Ricoh Caplio R3 and R4

A friend is convinced that the R3 or R4 is the camera she should buy.
She hasn't seen the results from either. It's not my of way of making
decisions.

However, I just can't find any reviews of these two models.

Does anyone have experience of either of them?

--
Joan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joan-in-manly

Joan wrote:
A friend is convinced that the R3 or R4 is the camera she should buy.
She hasn't seen the results from either. It's not my of way of making
decisions.

AMEN Ricoh is a orphan in the camera field, only a small seller

U can buy a superior "here tommorow" name brand for the same amount of
coin, why risk it?


However, I just can't find any reviews of these two models.

Does anyone have experience of either of them?

Yes, buy a Canon/Fuji/Kodak ie popular instead



--
Joan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joan-in-manly

She wants a pocket camera - I don't have a problem with that. She's
going travelling for 2 months and obviously has baggage weight
restrictions.

This little silver thing has quite a big zoom range at 28-200mm
equivalent and I think that's what's getting her attention.

I quite agree about Ricoh's future.

--
Joan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joan-in-manly

" wrote in message
oups.com...
:
: Joan wrote:
: A friend is convinced that the R3 or R4 is the camera she should
buy.
: She hasn't seen the results from either. It's not my of way of
making
: decisions.
:
: AMEN Ricoh is a orphan in the camera field, only a small seller
:
: U can buy a superior "here tommorow" name brand for the same amount
of
: coin, why risk it?
:
:
: However, I just can't find any reviews of these two models.
:
: Does anyone have experience of either of them?
:
: Yes, buy a Canon/Fuji/Kodak ie popular instead
:
:
:
: --
: Joan
: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joan-in-manly
:

Thanks, Yuki, for your comments. It looks like she is making the
right decision.

--
Joan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joan-in-manly

"Yuki" wrote in message
...
: On Sun, 2 Jul 2006 12:55:03 +1000, "Joan" wrote:
:
: A friend is convinced that the R3 or R4 is the camera she should
buy.
: She hasn't seen the results from either. It's not my of way of
making
: decisions.
:
: However, I just can't find any reviews of these two models.
:
: Does anyone have experience of either of them?
:
: I used to own the prevoius model, Caplio R2, I was very happy with
it. My
: comments are about this model but from what I had read you can
expect similar
: performance from newer models.
:
: It is very fast, the macro is wonderful, fast and accurate focusing,
real
: wideangle and it folds its lens in a compact package when switched
off. Nice
: details like metal body, metal tripod thread and solid feel.
:
: Battery duration was amazing, I made some attempts at stop motion
animation and
: reached 1075 shoots (more than two full 1GB cards) with a single
charge
: (official battery life for R2 500 shoots, newer models are rated at
around 300).
:
: In the bad side are noisy images but not a lot worse than
competition, tiny
: flash and not a lot more.
:
: I sold this particular camera to a friend that was going for 11
monts to India
: for some budhist activities in very remote locations and she was
unable to get
: one in time before leaving.
:
: She returned a couple of months ago, the camera has been shoot over
42000 times
: (remote India locations happen to have DVD recorders, big pile of CD
and DVD
: with pictures). The camera looks incredibily battered, it remembers
me those
: Nikons returning from Vietnam war.
:
: The funny thing is that a couple of weeks after returning to Europe
the camera
: developed a fault (not retracting lens), to my surprise Ricoh
repaired it under
: warranty without the slightest complaint about the very evident
rough life
: suffered.
:
: This contrasts very sharply with Canon police to reject to honor the
warranty
: for this same failure as user fault in an otherwise inmaculate
camera. If a
: Nikon simpli do not even ask, fix it yourself or trow the thing
away.
:
: Regarding the issue of Ricoh survival they are a massive office
equipment
: manufacturer (1.915 trillion yen last year sales, 76,000 employees)
that happens
: to have a camera division, like, ejem, Canon. If you want a company
with
: survival problems look at Nikon.

Thanks, there are some great shots in there.

--
Joan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joan-in-manly

"Yuki" wrote in message
...
: On Sun, 2 Jul 2006 17:06:20 +1000, "Joan" wrote:
:
: Thanks, Yuki, for your comments. It looks like she is making the
: right decision.
:
: My pleasure.
:
: Some galleries:
:
: http://www.flickr.com/photos/happytraveller/
:
: http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/s...hp?ppuser=7787
:
: Resolution/noise test:
:
: http://mpenza.clubsnap.org/gallery/ricoh_r4_test
:
: Official website:
: http://www.ricohpmmc.com/uk/products.../caplio_r4.htm
:

Joan wrote:
She wants a pocket camera - I don't have a problem with that. She's
going travelling for 2 months and obviously has baggage weight
restrictions.

