Ricoh Capilo R7 Digital Camera Review

The Ricoh Caplio R7 is an 8 megapixel digital camera. It is just about small enough to slip into a pocket. There are a couple of points about the lens that make the Caplio R7 that bit different to a typical point and shoot, pocket model. The first is the length of the, 7x zoom. The second is the fact that it is a wide angle lens.

The camera also has image stabilisation and some more advanced features than you typically find on a small compact camera.

This is the first Ricoh digital camera I have reviewed so I am interested to see how it stands up against other brands.

Outdoor 1 (Medium Zoom)
The Caplio R7 gets off to a good start. The camera handles most points in the shot well. Focusing is good and there is not too much sharpness lost as you move out towards the edges. Sun glare is handled well too. What I really like is the balance of the colours. These give the photo a vivid feel.

Outdoor 2 (No Zoom)
This is another good effort. Focusing holds up better than most wide angle lens cameras manage. There is a touch of purple fringing showing around the windows in the building on the extreme left of the shot.

Outdoor 3 (Maximum Zoom)
In this photo focusing gets softer towards the edges. Most lenses are at their best when not fully zoomed in or out, but I am not used to seeing quite such a softening of the picture as I can see here.

Outdoor 4 (Building)
With zoom not pushed to its limits the Caplio R7 digital camera produces a better effort again. Focusing is much sharper than in the previous shot and none of the purple fringing showing in the wide angle test is showing.

Outdoor Portrait
This is another shot with plenty of colour. The skin tones work well and the picture is sharp too. I have used a white balance setting of cloudy to help the camera along with the colours.

Indoor Portrait with Flash
The photo is bright and focusing is good too. One point I have noticed is that the lighting has produced a strange colour effect around the nose. The cheeks also look too pink as well.

Indoor Portrait without Flash
This is a bright picture with plenty of detail. As in the indoor portrait with flash the skin tones look a little unnatural.

Colours
I like the colours that the Caplio R7digital camera produces. They are punchy without going over the top. This helps to give my test photos a natural feel.

Macro
I am happy enough with the macro shot. Definition is good, but there is a purple tinge around the edge of the watch face. This will not be a problem if you are taking nature photography close ups, but it could be an issue shooting jewellery under artificial lighting.

ISO 400
At this setting picture quality stands up quite well. Yes there is some extra noise showing in the picture, but no more than I would expect to see.

ISO 1600
Somewhere between ISO 400 and ISO 1600 the Caplio R7 goes badly off track. Colours break up and noise levels are extreme.

Overall
Outside, this Caplio R7 digital camera works well, very well in places. Moving indoors I am happy with the lighting and picture sharpness, but the skin tones are exaggerated in places.

Shutter delay times are impressive. A single photo took 0.22 seconds, while five photos took a very rapid 5.35 seconds. With flash the time for a single shot barely changed. One shot took 0.23 seconds and five took an impressive 8 seconds. These are all very good times. Hopefully this bodes well for any Ricoh digital camera I review in the future.

You can compare this camera to other models by taking a look at the Shutter Lag Comparison Table.

This is a neat, tidy, pocket camera. It is difficult to pinpoint anything looks wise that really makes it stand out from the rest of the market. It is available in black, silver and orange. The camera also feels like it is well made and has a good build quality.

99.6 x 55 x 23.3mm

135g

Lithium ion (DB-70). A battery and charger are supplied with the camera. Ricoh estimates the Caplio R7 is capable of around 300 shots between charges.

Ricoh have built 24 megabytes of storage into the Caplio R7. I was able to reel off 13 shots before the memory was full. The camera is also compatible with SD and SDHC memory cards.

Click here to save money on xD memory cards.

Good. With a number of extra features over a typical pocket sized model it stands to reason that it may take a little longer to get to grips with the Caplio R7. I found the menu system well laid out and easy to use.

Shutter lag times, build quality, extra features, colours

Lowlight

It is difficult to come up with alternatives that offer pocket size with a wide angle lens, a longer lens than standard and the range of controls the Caplio R7 has. The Sony DSC W150 and Sony DSC W170 are due to appear in April 2008. These are the closest to the Caplio R7 I can come up with and I will be reviewing them soon after they become available.

There are a number of good points to the Ricoh Caplio R7. In most cases my outdoor shots have worked very well, although there is a question mark over focusing when the zoom lens is fully extended. Shutter lag times are also good for this type of digital camera.

Front View

Back View

Top View

Sample Menus

Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information on this site, please make sure you double check the feature set and specification at the point of purchase.

Ricoh Caplio R7