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Ricoh Caplio GX (5MP 1/1.8" 28-85): the digital epic/GR1 ?

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Olivier GALLEN

Olivier GALLEN

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It looks like a great Point&Shoot quality digicam:
  • 5MP on 1/1.8"
  • 28-85mm f/2.5-4.3
  • 64-1600 ISO
  • Fast (
  • Aperture & Manual (with dial)
  • Small (114x58x29mm), light(205g), black, well built.
  • 2 AA batteries, or Lithium-Ion (400 pics)
  • SD cards
  • Great Macro capabilities (1cm@28/8cm@85 + Flash@15cm)
  • good price (550 euros, probably 400 on the net)
Info:

More data:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ja_en&url=http%3a%2f%2fpc.watch.impress.co.jp%2fdocs%2f2004%2f0506%2fricoh.htm

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?url=http%3A%2F%2Fd.hatena.ne.jp%2Fkiai_hissatsu%2F20040506&lp=ja_en

...and some samples: http://www.ricoh.co.jp/dc/caplio/gx/sample.html

The lens looks pretty good @28mm and @85mm (even wide open, and on edges), slightly less @63mm.

Noise is visible at 100% on screen, but seems very good at 200 ISO on those samples.

Good news... except for people living in America, as this camera will probably not be distributed there...

Olivier
 
It even has a hot-shoe!

A budget wide-angle with manual controls and a choice of AA or LiIon (best of both battery worlds!!).

That's an uncontested market at the moment for Ricoh. Ricoh USA wake-up and smell the wide-angle!!!
Olivier GALLEN said:
It looks like a great Point&Shoot quality digicam:
  • 5MP on 1/1.8"
  • 28-85mm f/2.5-4.3
  • 64-1600 ISO
  • Fast (
  • Aperture & Manual (with dial)
  • Small (114x58x29mm), light(205g), black, well built.
  • 2 AA batteries, or Lithium-Ion (400 pics)
  • SD cards
  • Great Macro capabilities (1cm@28/8cm@85 + Flash@15cm)
  • good price (550 euros, probably 400 on the net)
Info:

More data:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ja_en&url=http%3a%2f%2fpc.watch.impress.co.jp%2fdocs%2f2004%2f0506%2fricoh.htm

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?url=http%3A%2F%2Fd.hatena.ne.jp%2Fkiai_hissatsu%2F20040506&lp=ja_en

...and some samples: http://www.ricoh.co.jp/dc/caplio/gx/sample.html

The lens looks pretty good @28mm and @85mm (even wide open, and on
edges), slightly less @63mm.
Noise is visible at 100% on screen, but seems very good at 200 ISO
on those samples.

Good news... except for people living in America, as this camera
will probably not be distributed there...

Olivier
Click to expand...
 
The sample photos are a bit noisy, but they were ISO 125 to ISO 200 shots. Also, maybe noise reduction at these ISO's reduced the resolution somewhat.

All in all, I think this camera serves a very nice niche. BTW, the specs on the dimensions are a bit misleading. I believe the 29mm depth does not include the protrusions. With the lens and viewfinder protrusions, I think they add around 50% to the specified depth.

Specs on the camera looks good to me.
Olivier GALLEN said:
It looks like a great Point&Shoot quality digicam:
  • 5MP on 1/1.8"
  • 28-85mm f/2.5-4.3
  • 64-1600 ISO
  • Fast (
  • Aperture & Manual (with dial)
  • Small (114x58x29mm), light(205g), black, well built.
  • 2 AA batteries, or Lithium-Ion (400 pics)
  • SD cards
  • Great Macro capabilities (1cm@28/8cm@85 + Flash@15cm)
  • good price (550 euros, probably 400 on the net)
Info:

More data:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ja_en&url=http%3a%2f%2fpc.watch.impress.co.jp%2fdocs%2f2004%2f0506%2fricoh.htm

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?url=http%3A%2F%2Fd.hatena.ne.jp%2Fkiai_hissatsu%2F20040506&lp=ja_en

...and some samples: http://www.ricoh.co.jp/dc/caplio/gx/sample.html

The lens looks pretty good @28mm and @85mm (even wide open, and on
edges), slightly less @63mm.
Noise is visible at 100% on screen, but seems very good at 200 ISO
on those samples.

Good news... except for people living in America, as this camera
will probably not be distributed there...

Olivier
Click to expand...
 
Yep, you are right about the size of this thing.

I used the picture from above in the 2nd link, and the "29mm" is protrusions excluded (ie: lens, right grip, viewfinder, LCD and zoom buttons). If you include the protrusions, it is more like 45mm...

Nothing wrong, as all the manufacturers use the same trick (except the smallest Optio S, Minolta Xt, etc... who really take care about this). But it is important to know about it. Thanks for noticing and sharing it.

