Review: Ricoh Caplio RR10

Don Bradbury suggests this digicam might be on the shopping list of many amateur photographers.

Product	Caplio RR10
Company	Ricoh
Web	www.ricoh.co.uk
Price	£400
We like	Small and feature-packed
We don't like	No optical viewfinder
Rating	8/10
Requirements

While digital cameras proliferate and their specs improve, some may be concerned that the digital photography game is getting away from them. They might decide to settle for a mid-range camera, both in terms of spec and price, provided it'll still do a good job.

Take, for example, the diddy Caplio RR10 that I've been looking at. At £400 (without discounts) it is immediately attractive. But when you handle it and use it, Ricoh's latest offering begins to add up to a quite desirable package. While a 2.1 megapixel CCD may not be the latest in terms of image capture capability, if what you want is 8 x 6 inch prints with no problems, and easily 10 x 8 inch if you're not super critical, the camera will fit the bill for very many.

Tiny, but easy to use

Not the least of this camera's attractions is its dimensions. At about 4.5 x 2 x 1 inch, it's only half the size (volume) of its cousin, the Ricoh i500, and little more than half its weight. The comparison doesn't end there as both feature the same flat, very pocketable layout, though the RR10 is held conventionally, with the taking lens shooting out of the front rather than the edge.

With the same silver livery, and with similar easy-to-use menu systems, plus the novelty of presentation that have put Ricoh at the forefront of popular digicam design, this Caplio looks and handles great right from the start.

I had no trouble getting up and running without the excellent manual. Pop in the 8MB Secure Digital (SD) memory card, and then drop in and charge the dedicated Li-ion battery via the Ricoh Base - which also doubles as a data transfer cradle using a USB link (if you don't have a card reader that will handle SD). Then switch the thing on, and away you go. It can be as easy as that unless you want greater control.

Adjustments

And additional control there is aplenty. If you want continuous shooting, it's there. Video shooting similarly. What's the difference? Well the former takes a sequence of conventional snaps one after another with a little recovery time between frames, while the later puts you into a lower resolution mode for a true (if short) video sequence.

Voice memo? No problem. Pictures with attached sound? It's there. Macro shooting down to 4 cms? You've got it! Text mode? Just select it. The latter is a black and white only, text copying mode for budding spies who want to copy office documents.

There's a nominally useful manual focus control, too, though it would be a good eye that could make use of an otherwise excellent 1.5 inch LCD to judge focus with the depth of field these short focal length lenses produce.

Frame counting by either sequential or automatic modes is available, and video out (variable for country) for TV viewing of your pictures are also usefully included.

Ricoh have even incorporated into the RR10 an MP3 player. You just download compatible MP3 files to the flash card via the interlink cable (Ricoh Gate) that's used for picture transfers to your computer, and then play them back via the headphone socket (supply your own phones). For setting up a voice memo there's both microphone and speaker integrated into the camera, so the speaker is presumably considered inadequate for music reproduction.

What's MP3?

It stands for MPEG-1 AudioLayer3, and it's an international sound compression standard, using which compresses the files to about one tenth of their original size. On one of the CDs is text covering both Windows and Macintosh versions of Ricoh Gate.

You have the same sort of facilities for sound files as you do for pictures. Storage, deletion and so on, but for the latter you can play back in various modes; multi thumbnail, zoom in stages, single or auto mode etc.

You can also adjust the LCD brightness, a useful bonus for image capture (or viewing) in bright lighting. If you're afraid that a bright LCD will hammer battery life, just use the supplied mains adapter card, which is useful for indoor photographers. Again, the Hold control is useful for preventing stray fingers upsetting the current mode of either shooting or playback - all too easy with control buttons all over the place on modern digicams.

Exposure compensation to + or - 2 stops, auto-ISO or fixed 200/400 modes for CCD sensitivity, timed exposures in fixed increments up to 4 secs (though, note, there's no tripod bush), and best of all, picture quality control directly from a camera button, ie no rummaging around in menus for this vital setting.

Flash to a range of 2.5 metres is adequate from such a diddy unit, and while some will prefer to set flash to auto rather than off by default, at least the latter mode saves battery power. All of the useful camera settings, including the flash mode, can be saved as new defaults for next time the digicam is used.

Any downsides?

Well, there's no tripod bush, as I said, and no optical viewfinder, and only a 2x optical zoom lens (albeit digitally supplemented). Under more normal circumstances the last two would eliminate this model from my personal recommendation, but I liked the camera so much in most other respects that I'm shelving that, especially for, shall we say, interested amateurs.

The inclusion of an MP3 player might also spell 'amateur' when more advanced photographers would probably have preferred a 3 megapixel CCD instead, say, or a 3x optical zoom lens, but this digicam is not targeted at such. The lens produced a modicum of barrel distortion, too, but no worse than I've seen on cameras at twice the price, and not at all noticeable on most shots.

On the positive side, the pictures were very respectable in the main, with just the odd shot that defeated the auto-white balance. You might also choose to apply a touch of exposure compensation for some shots, but overall the images were what you'd expect from Ricoh, with good shadow detail and colour reproduction.

Why use Secure Digital?

Well, this flash memory card is small and light and 'secure'. The manual points out that the similarly configured MMC (MultiMedia Card) can be used, but then you cannot record motion pictures, and further, the image processing speed will be slower.

Watch out for a fuller discussion of flash memory types in a forthcoming article, where the meaning of terms such as 'secure' will be amplified. Are big-name manufacturers up to their tricks again? As I say, watch this space.

In conclusion.

With features such as DPOF, which enables the user to set the number of prints required from each frame at a printing service, the Ricoh Caplio RR10 lacks but little of real interest, especially at the price. It even doubles as a webcam, with cradle supplied, and there's also a remote control as an optional extra.

A wrist strap, and a neat, dark blue felt pouch complete the deal so, all in all, yes, I quite liked this little digital camera. But note, in common with many other digicams, using a dedicated battery type means you can't stray far from your charger. There's no AA battery option here.

 

 

Don Bradbury