This little silver thing has quite a big zoom range at 28-200mm
equivalent and I think that's what's getting her attention.

I quite agree about Ricoh's future.

If light weight and a long telephoto are requirements, the Panasonic FZ5
or FZ7 may be worth considering:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicFZ7/

With a long zoom lens, image stabilisation is required if you want to get
the best pictures (which implies using a low sensitivity setting to avoid
noise [grain]).

I have had the FZ5 for over a year now and have been very pleased with it.
However, it may be too big for a pure "pocket camera". Pansonic do offer
a pocket model, though, the DMC-TZ1:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/spec...nic_dmctz1.asp

It includes an image stabilised 35-350mm lens.

David

The FZ7 is too big for her. The TZ1 looks good, but I think she wants
the wide angle of the Ricohs. I wonder how good the IS would be at
350mm equivalent.

--
Joan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joan-in-manly

"David J Taylor"
wrote in
message . uk...
: Joan wrote:
: She wants a pocket camera - I don't have a problem with that.
She's
: going travelling for 2 months and obviously has baggage weight
: restrictions.
:
: This little silver thing has quite a big zoom range at 28-200mm
: equivalent and I think that's what's getting her attention.
:
: I quite agree about Ricoh's future.
:
: If light weight and a long telephoto are requirements, the Panasonic
FZ5
: or FZ7 may be worth considering:
:
: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicFZ7/
:
: With a long zoom lens, image stabilisation is required if you want
to get
: the best pictures (which implies using a low sensitivity setting to
avoid
: noise [grain]).
:
: I have had the FZ5 for over a year now and have been very pleased
with it.
: However, it may be too big for a pure "pocket camera". Pansonic do
offer
: a pocket model, though, the DMC-TZ1:
:
:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/spec...nic_dmctz1.asp
:
: It includes an image stabilised 35-350mm lens.
:
: David
:
:

Joan wrote:
The FZ7 is too big for her. The TZ1 looks good, but I think she wants
the wide angle of the Ricohs. I wonder how good the IS would be at
350mm equivalent.

I've found the IS to be excellent in both my FZ7 and my wife's FZ20, so I
would expect that in the FZ1 to be as good. We get a gain of 3 - 4 stops,
so you can hand-hold a 350mm shot at around 1/40s, rather than the 1/350s
that convention would suggest. This allows you to keep the ISO setting
low to minimise picture noise (grain).

Yes, a 35mm wide-angle isn't the widest, but it's easy to take a couple of
shots and stitch them together with a free tool like AutoStitch:

http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

It might be nice to have a lens covering 28 - 350mm, but it would probably
increase the size, weight and cost, or not produce such good quality
images as the Leica lens on the Panasonic!

David

I know enough about autostitch, having used it quite often, but my
friend would struggle to understand it. This will be her first
digital camera and she only thinks of photos as being printed things.

--
Joan
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joan-in-manly

"David J Taylor"
wrote in
message ...
: Joan wrote:
: The FZ7 is too big for her. The TZ1 looks good, but I think she
wants
: the wide angle of the Ricohs. I wonder how good the IS would be
at
: 350mm equivalent.
:
: I've found the IS to be excellent in both my FZ7 and my wife's FZ20,
so I
: would expect that in the FZ1 to be as good. We get a gain of 3 - 4
stops,
: so you can hand-hold a 350mm shot at around 1/40s, rather than the
1/350s
: that convention would suggest. This allows you to keep the ISO
setting
: low to minimise picture noise (grain).
:
: Yes, a 35mm wide-angle isn't the widest, but it's easy to take a
couple of
: shots and stitch them together with a free tool like AutoStitch:
:
: http://www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html
:
: It might be nice to have a lens covering 28 - 350mm, but it would
probably
: increase the size, weight and cost, or not produce such good quality
: images as the Leica lens on the Panasonic!
:
: David
:
:

Joan wrote:
I know enough about autostitch, having used it quite often, but my
friend would struggle to understand it. This will be her first
digital camera and she only thinks of photos as being printed things.

I've found that since I had digital, I hardly ever print! I'm usually
surprised how good the results are though! Most of our stuff is displayed
on the computer screen. My wife used a selection of 3.2Mpix and 5Mpix
images to make a calendar for this year (through the PhotoBox service in
the UK), and I am reminded how good the results are at the start of every
month. The images are about 9 x 7 inches.

Sounds like the Ricoh would be a good choice, but if possible try and get
your friend to see and handle one in the shop before purchase.

Cheers,
David