Dpnow First-looks hands-on review - Ricoh Caplio GX
Budget digicam checklist:
| Typical UK Price:
| £235 |
| Typical US Price:
| US$N/A |
| Typical European price:
| €289 |
| Optical zoom range:
| 3x (28-84mm equiv) |
| Megapixels:
| 5.13 (actual) |
| Typical image size (high quality setting JPEG): | 1.8MB |
| Memory card type:
| SD/MMC (not supplied) |
| Internal memory:
| 16MB |
| Autofocus assist lamp:
| No |
| Battery type:
| 2xAA |
| Movie mode:
| AVI M-JPEG, up to 320x240, 15fps |
| Sound recorded in movies?
| Yes |
| Notable features:
| 28mm equivalent wide angle zoom, flash hot shoe, fast shutter response (claimed), very close focus capability, wide ISO range. |
| Weight:
| 245g (approx. with batteries and card) |
Rival models worth comparison: Casio QV-R41, Fujifilm FinePix F700, Kodak Easyshare CX7530, Canon PowerShot A85, Olympus C50Z
While Ricoh may be better known by the general public for copiers and fax machines, the company has been producing interesting digital camera designs for as long as anyone. Their latest model, the Caplio GX, offers true wide angle coverage coupled with a five megapixel specification at an unprecedented low price. In fact the GX is so cheap, one wonders if sacrifices have had to be made along the way.
On paper, the Caplio GX offers much. It has a 5MP 1/1.8 inch sensor, a 28mm (equivalent) widest zoom setting, flash hot shoe, ISO speed settings up to 1600, an ultra close focus feature, a choice of auto, manual, or scene-specific programmed exposure modes, 16MB of built in memory, a generous 1.8 inch LCD monitor, attractive styling (it generated many admiring comments) and Ricoh claims the shutter delay on the GX is one of the lowest of any digital camera.
We certainly found the camera mostly easy to use, but on occasion it did make us scratch our heads.
In the box you get USB and AV leads, a software CD, a wrist strap and a pair of AA alkaline batteries. As the camera has 16MB of internal memory, a memory card isn't supplied.
Construction and Design
The Ricoh Caplio GX has a very simple and uncluttered control layout. Good points include a control wheel on the grip, a large and clearly labelled mode dial on the top plate and a sensibly positioned power switch.
Fit and finish was generally good, though the roughened surface, which does make the camera look more rugged, tended to attract dust. Buttons were rather spongey and there was some minor creaking of the plastic mouldings, but nothing too serious.
(Front of camera, above) A: Shutter release, B: Flash unit, C: Autofocus sensor, D: Flash hot shoe, E: Eye-level viewfinder.
(Rear of camera above) A: Warning and status lights, B: Optical eye-level viewfinder, C: Power button, D: Mode dial, E: Zoom rocker switch, F, Shortcut button to exposure, white balance and ISO settings, G: Menu button, H: Options select button, I: Navigation keys (4) including flash, close focus and quick review functions, J Image delete and self timer button, K: Display mode selection button, L: Colour LCD monitor.
Apart from some small holes for the audio speaker, all you will find on the base plate is a tripod socket, which is good news if you use a tripod a lot.
The top plate view shows a neat and simple layout, plus the generous grip for such a compact design and that hot shoe, which is most unusual at this level. The top of the grip incorporates an adjustment dial.
The USB and AV ports are unprotected, but I doubt that most of the flimsy flaps many other compact digital cameras rely on are very effective.
Once extended at power-on, there is very little extra extension of the lens barrel throughout the zoom range.
A novel Ricoh design aspect that has been used in previous models is a dual-function battery and memory card bay door. To access the card bay you slide the door forward.
To access the batteries, once the door has been moved forward to expose the card slot, the door can swing open to provide access space for a pair of AA batteries.
In use
An immediate tip if you have or intend to get a Caplio GX – don't use a memory card from another camera without formatting it in your GX first. We innocently swapped a card that had previously been in a Nikon E2200 and it made the Caplio go haywire. In fact, we thought the camera was faulty and asked for a replacement. But the same weirdness happened again and the source of the memory card was eventually diagnosed. Formatting the card in the camera fixed everything.