I do not expect too much from 1600 ISO.

800=usable, and 400=ok would already be great - depending on the influence of noise reduction on resolution...
Philly said:
The sample photos are a bit noisy, but they were ISO 125 to ISO 200
shots. Also, maybe noise reduction at these ISO's reduced the
resolution somewhat.

All in all, I think this camera serves a very nice niche. BTW, the
specs on the dimensions are a bit misleading. I believe the 29mm
depth does not include the protrusions. With the lens and
viewfinder protrusions, I think they add around 50% to the
specified depth.
Click to expand...
 
Olivier GALLEN said:
I do not expect too much from 1600 ISO.
800=usable, and 400=ok would already be great - depending on the
influence of noise reduction on resolution...
Philly said:
The sample photos are a bit noisy, but they were ISO 125 to ISO 200
shots. Also, maybe noise reduction at these ISO's reduced the
resolution somewhat.

All in all, I think this camera serves a very nice niche. BTW, the
specs on the dimensions are a bit misleading. I believe the 29mm
depth does not include the protrusions. With the lens and
viewfinder protrusions, I think they add around 50% to the
specified depth.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Doesn't the Lens retract like the RX ? The RX only goes to 800 ISO though.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0403/04030601ricohcapliorx.asp

The RX was the camera I was really interested in. Now I have to think about the GX. That is if Ricoh USA would ever decide to carry one of these cameras.
--
Norm
 
As noted above this is wild speculation:

Maybe Ricoh is working on an outsource deal for the USA market, that's why they don't bring their cameras here.

One possibility is a deal with HP - since HP uses 3rd parties (Pentax, Fuji lenses, etc). They could bring their cameras under the HP banner. HP mentioned that they are re-doing their whole line up with 8 new cameras - only one has been announced so far (the R707). A couple of budget 28mm wide angle consumer cameras (RX and GX) would fit right in the HP consumer-oriented model!

As noted above this is wild speculation!
As noted above this is wild speculation!
As noted above this is wild speculation!
Norm Neely said:
Olivier GALLEN said:
I do not expect too much from 1600 ISO.
800=usable, and 400=ok would already be great - depending on the
influence of noise reduction on resolution...
Philly said:
The sample photos are a bit noisy, but they were ISO 125 to ISO 200
shots. Also, maybe noise reduction at these ISO's reduced the
resolution somewhat.

All in all, I think this camera serves a very nice niche. BTW, the
specs on the dimensions are a bit misleading. I believe the 29mm
depth does not include the protrusions. With the lens and
viewfinder protrusions, I think they add around 50% to the
specified depth.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Doesn't the Lens retract like the RX ? The RX only goes to 800
ISO though.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0403/04030601ricohcapliorx.asp

The RX was the camera I was really interested in. Now I have to
think about the GX. That is if Ricoh USA would ever decide to
carry one of these cameras.
--
Norm
Click to expand...
 
digital_ray_of_light said:
As noted above this is wild speculation:

Maybe Ricoh is working on an outsource deal for the USA market,
that's why they don't bring their cameras here.
Click to expand...
Well, I suppose I shouldn't say never but Ricoh was approached about making the Rx available through a group buy to Photo.net and they flat out said, "No way."
 
http://www.dbuys.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=dby.proPage&product_id=1965

I think I may have seen other Ricoh cameras for sale through dbuys.com, but I'm not sure.
John McCormack said:
digital_ray_of_light said:
As noted above this is wild speculation:

Maybe Ricoh is working on an outsource deal for the USA market,
that's why they don't bring their cameras here.
Click to expand...
Well, I suppose I shouldn't say never but Ricoh was approached
about making the Rx available through a group buy to Photo.net and
they flat out said, "No way."
Click to expand...
 
If we look at the Specs from the RX, the GX should have as well: Real-time Histogram, Multi/Center-Weight/Spot Exposure, Auto/Manual/Fixed/? and FlexZone(for macro) focusing, Exposure compensation(+-2 by 1/3) & bracket, 2s/10s delay timer, interval timer and USB1.1.

Not so good things: No Speed priority, no RAW, the optical Viewfinder is smallish... :-(

About the lens:

You can mount a hood, a x0.8 converter, third-parties converters, filters and adapters (diameter=37mm). To do this, you have to use a fixed cylinder that is attached directly to the body ( check this page: http://www.ricoh.co.jp/dc/caplio/gx/option.html ).
Some consequences:
=> You can protect very well the lens by using this rigid cylinder (and hood).
=> When adding a filter, the lens also get some kind of weatherproofing :-)

The lens is probably fully extended at 28mm and shorter at 85mm (like Nikon cp5000).

