Last fiddles August 2007. Add wishes by emailing to....
Back to Intro Page
| Wishes | Comments |
| Faster lens, wide to tele 1:2.8 would be a dream Quiet, almost silent, lens mechanism. Other makes can manage this, so why can't Ricoh? 10x optical zoom 24mm - 240mm lens (in 4:3 mode) First and foremost silent operation of lens, focusing and shutter A very quiet lens zoom/focus mechanism The R3/4/5 lens focused closer at max tele, why the backward step with the R6 lens? |
The summary seems to
be that a few people would like a more ambitious lens, but the truth is
that will never happen as the size and cost would be too large. The
main question for me relates to why the heck did Ricoh go backwards
with the R6 lens. OK it may be a whisker smaller and lighter and maybe
cheaper to make but the old lens on R3/4/5 was good because of that
closer focus at max tele.. |
| Wishes | Comments |
|
No more pixels, best would be to have a chip like the Fuji 6.3 MP SuperCCD My wish-list for the R7 would simply be a Fuji F31 SuperCCD sensor in the R6 Fuji sensor (yeah, I know, that's even less likely to happen than the rest of the list) 16:9 size sensor (like TZ3), but then of Fuji Super-CCD quality Fuji sensor Widescreen mode (more a firmware issue). |
Many would like to see a quality result that could be obtained from a lower megapixel, wider dynamic range CCD like the small Fuji cameras use. 5 or 6 megapixels is all that is needed in this class of camera. I get better results at low ISO out of my 5 MP R3 compared to the 7 MP of the R5. Widescreen images seem to be in fashion now, but a bit of cropping in software achieves that. Maybe some more optional alignment grids on the LCD during shooting would help with framing for a different crop. |
| Wishes | Comments |
|
Auto-ISO like my Fuji, I really like that. You have control over highest ISO the camera will use Have ISO 25 as low limit Show actual ISO used when in Auto ISO mode |
To some extent auto ISO limit is there on the R6, settable limit varies from 400 to 1600 ISO. Lower ISO setting would be nice for some occasions, maybe the Auto setting could run lower, like my old Olympus camera does. Can set it at ISO 64 but on Auto runs down to about ISO 45 at times. |
| Wishes | Comments |
|
Some connection to use external flash/remote control unit, must not be a hotshoe, IR or something like that. Bluetooth? Flash exposure compensation Hot-shoe. A simple non-TTL shoe would do as long as the camera offers a fixed aperture It would also be nice to see Ricoh releasing a compact flash with tilt and swivel movements (to suit desired hot shoe). A more powerful flash, to get to maybe 50% more range |
The biggest number of complaints and problems spring from the flash being too small and yields too small a useful range. People second guess the flash settings by fiddling with setting the ISO and create more problems, but Auto ISO always works best with flash. A Ricoh compatible slave flash would be a nice option. |
| Wishes | Comments |
|
Allow the optical zoom to be used while shooting videos (even though maybe noisy). Image-stabilization for movies Improved Video Mode Optical zoom in videos is so useful. I don't care if it's noisy.. I just want the option. Continual focus in videos. Option of a longer length codec (mpeg4 or h.264) 16x9 for both photos and videos would be cool. Even as a crop would be acceptable. Image stabilization in video, and just able to cope with more shake Better video SXGA en WXGA video format with optical zoom with sound File compression (DivX would be nice, the open Xvid even more so) Active image stabilization Optical zooming while shooting the movie |
Personally the movie mode does not worry me, my DSLR has no movie mode at all and that does not disturb me. My view is that way better movie results from using a proper movie camera, they are so small and cheap now that it is not a problem. |
| Wishes | Comments |
|
Better White Balance Less blueish colors, "normal" mode should be realistic colors Add "bias" setting in menus for White Balance, ie allow the selected setting or Auto setting to be offset + or - to a small step, similar to the steps available in WB bracketing. |
The traditional "too cold and blue" Ricoh Auto White Balance needs a rethink to make it warmer - maybe a menu item of up/down white balance bias. |
| Wishes | Comments |
|
DNG (RAW) support is needed Adding RAW is a cheap firmware modification which would draw a lot of enthusiasts to the camera Less compression (optional) in jpeg files B&W text mode should be saved in TIFF, older Ricohs had it and I like the small file sizes and sharper quality for TIFFs in B&W text. Provide TIFF mode [do you really want that?... Guy] |
Yes, add DNG type RAW files and an option of less compression for jpegs at the highest resolution. Or add jpeg2000? |
| Wishes | Comments |
| Slow Shutter Limit - "OFF" should be renamed to "1 SEC" More pop-up help in the menus. Like the way Casios tend to tell you what each mode does. Expand the use of the ADJ button, add more items to it if needed by user. Expand control over Colour, Sharpness to maybe 5 possibilities of setting. Add Contrast adjust as menu item, 5 possibilities as above. Add Menu item to adjust noise reduction level, off to mid to full-on. (Many wishes for this). Add in-camera crop function during playback, for those direct camera to printer occasions. |