Menu screens are helpful and easy to navigate. Note the small histogram on the lower right screen, which is available both in real time when composing and when reviewing previous shots. The top right screen shows the limited number of scene modes, which include simple textual and pictorial explanations.
It wasn't difficult to get used to the external controls and understand the menus. The 1.8 inch screen is readable in bright light, too. The GX is a comfortable compact camera to hold, partly because of its good-sized grip.
Responsiveness
One of Ricoh's main claims concerning the GX is its minimal shutter delay. Can we confirm this? Well, yes and no. Yes – when the shutter fires, there is very little delay indeed and the AF system works swiftly in good light too.
However, occasionally, for no apparent reason, even after focus has locked, we found that the camera refused to actual fire at all. A re-focus is then required to seemingly wake the camera up. It's not very confidence-inspiring.
Other factors can interfere with the responsiveness of the camera, too. When using the flash, recharging after a flash shot or when switching it on, will lock you out of the camera for 7 or 8 seconds. If you choose to shoot in TIFF mode, the camera takes almost a whole minute to save the image. JPEG images are saved in a leisurely manner as well.
But when the flash was previously switched off, power on and off times were good – under two and three seconds, respectively.
Quiet
The camera is quiet in operation, with very refined motorised lens extension and retraction and zooming. With 16 steps, the zoom is easier than many to aid precise framing.
Battery was impressive for a camera of this specification and just two AA batteries to power it. However, the Caplio GX doesn't reward thoughtful pondering of the scene as it shuts down after a relatively short inactivity period – even with power-saving mode switched off.
The Caplio GX is a very purposeful looking camera. But what was it like to use? Move on to the next page to find out!
Picture Quality
Picture quality
Colour balance issues
After developing an immediately favourable impression of the Caplio GX hardware and specifications, we had high hopes for the image quality from the camera – especially as it has the tremendously useful advantage of an extra-wide angle lens.
Unfortunately, our hopes were not to be founded. The first thing we noticed was an overly cool colour balance and a tendency to over-expose, causing bleached highlights.
In this shot, the sky is an unnatural blue and much of the highlight detail has been lost. Fringing in the shadow on the mid-top left (see below) is quite visible too.
Purple fringing wasn't always present, but at times it did make itself felt.
Noise
Another affliction suffered by the Caplio GX is noise. Even at the camera's lowest ISO setting of 64, noise is easily found. It's worst in the blue channel as one might expect. In the picture below, the shadowed areas of the boat highlighted actually revealed very poor blotchy noise artefacts when printed.
This shot was taken in late afternoon sun and yet the shadows are blue-ish and when you look closely there is a lot of noise (below), especially when printed.
Despite the brightness of the scene, the camera insisted on setting an ISO as high as 125.
It appears that a lot of in-camera sharpening takes place, emphasising the inherent noise.
Flash
Flash pictures were adequate, rather than inspiring. The Caplio GX's odd colour balance makes itself felt here too. At the same time, if you have flash enabled, on power up or if you enable flash after the camera has been switched on, while the flash charges up the camera locks you out. This became very tiresome indeed.
With flash illumination the Caplio GX renders skin tones too yellow and that wall in the background is supposed to be light pink. In fact all the colours are too muted and there is a lack of contrast.
White balance
Starting with white balance performance, the Caplio GX had mixed results. Here we compare it with a Samsung U-CA 3 (left), with the Ricoh on the right:
AWB on, tungsten illumination
Compared to the Ricoh Caplio GX, the Samsung Digimax U-CA 3 produced a more neutral result in tungsten (ordinary light bulb) light with its auto white balance setting.
AWB on, fluorescent illumination
Both cameras did a commendable job of neutralising fluorescent light in auto white balance mode, with only a touch of green in the grey patches on the colour chart marking the Samsung down.