=> The cylinder+hood may be effective from 28mm to 85mm - which is excellent news! :-)

Side-note about the Canon S60 28-100: the range is a bit more usefull, but the lens is 1/2 f stop slower + the camera is still slow (maybe: 3s start-up and 1s AF). This camera is interesting, though... but I still prefer by far the specs from the Ricoh GX.

Olivier
 
There was also some mumbling on the PopPhotoJapan report that Fuji was going into wide-angles, but the new F710 got down to around 32mm. Maybe there's more?

Affordable wide-angle is still a ...wide open market, since Ricoh is the only one, and it is not available in all markets (as of this moment).
Olivier GALLEN said:
If we look at the Specs from the RX, the GX should have as well:
Real-time Histogram, Multi/Center-Weight/Spot Exposure,
Auto/Manual/Fixed/? and FlexZone(for macro) focusing, Exposure
compensation(+-2 by 1/3) & bracket, 2s/10s delay timer, interval
timer and USB1.1.

Not so good things: No Speed priority, no RAW, the optical
Viewfinder is smallish... :-(

About the lens:
You can mount a hood, a x0.8 converter, third-parties converters,
filters and adapters (diameter=37mm). To do this, you have to use a
fixed cylinder that is attached directly to the body ( check this
page: http://www.ricoh.co.jp/dc/caplio/gx/option.html ).
Some consequences:
=> You can protect very well the lens by using this rigid cylinder
(and hood).
=> When adding a filter, the lens also get some kind of
weatherproofing :-)
The lens is probably fully extended at 28mm and shorter at 85mm
(like Nikon cp5000).
=> The cylinder+hood may be effective from 28mm to 85mm - which is
excellent news! :-)

Side-note about the Canon S60 28-100: the range is a bit more
usefull, but the lens is 1/2 f stop slower + the camera is still
slow (maybe: 3s start-up and 1s AF). This camera is interesting,
though... but I still prefer by far the specs from the Ricoh GX.

Olivier
Click to expand...
 
If I were in the market for a new Point and Shooter. The 28mm and the fast response would do it for me.

I agree. Nothing in the market that compares.
I want one. It would replace my slow F100 very nicely.
 
Do you know how many aperture steps are available?

A lot of compact DCs are claimed with Aperture priority AE. eg. Minolta G400, sony P100/W1. But they only have 2 steps of aperture. IMO, it's just a joke.

For the shutter speed, GX sounds like good: 30s - 1/2000s. (I read it from the ricoh.co.jp but I don't know japanese, so if i'm wrong, pls kindly correct it.)

And how about the Manual mode? Can we select the aperture and shutter speed at the same time? or it's like sony P100/W1 that "M mode = A mode + S mode"?

I've searched on the web but can't get these answers. Would anyone pls state it if you know :-)
Olivier GALLEN said:
It looks like a great Point&Shoot quality digicam:
  • 5MP on 1/1.8"
  • 28-85mm f/2.5-4.3
  • 64-1600 ISO
  • Fast (
  • Aperture & Manual (with dial)
  • Small (114x58x29mm), light(205g), black, well built.
  • 2 AA batteries, or Lithium-Ion (400 pics)
  • SD cards
  • Great Macro capabilities (1cm@28/8cm@85 + Flash@15cm)
  • good price (550 euros, probably 400 on the net)
Info:

More data:

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?lp=ja_en&url=http%3a%2f%2fpc.watch.impress.co.jp%2fdocs%2f2004%2f0506%2fricoh.htm

http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/trurl_pagecontent?url=http%3A%2F%2Fd.hatena.ne.jp%2Fkiai_hissatsu%2F20040506&lp=ja_en

...and some samples: http://www.ricoh.co.jp/dc/caplio/gx/sample.html

The lens looks pretty good @28mm and @85mm (even wide open, and on
edges), slightly less @63mm.
Noise is visible at 100% on screen, but seems very good at 200 ISO
on those samples.

Good news... except for people living in America, as this camera
will probably not be distributed there...

Olivier
Click to expand...
 
It has just been added. Check here: http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/caplio/gx/

I noticed:
  • Camera is ready to take a picture, after start-up, in 1.2s (vs announced as
  • Shoot to shoot time is 1.3s (maybe no buffer, but this is fast enough for my needs).
  • The zoom has 4 steps: 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm (I would prefer a continuous mechanism, but I don't don't know if this exists on compact digicam... still: a bit disapppointing).
jabbar said:
Do you know how many aperture steps are available?

