| Feature |
R3 |
R4 |
R5 |
R6 |
R7 |
R8 | (no R9) | R10 |
| Announce Date |
7th September 2005 |
23rd February 2006 |
24th August 2006 |
5th March 2007 |
28th August 2007 |
19th February 2008 | | 19th August 2008 |
| Front View, images extracted from Ricoh product list pages, not to scale. |
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| Body |
Size 95mm wide, 53mm high, 26mm deep |
Size 96mm wide, 55mm high, 26mm deep. Restyled slightly from
R3/R4 to help keep fingers from flash, button layout changed on rear.
Slightly wider and taller than R3/R4 due to restyled centre band.
Better design battery/card hatch. |
Size 99.6 wide, 55mm high, 23.3mm deep, and 20.6mm at
thinnest point. A bit longer than the R3/4/5 but a bit thinner. Zoom
lever now surrounds shutter button, at last!
Now also adds a dust cover over the USB and Video sockets. |
Size 102mm wide, 58.3mm high, 26.1mm deep and 22.6mm at thinnest point. A bit bigger and heavier than the earlier models.
It has a Mode Dial now!
Two eyelets for proper carry strap.
More functions can be assigned to ADJ button.
"Caplio" name now dropped. | | Early days but it appears to be a refined R8.
Now
a "spirit level" indicators added to LCD, and Easy mode for beginners,
more in-camera image edit functions after shooting, auto levels mode
added to auto improve shots. |
| Lens |
4.6mm to 33mm (=28mm to 200mm) f/3.3~f/4.8
|
4.6mm to 33mm (=28mm to 200mm)
f/3.3~f/5.2 but with new design to pack into a slightly smaller space when retracted. |
New design to cover the slightly larger sensor now 4.95mm to 35.4mm to yield 28-200mm equivalent |
| Macro |
1cm (lens to
subject) at 4.6mm and Macro Zoom Mode and 140mm at full tele 33mm in
Macro mode as quoted by manual, but in real life it's different, see my
Macro page here. |
1cm (lens to subject) at 4.6mm and Macro Zoom Mode and 250mm at full tele 33mm in Macro mode. |
Quoted as to be same as R6/7 |
| Resolution* |
2592x1944 = 5,038,848 pixels
1/2.5" CCD size 5.75mm x 4.31mm
Pixel Density 20 MP/cm² |
2816x2112 = 5,947,392 pixels
1/2.5" CCD size 5.75mm x 4.31mm
Pixel Density 24 MP/cm² |
3072x2304 = 7,077,888 pixels 1/2.5" CCD size 5.75mm x 4.31mm
Pixel Density 29 MP/cm²
|
3264x2448 = 7,990,272 pixels CCD size 1/2.5" 5.75mm x 4.31mm
Pixel Density 33 MP/cm² |
3648x2736 = 9,980,928 pixels CCD size 1/2.3" = 6.16mm x 4.62mm
Pixel Density 35 MP/cm² |
| Rear LCD |
2.5" at 114,000 pixels. Disp button toggles available display modes. |
2.5" at 153,000 pixels. Disp button toggles available display modes. |
2.5" at 230,000 pixels. Disp button toggles available display modes. |
2.7" at 230,000 pixels. Using Quick
Review or Playback, use the Disp button to toggle the displays
available, and now a "blown highlight" flashing black indicator is
included. |
2.7" at 460,000 pixels | | 3" at 460,000 pixels |
| Image Quality |
Thorough
tests under way in June 2007 to really see if the R4 is better than the
R3. So far a tiny improvement in resolution of the R4 over the R3 can
be seen, but not a worthwhile improvement.
Contrary to many opinions, I find that the R4 is noisier at all ISO
than the R3. More tests to come and a separate web page will appear one
day.
With both, a properly exposed 800 ISO image yields good 4"x6" prints. |
Maybe ISO 400 and up getting noisy, again Noiseware etc
improve things. The 1600 ISO yields a usable but noisy image if
exposure is correct. The 7 megapixels doesn't really make any real
differences in quality from the other two. In fact as other tests show the R3 at ISO 64 is better than the R5 for postcard prints. |
Early examples are looking good, maybe a bit
better than the R5 that uses the same sensor. My personal preference is
for the less processed of the R3/4, but that's just me.
Face recognition scene mode has been added to make those people shots more reliable. |
New image processing chip now being used. |
Samples seen are acceptable, but are typical of the 10 megapixels pocket cams on the market.
1:1 aspect ratio square photography now available
Some image edit features available in camera | | Ricoh samples look OK, need real world examples.