Menu preset for fluorescent illumination
Neither camera did a good job when using a preset for fluorescent light.
Menu preset for tungsten illumination
Using a preset for tungsten light, the Samsung gets it right while the Ricoh remains a tad too warm.
Resolution
Another poor result for the Caplio GX. The chart compares poorly with some 4MP cameras we have tested.
Macro
At last we have something cheerful to say about the Caplio GX's picture taking abilities – close focus mode. You can get really close!
The Caplio RX gets incredibly close but as you can see above, at the closest point the lens starts to interfere with the lighting and distortion is plain to see.
Getting close can result in some crisp detail, though once again the colours could be better saturated. The blurred background tones are so compressed they almost appear posterised.
Preliminary conclusions
First-looks conclusion
Alas, the Caplio GX is a frustrating disappointment. The camera is nice to use and to hold. OK, there are some irritations, like the flash system charging lock-out and the occasional reticence to shoot when ordered, but overall – the Caplio GX is a camera that looks and feels like it should take great pictures, but it doesn't.
We always print test shots because examination on the screen can be misleading. But if anything the printed results made things even worse for the GX, showing up noise issues in an even harder light.
Things we liked about the Ricoh Caplio GX:
28mm extra-wide zoom
Super-close up macro modev
Wide ISO range up to 1600
Good control layout
Manual override available
Flash hot shoe included
Quiet in operation
Sensibly designed menu system
Good battery life
Fast start up time
Good AF performance
Good price for the specification
Things we didn't like:
Poor colour saturation and hue
Poor resolution from 5MP sensor
Image noise
Highlights burn out too easily
Obtrusive flash charging lock-out
Exposure inconsistencies
Slow image saving (especially TIFF mode)
Shutter release occasionally fails to fire
Over-eager power-saving
All things considered, we can only and with all honesty rate the Caplio GX as:
Let's not get too carried away – the camera is not so bad that it's unusable. It's just nowhere near as good as it should be.
I believe a lot of the problems we have discovered with the Caplio GX could be sorted with improved firmware. I very much hope Ricoh has plans to fix the issues highlighted by our time with the camera.
How about a second opinion from Photographyblog.com?
Full review to follow
This is a preliminary first-looks review based on our experience of using the camera under everyday conditions plus limited benchmark testing. A full review with additional benchmarking will follow.
Specifications
Caplio GX Major Specifications
| Item
| Description |
| Recording format
| Still: JPEG (Exif ver 2.21), Non-compressed(TIFF), DCF*1 compliant, DPOF compliant
Text: TIFF (MMR system)
Motion: AVI (Open DML Motion JPEG format compliant)
Sound: WAV (Exif ver 2.21) |
| Video Signal Method
| NTSC/PAL switchable |
| Recording Media
| SD Memory CardTM (3.3V 8/16/32/64/128/256/512MB), MultiMedia CardTM (16/32/64MB)
Built-in memory (16MB) |
| CCD
| 1/1.8-inch primary-color CCD with 5.13 million square pixels (effective 5.25 million pixels) |
| Resolution
| Still: 2592x1944, 2048 x 1536, 1280 x 960, 640 x 480
Text: 2560x1920, 2048 x 1536
Motion: 320 x 240, 160 x 120 |
| Recording Mode
| STILL (Continuous, S-Continuous, M-Continuous), Aperture-priority manual exposure mode,
