For the last few weeks we’ve been testing out the Ricoh CX1 digital camera which is one of the new additions to the Ricoh camera range.

Features

The key features of the Ricoh CX1 are as follows.

• 9.29 megapixels
• 7.1x zoom lens featuring a focal length in 35mm format equivalent to 28-200mm
• Movie mode
• Vibration reduction function
• Face recognition
• Macro shooting at 1cm
• Continuous 4fps shooting mode
• Dynamic range double shot function
• Multi-pattern auto white balance
• Multi-Target AF
• Easy mode for beginners
• 3 inch LCD display
• Edit pictures directly on camera

Looks

Out of the box the Ricoh CX1 looks well constructed and feels solidly built.  It looks like the type of camera that could survive a few knocks.  It is compact too measuring just over 101mm wide and 28mm wide, just about the right size to fit in your hand.  Weighing in at only 180g it is also light and easy to carry around.

The top of the camera features a function dial where you can select various shooting modes, power and shutter release buttons and a small microphone. 

The side of camera holds a small plastic flap, which when pulled back reveals a USB port and AV output terminal.  There are two eyelets for attaching a camera strap.

On the underside of the camera is a sliding flap which tucked underneath holds a rechargeable battery and SD card.  There is also a tripod screw hole.

The rear of the camera contains a 3 inch LCD screen.  There is also a small joystick control which allows you to perform functions like toggling macro mode and changing the flash settings.  There are also playback, menu, self-timer/delete and function buttons.  A small speaker is located at the bottom right of the camera.

Usability

Overall the Ricoh CX1 seems well designed with just enough buttons to perform most common actions, but not too many to baffle beginners.

Time taken to switch the camera on and off is pretty quick, useful if you want to quickly snap a photo.  Time taken to focus was fast too.

There are a few touches we like, including the image auto-rotate feature.  If you view a photo in landscape and then rotate the camera 90 degrees, the photo will automatically shift into a portrait position.

When viewing photos there is an option to delete either a single photo or multiple photos, you can also delete photos within a given range by selecting a start and end photo.  This can be useful for deleting multiple photos in a single batch.

The Ricoh CX1 includes a built-in spirit level which is designed to help you take level photos, rather than the camera pointing up or down.  A visual display on the LCD screen indicates when the camera is level.  We’re not convinced this is a useful feature, or that people will take much notice of this, but it is there if you need it.

The small joystick button on the back of the camera allows you to perform various functions:

• Exposure compensation – this option allows you to compensate for photos that are either over or under exposed.  You can dial in between +2.0 and –2.0 to increase or decrease the exposure.  There is also a very useful histogram displayed on the screen.

  Anyone who has used a DSLR camera is probably already aware of the histogram but it is nice to see it appearing in a point and click camera like the Ricoh CX1. 

  The histogram is basically a graph on the screen which you can use to determine if a photo is under or over exposed.  You can then use this to adjust the exposure for your next photo.

• White Balance – here you can use one of the preset WB modes: auto, outdoors, cloudy, incandescent lamp, fluorescent lamp or manual.
• ISO – you can select IS0 80, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600.
• Image Quality – you can select various sizes for your photos, from VGA up to 9 megapixels.
• Focus – you can choose between AE/AF, AF, AE and Off.  There is also a crosshair on the LCD screen which you can move with the joystick.  This enables you to tell the camera which part of an image to focus on.  Quite a useful feature if the camera won’t focus on the area you want.

There is a button on the back of the camera for viewing photos.

There is a display button which you can use to view more information about a photo.  Pressing this button will display the exposure histogram, focal length, f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, flash mode and the date and time the photo was taken.  Pressing the display button again allows you to view white saturation.

We liked this information screen and thought it was well designed, providing a quite overview of the photo metadata.

The camera supports an “easy” mode for simple point and click photos, plus there are manual options where you can customise some of the camera settings.  These are obviously not on a par with the manual controls offered by a DSLR, but they do at least offer you some flexibility in getting the picture results you want.

Picture Quality

The lens supports a 35mm equivalent focal range of 28-200mm which should satisfy most people.  There is also a digital zoom which can take you up to 960mm although it is quite fiddly to use.  It also has a decent 1cm macro mode too.

Macro mode delivered some pleasing results with an excellent level of detail, even picking up the tiny indentations of an individual key on a computer keyboard as in this example.

Picture quality at both the 28mm and 200mm of the focal range was pretty good and seemed on par with other point and click photos we’ve used.

These two examples show photos at 28mm and 200mm respectively.  These were taken out of the box using the default settings.

Noise was noticeable in low light conditions, and at the longer focal range the flash struggled to compensate.  Although to be fair our test photos were merely point and click photos taken at the default ISO-200, hardly an ideal setting for low light.  So it is worth experimenting with the settings to get better results.

These two photo show picture quality with and without the flash.

Summary

The Ricoh CX1 looks solidly built, has a decent set of features and on the whole is pretty easy to use.  Picture quality out of the box is pretty good too and if you’re prepared to spend some time tweaking the settings then you can be rewarded with good results.  Overall this is a pretty good camera with some nice touches.

We feel it is a little on the expensive side though for a point and shoot camera with prices around £270.  At this price range it could encourage buyers to seek cheaper alternatives.

Buy the Ricoh CX1 from Amazon.

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Detailed Specifications

• External Dimensions
  101.5 mm (W) x 58.3 mm (H) x 27.9 mm (D)
• Weight
  Approx. 180 g (excluding battery, SD memory card, strap), Accessories approx. 23 g (battery, strap)
• Number of pixels
  9.29 megapixels
• Image Sensor
  1/2.3-inch CMOS
• Interface
  USB 2.0 (High-Speed USB)
• Lens Focal length
  f=4.95-35.4 mm (equivalent to 28-200 mm for 35 mm film cameras. With Step Zoom set, option of seven fixed lengths: 28 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm, 85 mm, 105 mm, 135 mm, and 200 mm)
• f-aperture
  F3.3 (Wide) – F5.2 (Telephoto)
• Zoom Magnification
  Optical: 7.1x zoom (equivalent to 28-200 mm focal length for 35 mm cameras)
  Digital: 4.8x up to 34.1x (equivalent to 960 mm) when used with optical zoom
• ISO Sensitivity (Standard Output Sensitivity)
  AUTO, AUTO-HI, ISO80 / ISO100 / ISO200 / ISO400 / ISO800 / ISO1600
• White Balance Mode
  AUTO / Multi-Pattern AUTO / Outdoors / Cloudy / Incandescent / Incandescent 2 / Fluorescent / Manual, White Balance Bracket Function
• Flash
  Built-in flash mode
  Auto (during low light and when the subject is backlit), Red-eye-Reduction, Flash On, Slow Synchro, Flash Off

  Built-in flash range
  Approx. 20 cm – 3.0 m (Wide), approx. 25 cm – 2.0 m (Telephoto) (ISO Auto/ISO 400, from the front of the lens)

  Flash compensation
  +/-2.0EV (1/3EV Steps)

• Shooting Mode
  Auto Shooting Mode / Easy Shooting Mode / Dynamic Range Double Shot Mode / Continuous Shooting Modes (Continuous, M-Continuous Plus, Ultra-High-Speed Continuous) / Scene Modes (Portrait / Face / Sports / Night Portrait / Landscape / Nightscape / High Sensitivity / Zoom Macro / Skew Correction / Text) / My Setting Mode / Movie Mode

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