Still 1:1 available.
More image edit features available in camera. |
Time Lapse Photography
(Interval Shooting) |
As far as I
know all these models share exactly the
same firmware with time lapse. Only used it a couple of times so can't
comment on its
actual use. Just make sure a heavy tripod is used, and turn off the
rear LCD to help the battery last longer (Ricoh calls this 'Synchro
Monitor Mode'). Period between photos can be set from 5 seconds to 3 hours in increments of 5 seconds on all of R3/4/5/6.
In all cases a fully charged battery is
recommended, or if taking for really long periods then the AC adapter
accessory needs to be purchased, AC-4c for R3/4/5. But of course that fouls the normal tripod mount. Choose a lower
resolution to suit the end use of the images, and also to make sure
they all fit on the SD card. |
Same Time Lapse functionality as R3/4/5 but R6/7/8 uses
different size battery so it must be a different AC adapter AC-4f is listed as being available. |
| Movie Maximum |
320x240 @ 30 fps with digital zoom only |
640x480 @ 30 fps with digital zoom only |
| ISO |
64, 100, 200, 400, 800 Auto ISO to 400
|
64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
Auto ISO to 400 |
64, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600
Auto ISO can have limits set higher than 400, eg 800, 1600 |
| Memory |
26 megs internal, SD to 2 gig |
26 megs internal, SD to 2 gig and SDHC 4 gig (firmware 1.6 and up) |
54 megs internal, SD to 2 gig and SDHC 4 gig |
24 megs internal, SD to 2 gig and SDHC to 8 gig. |
24 megs internal, SD to 2 gig and SDHC to 8 gig (to 16 gig?). | | 54 megs internal, SD to 2 gig and SDHC to 16 gig. |
| Transfer |
USB1.1 |
USB 2.0 High Speed |
| Flash Range |
Wide, 200mm to 2.4m. Tele 140mm to 1.8m with Auto ISO
|
Wide 200mm to 3m Tele 250mm to 2m with Auto ISO "Soft Flash" option has been added to improve macros and people shots. |
| Official Specs |
R3 specs page |
R4 specs page |
R5 specs page |
R6 specs page |
R7 specs page |
R8 specs page | | R10 specs page |
| Battery |
Battery DB-60, charger BJ-6 |
Battery DB-70, charger BJ-7 a
new battery and charger. The AC adapter optional accessory (replaced the internal
battery) that was available for the R3/4/5 which disappeared
for the R6, but has re-surfaced with the R7. The AC-4f AC adapter will suit R6/7/8. |
Major Complaints & Faults
|
Early reviewers criticised noise, not
a problem, easily fixed with Noiseware or Neat Image etc. They were
wrong, the R3 is not as noisy as the R4.
Lens jams...
All R3/4/5/6 have a telescoping folding lens assembly that has been
known to jam. I now make a point of keeping the lens tubes clean.
Extend the lens to full tele and gently polish the tubes with a clean
cloth to remove any dust spots. |
Many people have had banding problems, no clear solution to
this, usually not a worry with most shots. I have once seen minor banding on
the R3 as well.
Lens jams... see R3 |
Mis-focus seem to be the most common ongoing
problem, but after a warranty repair(?) my R5 seems to behave better.
Maybe it needed some general calibration to get it back on track.
No that proved to be wrong, AF still bad. Now my R5 is being replaced by an R4.
Others disagree, but I don't like the sometimes over-processed look of
the R5 images.
Lens jams... see R3 |
The very fast focus front sensor of the R3/R4/R5 models has
disappeared, it only uses CCD focus now. The few
early users seem to say the focus is OK, no noticeable delays, so the
CCD focus has been speeded up obviously.
Though it's the same sensor as
the R5 the tendency to over-process the image seems to have been backed
off a bit.
Some reports of excessive fuzziness in the top right corner are emerging.
Lens jams... see R3 |
No feedback so far | | Way too early |
| Shutter Caution |
Shutter is release priority,
that means the shot will be taken even if the focus has not yet settled
properly. The shutter fires when you press it but the result may be out
of focus. Best to wait for focus confirmation (beep or green brackets)
at all times. |
Shutter is focus priority,
that means the shutter will not fire until the focus is settled. The
camera itself waits for focus confirmation. In low light with all R
series the focus is slow and now with R6 and up the shot you take may
miss the moment. Switch to Snap or Infinity or Manual focus to overcome
this.Probably the same as R6/7 |
|
R3 |
R4 |
R5 |
R6 |
R7 |
R8 | R9 | R10 |