Scene (Portrait, Sports, Landscape, Night Scene, Text, High-Sensitivity), Motion, Sound |
| Picture Mode
| Fine, Normal, Non-compressed |
| Storage capacity
(No. of pictures)
(Internal 16MB Memory)*2
| Still 7 (2592x1944 Fine), 13 (2592x1944 normal), 1(2592x1944 NC)
10 (2048 x 1536 Fine), 20 (2048 x 1536 Normal),
20 (1280 x 960 Fine), 39 (1280 x 960 Normal), 141 (640 x 480 Normal) |
| Storage capacity (time)
(Internal 16MB Memory)*3
| Motion: 44 seconds (320 x 240), 158 seconds (160 x 120)
Sound: 33 minutes 53 seconds |
| Storage data capacity
| Still Approx. 9.61MB (2592x1944 Non-compressed), Approx. 1.79MB (2592x1944 Fine),
Approx. 1.03MB (2592x1944 Normal), Approx. 1.20MB (2048 x 1536 Fine),
Approx. 671KB (2048 x 1536 Normal), Approx. 686KB (1280 x 960 Fine),
Approx. 356KB (1280 x 960 Normal), Approx. 82KB (640 x 480 Normal) |
| Lens
| Focal range f: 5.8-17.4mm (equivalent to 28-85mm for 35mm film cameras)
Step-zoom intervals: 4 steps (28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm)
Brightness F: 2.5 (W)-4.3 (T)
Lens structure 9 glass elements in 7 groups |
| Digital Zoom
| 4x (Maximum x12 in combination with optical zoom) |
| Shutter
| Still: 30,15,8,4,2,1-1/2000sec. (electronic/mechanical shutter), Noise reduction functionality
Motion: 1/30-1/2000sec. (electronic shutter) |
| Object distance
| Approx. 0.3m-8 (Macro: Approx. 0.01m- 8, Telemacro: Approx. 0.08m-8 ) |
| ISO Sensitivity
| Auto, ISO64, ISO100, ISO200, ISO400, ISO800, ISO1600 |
| View Finder*4
| Real-image optical zoom finder |
| LCD Monitor
| 1.8-inch translucent amorphous silicon TFT LCD (approx. 130,000 pixels) |
| Flash
| Auto (automatic flash in backlight), Red-eye Reduction, On, Slow Synchro, Off,
Distance: 0.2-5.0m (W), 0.15-2.9m (T) (ISO auto or ISO400) |
| Focus
| Autofocus, Manual Focus, Fixed Focus (Snap),Infinity |
| Exposure Adjustment
| TTL-CCD photometric system: Multi (256 segments), Center Weight, Spot |
| Exposure Compensation
| Manual Compensation (+2.0 - -2.0 EV in 1/3EV steps), Auto-bracket (-0.5EV, ±0, +0.5 EV) |
| White Balance
| Auto, Daylight, Overcast, Tungsten Light, Fluorescent Light, Manual white Balance Bracket
(One Push ) |
| Self Timer
| Delay: Approx. 10sec., 2 sec. |
| Interval Timer
| 30 sec. – 3 hours (30 sec. step) |
| PC Interface
| USB 1.1 (compatible with PCs with Windows 98/98SE/2000Professional/Me/XP Home Edition
XP Professional pre-installed or Macintosh with Mac OS 8.6-9.2.2 or Mac OS X10.1.2-10.3) |
| AV interface
| Audio Out, Video Out |
| Power Source
| Optional rechargeable lithium-ion battery, 2 AA batteries (alkali, nickel, NiMH) or optional AC adapter |
| Shooting Capacity*5
| Using DB43: Approx. 3,700 pictures (continuous), approx. 400 pictures (normal), Continuous reproduction of still pictures: Approx. 340 minutes Using AA alkaline batteries: Approx. 120 pictures (normal) |
| Dimensions (W x D x H)
| 113.6 x 29.0 x 58.0mm (excluding projections) |
| Weight
| Approx. 205g (excluding battery, SD Memory Card, hand strap) |
| Operating Temperature
| 0-40s
|
Caplio GX Software
| |
Windows XP | Windows 98/98SE/2000/Me | Mac OS X 10.12-10.3 | Mac OS 8.6-9.22 |
| 1. RICOH Gate La | yes | yes | - | yes |
| 2. DU10x | yes | yes | - | - |
| 3. USB driver | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| 4. WIA driver | yes | - | - | - |
| 5. Mounter | - | - | yes | yes |
| 6. Acrobat Reader | yes | yes | - | - |
| 7. Direct X | yes | yes | - | - |
Caplio GX Software Operating Environment
| |
Windows | Macintosh |