Firmware changes that are relatively easy to do, compared with adding buttons or dials. |
| Wishes | Comments |
|
Independent AF/AE lock, also independent from half press Add some GX8 and GR-D *software* features to the R4. These shouldn't cost much to implement P,A,S,M modes. S isn't frequently useful, but it can't hurt (I actually use it once every year or two when photographing TV stills at 1/15 or 1/20) Accurate, detailed and dependable histogram display – for both preview and postview Dedicated ISO, WB and AFL buttons. A control dial would also be good Shutter Priority and Aperture Priority modes. Full manual is maybe pointless in a compact, auto will be better for most people Histogram-based light metering. Just like knowledgeable users can set exposure so that the histogram toe is aligned to the right Auto Contrast or Auto Levels when using JPEG (auto set black and white points) 100% image preview/focus check Real-time blown highlights indicator (at preview) Add perhaps GX style wheels/dials The live-view and the post-view histograms frequently display different results, should be the same Manual control (for shutter and aperture) on the other hand would help for panorama taking, for example. But for that I rather like to have AF/AE-lock Aperture and Shutter priority modes |
More work to do on this list but
I do think some sort of PASM modes should be incorporated somehow. |
| Wishes | Comments |
|
Support for GX100 EVF Fully-articulated hi-res *OLED* screen Adding a simple tilt option to the LCD Better rear display with glare reduction Needs an optical viewfinder Very low screen light setting so LCD doesn't create glare under very dim conditions at turn on/off. An optical view finder for use in sunny conditions Larger and better LCD: 3" screen that can easily be seen in bright sunlight, at any angle, and shows the exact result on playback Add menu function to install any image as startup and shutdown screens (like Olympus does). That way if a black or dark image is loaded then the turn on/off is not distracting in dim conditions. An option for overlays to disappear automatically after a few seconds in half pressed focus mode. |
Incorporate a decent rear display that can be seen at all angles under all light conditions and all the worries disappear. The option to install custom turn on/off images helps with security as owner's name and phone number can be installed from a business card. |
| Wishes | Comments |
|
Quiet operation. Non-DSLR cameras should always be whisper quiet Digital or bubble level to get landscapes straight Remote IR trigger like Olympus uses, optional device. Lose the distracting flashes when on time delay USB dock for re-charge and download A dock is needed Option to buy an add-on USB dock/charger that both charges my camera, and also allows me to upload pics Socket for in-camera battery charging Better image stabilization able to cope with more shake Better Image Stabilisation Move tripod mount so as not to foul battery hatch Metal thread in tripod hole A smaller body Keep same size as R6 Better battery cover, as it often accidentally opens (it slides too easily) Spend more time on quality control at the factory, too many faulty units slip through to customers External AC adapter via new socket so long time lapse can be done. Bring back the audio dictation mode, make it easy to use. Improve the microphone, low frequencies suffer in movie mode. Improve face detection. |
Quality control at Ricoh is
a major problem, there seems to be too many lemons at times, and the
slooooow return time on warranty fixes is a total pain.Later I will
summarise this section better with more comments. |
| Some wilder wishes added for a DPReview member.... Upscale the 28-200 lens to a 24-200 lens. Or 28-300 lens. Make a Pascal compiler to enable a community of firmware designers to design there own firmware. I am a firmware designer And I see no reason why this would not be possible, technically and commercially. The R series has a very high gadget level and If you don’t want to make use of a function like this it should not bother you. If I could make my own Firmware I would spend a week building a automatic mode that would do exactly what I wanted. An RF controlled Flash. Using Bluetooth Webcam functionality. Special panorama (stitch) help functionality. (saw it once on a Canon). A special automatic HDR function. Remote control using a cell phone with Bluetooth. GPS coordinate saving for every photo using a Bluetooth GPS receiver. Carbon fibre housing. A nice little bag. |
| Wishes | Comments |
|
Ultra accurate AF option, even if slower than Macro for still life, landscape, low light AF Lock button/ability Faster macro focusing Faster auto focus Better auto focus that works in pitch dark (R6 now has focus assist light) Nightscapes with the camera on a tripod, I don't need the AF to be fast, I need it to be accurate and dependable Optional AF mode that would *never* hunt and would *always* be accurate, even if it takes 10 seconds to achieve a lock When the review image is briefly displayed on the LCD, press ADJ to instantly zoom in on the focal point, so you can see if it was in focus Make Menu setting of "infinity" focus actually focus at real infinity Fix the R5 firmware to make the AF work better than it does, too many mis-focus shots compared to R3. |
Yes, fix the auto focus on
the R5. Make that useless manual "infinity" focus actually focus at infinity at all zoom settings. |