Ricoh R8 Concise Review,
March 2008, Lars Rehm

Review based on a production Ricoh R8

Ricoh is a camera manufacturer that tends to swim against the stream, not only in terms of product range but also in the way it schedules its product announcements. While all the big boys announced their new toys just before or right at PMA in Las Vegas, Ricoh decided to wait a couple of weeks longer and let the world know about the new addition to its compact camera range at a rather understated press event.

The R8 comes as an upgrade to the R7, itself launched a mere six months ago. The new model constitutes only a fairly minor upgrade. The key changes are the new, slightly boxier design, the inevitable increase in megapixels (from eight to ten) and a larger 2.7" screen which now has an impressive resolution of 460,000 pixels. The 28-200mm equiv. zoom and 3rd generation Smooth Imaging Engine have been carried over from the predecessor.

In addition the R8 comes with a number of interesting features which are rarely seen on the big manufacturers' cameras. The feature list includes a movable AF/AE target area, 1:1 image ratio option and levels and white balance adjustment in review mode, amongst others.

In the marketplace the Ricoh R8 will be up against such established opponents as the Panasonic TZ series or Canon's SX100 IS. We got one of the first R8 specimens on the launch day and have put it through the ordeal that is the dpreview test process. See how it managed all the abuse and how it shapes up against the competition on the following pages. As usual let's start with the headline 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

Ricoh R8 specifications

If you're new to digital photography you may wish to read the Digital Photography Glossary before diving into this article (it may help you understand some of the terms used).

Conclusion / Recommendation / Ratings are based on the opinion of the reviewer, you should read the ENTIRE review before coming to your own conclusions. Images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (typically VGA) image in a new window. To navigate the review simply use the next / previous page buttons, to jump to a particular section either pick the section from the drop down or select it from the navigation bar at the top. DPReview calibrate their monitors using Color Vision OptiCal at the (fairly well accepted) PC normal gamma 2.2, this means that on our monitors we can make out the difference between all of the (computer generated) grayscale blocks below. We recommend to make the most of this review you should be able to see the difference (at least) between X,Y and Z and ideally A,B and C.

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