A lot of compact DCs are claimed with Aperture priority AE. eg.
Minolta G400, sony P100/W1. But they only have 2 steps of aperture.
IMO, it's just a joke.
Click to expand...
This is an interesting question. In the photo provided, the aperture settings are 2.5, 4.3 or 8.1. ie: extremes values => I don't know the answer...
jabbar said:
For the shutter speed, GX sounds like good: 30s - 1/2000s. (I read
it from the ricoh.co.jp but I don't know japanese, so if i'm wrong,
pls kindly correct it.)
Click to expand...
Correct.
jabbar said:
And how about the Manual mode? Can we select the aperture and
shutter speed at the same time? or it's like sony P100/W1 that "M
mode = A mode + S mode"?
Click to expand...
They really seem to distinguish 'A mode' and 'M mode', so I would expect a real Manual mode. But we are not certain yet...
jabbar said:
I've searched on the web but can't get these answers. Would anyone
pls state it if you know :-)
Click to expand...
Well, I tried... Hope this helps.

Olivier
 
This looks like a great little camera and even more so when you consider the price. Ricoh UK have told me today it will have a retail price of £280 and should be available at the beginning of June.
nashi
 
Wide Angle Competition will be available shortly in the US.

Not quite as fast, but a big improvement over other Canon's. the S60 starts up in 2.6 sec (livable) and focuses in 0.5 second, and includes and AF assist light for low light conditions. Its 28-100mm offers a little more zoom, but a little less light at F2.8-F5.3. Compact flash and proprietary battery. Just slightly bigger.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon/powershot_s60-review/index.shtml
Olivier GALLEN said:
It looks like a great Point&Shoot quality digicam:
  • 5MP on 1/1.8"
  • 28-85mm f/2.5-4.3
  • 64-1600 ISO
  • Fast (
  • Aperture & Manual (with dial)
  • Small (114x58x29mm), light(205g), black, well built.
  • 2 AA batteries, or Lithium-Ion (400 pics)
  • SD cards
  • Great Macro capabilities (1cm@28/8cm@85 + Flash@15cm)
  • good price (550 euros, probably 400 on the net)
Info:
Click to expand...
 
morey000 said:
Wide Angle Competition will be available shortly in the US.

Not quite as fast, but a big improvement over other Canon's. the
S60 starts up in 2.6 sec (livable) and focuses in 0.5 second, and
includes and AF assist light for low light conditions. Its
28-100mm offers a little more zoom, but a little less light at
F2.8-F5.3. Compact flash and proprietary battery. Just slightly
bigger.
Click to expand...
You've just mentioned one of the S60 biggest failings: the expensive, un-necessary proprietry battery is a big turn off all by itself for a lot of people - over -priced and never in the shop when you most need one. AA battery technology is well able to run any worthwhile digicam.

BTW, the teleconverter lens for the S60 looks like the camera's being attacked by a squid! Ricoh adapter solution is much more sensible!

Another nice touch on the GX is the "snap" mode that uses the hyperfocal lens setting to eliminate the AF lag entirely - obviously a winner for those decisive moment grabs.
 
I like the grip of the GX, in order to secure the handling and have a better feeling of the camera.

A black body has a lower profile than a silver one, which can help to take pictures un-noticed. Great for street photography.
This hood+adapter (+converter) is just great... (and may be excellent).
wolfie said:
You've just mentioned one of the S60 biggest failings: the
expensive, un-necessary proprietry battery is a big turn off all by
itself for a lot of people - over -priced and never in the shop
when you most need one. AA battery technology is well able to run
any worthwhile digicam.
Click to expand...
Yes. I also planned to buy the newer "15mn"(charging time) AA batteries. So convenient for intense shooting: shoot, have a coffee break+charge, back to action (and you can do it a lot of times... :-).
wolfie said:
BTW, the teleconverter lens for the S60 looks like the camera's
being attacked by a squid! Ricoh adapter solution is much more
sensible!
Click to expand...
True :-)
wolfie said:
Another nice touch on the GX is the "snap" mode that uses the
hyperfocal lens setting to eliminate the AF lag entirely -
obviously a winner for those decisive moment grabs.
Click to expand...
True (although the 0.12s lag is already fast). Excellent solution to have a better control on AF.

Olivier
 
digital_ray_of_light said:
Maybe Ricoh is working on an outsource deal for the USA market,
that's why they don't bring their cameras here.

One possibility is a deal with HP - since HP uses 3rd parties
(Pentax, Fuji lenses, etc). They could bring their cameras under
the HP banner. HP mentioned that they are re-doing their whole line
up with 8 new cameras - only one has been announced so far (the
R707). A couple of budget 28mm wide angle consumer cameras (RX and
GX) would fit right in the HP consumer-oriented model!

As noted above this is wild speculation!
Click to expand...
Keep us posted if you should find out that HP will be selling it
under their label in the US.
Thank you,
Billy
 
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