| Likes | Dislikes | |
| R3 | Nice quality images with the lowest noise of any of the
R series at ISO 64 Fast focus and mostly no shutter delays when shooting Good daylight camera Excellent macro ability Good zoom range |
LCD very hard to see in sunlight Above ISO 200 the noise is a problem Finish and letters wearing off buttons and body Struggles in low light Flash too small No SDHC card capability Only USB 1.1 slow transfer |
| R4 | Nice quality images with low noise at ISO 64 Fast focus and mostly no shutter delays when shooting Good daylight camera Excellent macro ability Good zoom range Many judge the R4 to be the best of the R series to date (of R3 to R8) despite some faults, the R4 together with the R3 yields nicer "non-digital" looking images. |
LCD very hard to see in sunlight Above ISO 200 the noise is a problem Possibly does not use ISO 64 when in Auto ISO Finish and letters wearing off buttons and body Struggles in low light Flash too small The extra megapixel really makes no real improvement over the R3 Some users have banding problems No SDHC card capability Only USB 1.1 slow transfer |
| R5 | Nice quality images, especially macro Fast focus and mostly no shutter delays when shooting Good daylight camera Excellent macro ability Good zoom range Can accept SDHC cards Has fast USB 2.0 transfer |
Noise reduction beginning to deliver "plastic" images
under some conditions Many users report focus problems Zoom button change a bad mistake |
| R6 | Nice quality images, macro still good Good daylight camera Good zoom range Can accept SDHC cards Has fast USB 2.0 transfer |
Images getting more "plastic" in appearance at times Shutter release priority now changed to focus priority and thus camera appears slower to shoot. Front panel phase detection fast focus device deleted thus slowing focus attainment. Lens design change means maximum zoom macro not quite as good as on R3-R5 |
| R7 | Nice quality images, macro still good Good daylight camera Good zoom range Can accept SDHC cards Has fast USB 2.0 transfer |
Images getting more "plastic" in appearance at times Shutter release priority now changed (since R6) to focus priority and thus camera appears slower to shoot. Front panel phase detection fast focus device deleted (since R6) thus slowing focus attainment. Lens design change means maximum zoom macro not quite as good as on R3-R5 Sound bad in video mode |
| R8 | Nice quality images, macro still good Good daylight camera Good zoom range LCD very nice with good resolution Can accept SDHC cards Has fast USB 2.0 transfer Separate movable Auto Spot Focus and Auto Spot Metering areas, good for tripod work |
Images getting more "plastic" in appearance at times Shutter release priority now changed (since R6) to focus priority and thus camera appears slower to shoot. Front panel phase detection fast focus device deleted (since R6) thus slowing focus attainment. Possibly variable and too severe noise reduction causing sometimes unpredictable result quality. Lens design change means maximum zoom macro not quite as good as on R3-R5 Slightly larger overall size than before |
| R9 | Space reserved for August/September release? | |
| If
you got this far then maybe a very simple summary for the commonest
remarks to cover the whole R3 to R8 series as I see it is in order. Likes - Small camera with big zoom, good daylight camera, mostly nice image quality. Likes not mentioned above - A good feature is Interval Timer (Time Lapse Photography), it is not used by many people but is a very useful feature to have for special situations, a rare feature in a small camera. The R8 now has a more elegant design that makes it look more like the GX100/GRD1/2 styles of cameras. The CA-1 remote release cable works on the R8 at least and maybe all the others. The Ricoh SV-1 software is needed to split those 16-in-1 Cont-S and Cont-M mode images into 16 separate small jpegs for further creating little movies, animated GIFs etc. See this page to find the SV-1 software. Dislikes - Poor low light performance, flash too small, later models have "too many pixels". Not mentioned above and common for all models - the bottom battery and card access door is a pain when it is blocked by, or is accidentally opened by mounting on a tripod. Side doors are a way better idea. Any of these cameras would do a good job for an everyday/holiday camera, not up to DSLR image quality of course but for postcard prints and for monitor slide shows then the quality is very good and it's way easier to carry the Ricoh. As an aside I may attach the whole (edited) thread here later to show the various original good/bad remarks made by various forum members. | ||