| Operating Software | Windows 98/98 Second Edition Windows 2000 ProfessionalWindows MeWindows XP Home Edition/XP Professional | Mac OS 8.6-9.2.2Mac OS X 10.1.2-10.3 |
| CPU | Pentium II or faster | Power PC or faster |
| Memory SpaceHard Disk Space |
Windows 98/98SE: 32MB or more (96MB more recommended)Windows 2000 Professional: 128MB or more
(256MB or more recommended)Windows Me: 64MB or more (96MB or more recommended)
Windows XP Home Edition/XP Professional: 128MB or more (256MB or more recommended)
Windows 98/98SE: 10MB or more (during installation)
Windows 2000 Professional: 10MB or more (during installation)
Windows Me: 10MB or more (during installation)
Windows XP Home Edition/XP Professional: 10MB or more (during installation)
| Mac OS 8.6-9.2.2: 96MB or more
(128MB or more recommended)
Mac OS X 10.1.2-10.3: 128MB or more
(256MB or more recommended)
Mac OS 8.6-9.2.2: 10MB or more (during installation)
Mac OS X 10.1.1-10.3: 100MB or more (during installation)
100MB or more (during operation) |
| Display | Resolution: 640x480 dots or more, 256 colors or more(800x600 dots or more, 65,000 colors recommended) | Resolution 640x480 dots or more, 256 colors or more
(800x600 dots or more, 32,000 colors recommended) |
| Others | USB board, keyboard, CD-ROM drive, mouse required | USB board, keyboard, CD-ROM drive, mouse required |
Only USB connection is available when connecting Caplio GX to a PC. Serial connection is unavailable.
Supplied software can be used for Caplio G4 series, G3 series, Pro G3, 300G, 400G wide, RR30 and RX.
Caplio G3 model S and Pro G3 are not compatible with Macintosh.
SD Memory Card Storage Capacity
(Number of Images and Time)
|
Mode
| Recording pixels
| Picture mode
| 32MB
| 64MB
| 128MB
| 256MB |
| Still
| 2592x1844
| NC
| 3 images
| 6 images
| 12 images
| 25 images |
Fine
| 15 images
| 30 images
| 62 images
| 123 images |
Normal
| 24 images
| 50 images
| 103 images
| 205 images |
2048x1536
| Fine
| 19 images
| 40 images
| 81 images
| 162 images |
Normal
| 37 images
| 77 images
| 156 images
| 312 images |
1280x960
| Fine
| 37 images
| 75 images
| 153 images
| 305 images |
Normal
| 67 images
| 138 images
| 279 images
| 557 images |
640x480
| Normal
| 189 images
| 387 images
| 783 images
| 1560 images |
| Text
| 2560x1920
| -
| 39 images
| 80 images
| 163 images
| 325 images |
2048x1536
| -
| 75 images
| 154 images
| 313 images
| 624 images |
| Motion*6
| 320x240
| -
| 1'26"
| 2’57"
| 5'58"
| 11'56" |
160x120
| -
| 5'16"
| 10'46"
| 21'47"
| 43'34" |
| Sound
| -
| -
| 64’38"
| 132'13"
| 267'17"
| 532’38" |
Number of recordable pictures and recordable time may vary depending on the manufacturer and shooting conditions.
*1 DCF is the abbreviation of JEITA Standard "Design rule for Camera Files system."
(It does not guarantee perfect inter-camera compatibility.)
*2 General guide for still-picture recording capacity.
*3 Maximum, 80 sec. Per shot (320x240), maximum 300 sec. Per shot (160x120)
*4 When shooting at wide-angles, the vignette can be seen at the bottom left-hand corner of the view finder –
this has no affect on captured images.
*5 Under Ricoh measurement parameters . Actual performance may vary depending on the condition of use
Continuous mode: 640x460 flash off, zoom not used, and Monitor Display off (power-saving mode)
Normal mode: Approx. 30 second intervals using flash and zoom for 1 out of 2 photos,
AA alkaline batteries allow usage of approx. 60 minutes
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