel camera) and functionality, but both are small and capable of delivering good pictures. In fact, the small and nondescript nature of both cameras perhaps makes this more of a direct comparison than with the obvious choice.
First, we checked the noise (audible, not picture) of the two cameras in a relatively quiet room. If you don't wish to download the MP3 files, the Ricoh is clearly the noisier of the two, with distinct start-up whirrs and buzzes as the lens deploys, similar low pitched whirrs and buzzes as you zoom and an interesting ticking sound as the lens hunts for focus. The Panasonic makes virtually the same noises, but at a much lower noise level. Fortunately, out in the real world, it's unlikely anyone other than the photographer would notice these noises (Click to load in browser or right click, save as for download):
Ricoh R8 focusing, shutter and zoom sounds MP3
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX33 focusing, shutter and zoom sounds MP3
We then checked the other kind of noise - picture noise. By comparing the two side by side through their ISO ratings. The Ricoh R8's ISO 80 and high-auto ISO modes and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX33's ISO 1250 mode are not replicated in the other camera, but are included for good measure. These are images taken straight from the cameras, with both in standard settings (except both use Daylight-WB).
Lastly, we compared the two side-by-side in the open air to check the lens performance of both. Both were set to ISO 100 and shot on a tripod (image stabilisation set to 'off' in both cases), but the images are not a perfect frame-for-frame match because the tripod bushes on both cameras are in slightly different offsets from the lens plane. In addition, the Ricoh R8 is in its 'step zoom' setting, while the FX33 uses 'best guess' technology.
In both above series of photos, we'll leave it to you to draw your own conclusions; we are happy that our findings from the first part of this review still stand.
Finally, a quick look at the Ricoh R8's movie mode. We tend not to look at movie mode here, because few movie functions are as good as a camcorder. But we were specifically asked questions in forum about this. The lens zoom function is disabled in movie mode, although the digital zoom is still useable. It has a choice of 640x480 or 320x240 pixel shooting modes and the choice of 15 or 30 frames per second. And at its best setting (VGA, 30 frames per second), a 1GB card will fill up in just over 11minutes.
It's sometimes good to revisit a camera, especially when it's worthy of the exploit. And the Ricoh R8 clearly is worthy of a second visit. Our early findings are only confirmed by greater familiarity. We could use it week in and week out for the next year and still cuss at having to reset the exposure compensation every time you go into the top adjust functions and we would still hanker after a hot shoe. More importantly though, we'd use it. A lot. This is the sort of camera that invites photographers to take photographs, and is not just another snapshot camera.
Sadly, there can be no more follow-ups. The Ricoh R8 is back in its box, ready for collection.
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Megapixels
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10
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Screen
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2.7” LCD (approx. 460,000 pixels)
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Zoom
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7.1x Optical Zoom (28-200mm 35mm equiv.), 4.8x digital zoom, optional step mode
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Picture Modes
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15 modes
AVI movie
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Stabilisation
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Yes
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Sensitivity
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ISO80-1600 + Auto
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White balance
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Auto, 5 options, Manual option with bracket
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Storage
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SD
24MB Internal memory
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Battery
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Lithium ion rechargeable
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Other / Key features
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Face recognition
Five flash modes
Two user setting options
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