Ricoh R8
£235.00
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The R8 is a well designed compact with a modern feel. It's ideal for those times when you need to travel light on your holidays although for a similar price you purchase an even stronger compact camera.
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The R8 offers a 10MP sensor with a 7.1x optical wide-angle zoom lens, equivalent to 28-200mm on most 35mm cameras. There are 11 different scene modes to try, including a useful Skew Correct mode as well as a Text mode. The R8 has been given a 2.7in TFT LCD screen that boasts an impressive 460k pixels but this large screen takes up the majority of the space on the back of the camera leaving no room for an alternative viewfinder, much like all common compacts. To the right of the screen we have a simple arrangement of buttons including a sensitive D-pad and just above that is a well-placed fully rotational selective dial for the different shooting modes. The R8 also contains Ricoh’s original CCD-shift vibration correction function that compensates for camera shake when it is detected. This reduces the blurring that tends to occur in situations such as telephoto and macro photography.
The camera feels very comfortable in the hand with its rubberized grip and this doesn’t detract from the stylish, modern design. Ricoh has enhanced a solid feel with a polished top cover that matches the finish of the lens surround. Unfortunately, the flash is the camera’s main downfall. It’s been placed right beneath the shutter button and – as we discovered – there may be occasions when fingers can foul the flash as it fires. Nimble fingers combined with a careful handhold may get around this, but it’s hardly ideal. The 7.1x optical zoom lens gives you an extensive range for both wide and telephoto shots but it feels unrefined compared to other competitor compacts in its price range. Testing the R8’s ISO range proved that if you want the clearest, sharpest results you should not push beyond ISO 400; both ISO 800 and ISO 1600 results were poor and although there wasn’t any nasty fringeing, they should only be used in exceptional circumstances. On the whole this camera may attract some looks with its elegant casing, but we expected more. The slim design does makes the R8 the perfect camera for travelling light, with great handling, but for a similar price there are stronger models out there.
Resolution: 10 Megapixels
Lens: 7.1x Optical Wide-Angle Zoom (equivalent to 28-200mm for 35mm cameras) -- Digital Zoom - 4.8x 34.1x (equivalent to 960 mm) when used with an optical zoom
Focus range: 30cm- Infinity ∞ (from the front edge of the lens) 1.5cm to Infinity ∞ (Macro shooting, from the front edge of the lens)
ISO range: ISO 64–ISO1600
Image stabilisation: CCD-shift vibration correction
Shooting modes: Auto shooting mode/Programme shift mode/Aperture priority mode/Manual exposure mode/Scene mode (Text Mode/Movie/Skew Correct Mode)/My Settings Mode
Memory card: SD-SDHC Internal Memory 24MB
Monitor: 2.7in transparent amorphous TFT screen (6.9cm) 460,000 pixels
Shooting capability: 370 pictures with DB-60 rechargeable battery
Weight/Dimensions: 168g /102 x 58.3 x 26.1mm